Screenshot Recorder

The screenshot recorder is included in the UOH but disabled per default.

If activated, the recorder continuously observed the user's screen. If the currently taken screenshot differs from the previously taken one, the screenshot is stored (in your home directory in the folder .UserObservationHub/screenshots). Additionally, a smaller thumbnail of this screenshot is stored at .UserObservationHub/screenshots/thumbnails).

For both images the format PNG is used, which leads to image sizes of about 139 kB for the screenshots and about 13 kB for the thumbnails.

To activate the screenshot recorder you have to set a non-zero screenshot_interval in the UOH property file:

Property file

The ScreenshotRecorder expects to find a property file at this location:

    etc/userobservationhub.properties    (relative to the UserObservationHub project folder)

If this file does not yet exist, please create one, e.g. via Create new -> Textfile.

Add or edit the following line there (do not delete other lines):

screenshot_interval=1000

This value specifies the number of milliseconds the screenshot recorder waits before taking and checking a new screenshot. As Java's screenshot and image routines are not very efficient, you may have to set a higher value here.

To disable the screenshot recorder again, just edit the property file, edit the line to

screenshot_interval=-1

and kill and restart the UOH.