http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=261861


in reply to newbie quest for Image::Grab

I would like to run script as a cronjob and only get the image if it has been updated.
Honing in on this, I'd say a better bet is to use LWP::Simple's mirror method:
use LWP::Simple qw(mirror); my $result = mirror("http://host.example.com/url/foo.jpg", "localfile. +jpg"); if ($result == 304) { print "no update needed\n": } elsif ($result = 200) { print "New image has arrived!\n"; } else { die "Bad mirror status: $result\n"; }
This is presuming that the image is either a static file, updated from time to time, or that the image is dynamically generated but with a proper handling of "if-modified-since".

Using mirror with a proper webserver guarantees minimal web traffic. I use it to mirror web pages and images a lot. I've even written a few columns using it. {grin}

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker
Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.