The custom headers I wrote about earlier this month have quickly become a popular feature.  Both Basic and Premium users are easily able to read the status header value and handle the response accordingly.  Today I am happy to introduce a new parameter Premium users can take advantage of to detect the status of a snapshot.  By attaching the parameter ‘info’ to a SnapCasa request string a user can make as many snapshot status inquiries as they require without ever being charged any credits.

With the info parameter included no snapshot will ever be returned or submitted for processing.  It is simply a way to gather information about a snapshots status or existence instantly.  When the parameter info =  1  SnapCasa will respond with a custom header named ‘snapshot-info’.  It’s possible values are:

0 – Snapshot does not Exist in Requested Size
1 – Snapshot Exists in Requested Size
2 – Snapshot Processing
3 – Snapshot Queued
4 – Snapshot Queued for Second Attempt
5 – Snapshot Unavailable

Certain users may require to check whether a snapshot exists in a specific size before submitting a capture request.  The info parameter will enable them to accomplish this without being charged any credits.  A sample info request may look like so:

http://snapcasa.com/get.aspx?code=1000&width=300&height=300&info=1&url=yahoo.com

Either the size or width and height parameters are required with the info parameter.  This is so that we can check whether a snapshot exists in the size you require.  Additionally you can also include the page parameter to check whether a full page capture exists of a webpage.  The info parameter should be included prior to the url parameter in your request string.

Please contact me with any questions!

Thanks!