;> BlinkFlash 1.3 -is broken :(

BlinkFlash does not work anymore. It scraps the winkflash website which changed a few years after I wrote this program. I may fix it in the future but like everyone time is short.

Summary

BlinkFlash is a commandline tool for uploading images to winkflash, a mail order digital photo printer. It is a script that automates the Web-based file upload process. It can also create new albums, set photo notes (which are printed on the backs of photos) and download photos.

Requirements and Download

BlinkFlash is written in python and uses a few extra python libraries which are included in the download ( ClientCookie, ClientForm and BeautifulSoup). The only dependency is python 2.3
It is intended for Linux users (that's what I use) but as its written in python it may work on other platforms.

You can download it here

Background

I use winkflash for printing my digital photos. At the time of writing (October 2004 -still true November 2005) they provide a very efficient service, have a reasonable and simple pricing structure (99p + 9p per photo, or 99c + 12c in the USA) and will even print notes on the back of the photos for you.

My only problem has been that none of their 3 uploading options work for me. They have a windows upload tool but I don't use windows, there is a java applet which has never worked for me and finally they have a web based facility. In the past I have used the web based interface but it takes ages to add the photos one at a time and editing a photo's notes requires 3 clicks per photo.

I decided to automate this process and create a command line client which uses the web based upload facility as a backend. So I wrote blinkflash (faster than winkflash).

Usage

blinkflash 1.3   the unofficial winkflash commandline client
usage: ./blinkflash.py    [action arguments]
  actions:
    list-albums                                -list all albums
    create-album <album-name>                  -create a new empty album
    upload <album-name> file[,file,..,..]      -upload file(s) to an album
    list-images <album-name>                   -list images in album
    download-image <album-name> <filename>     -download image (to filename.jpg)
    download-album <album-name>                -download a whole album
    set-notes <album-name> <filename> <notes>  -set an image's notes
    bulk-upload <album-name> <inputfile>       -upload files and set notes
     for the bulk action the format is filename <tab> alias <tab> notes
          eg.   IMG012.JPG      photo1  Holiday day one
                IMG013.JPG      photo2  Duncans brother bill
                              (if run twice, only new files will be uploaded)
some examples:
  ./blinkflash.py johnsmith b2xtf list-albums
  ./blinkflash.py johnsmith b2xtf create-album 'Holiday 2004'
  ./blinkflash.py johnsmith b2xtf upload 'Holiday 2004' img01.jpg img02.jpg
  ./blinkflash.py johnsmith b2xtf set-notes 'Holiday 2004' img01.jpg 'day 1'
  ./blinkflash.py johnsmith b2xtf bulk-upload 'Holiday 2004' filesandnotes.txt

 **if logged in with a web browser you must log out and log in to see changes**

Features

1.3

• Download image. You can download your images (and whole albums) which makes winkflash useful for image backups.
• Fixed bug setting notes for USA accounts

1.2

• USA accounts supported

1.1

• Retries on I/O error
• Aliased filenames. With bulk upload an aliased filename can be supplied. This is useful because the winkflash filename is printed on the back of printed photos.
• Incremental upload. Bulk upload checks for images which are already uploaded.

1.0

• List albums
• Create album
• Upload images
• List images in abum
• Set notes
• Bulk upload (upload files and set notes)

Disclamer

winkflash know nothing about blinkflash. If you get in trouble for using this (I can't think why) I can't be held responsible.

Author

BlinkFlash is written by me, Thomas Rynne. I have a homepage and you can email me at thomas-blinkflash@XnospamX.lifesok.co.uk

Please email me if you have found blinkflash useful or have problems using it.

Website, CVS and downloads hosted by SourceForge.

Created 17October2004 Last modified 16November2005by Thomas Rynne