pt-web-vnc

Serve a display or the window of a particular application via VNC & http using :code:x11vnc & :code:novnc.

The script can share an existing display or create a new one, depending on the provided display id. New displays are created using :code:Xvfb and it's dimensions and color depth can be specified via command line arguments.

It's also possible to share particular windows from a display by using the 'window-title' argument. This will look for a window with the provided name in a given display and will only share that particular section of the display. If this argument is not provided, the whole display is shared.

A python module :code:pt_web_vnc is also included which provides synchronous and asynchronous wrappers around the :code:pt-web-vnc script.

Usage

.. code-block:: bash

pt-web-vnc --display-id <DISPLAY_ID> --HEIGHT <SCREEN_HEIGHT> --WIDTH <SCREEN_WIDTH> --ssl-certificate <SSL_CERTIFICATE> --window-title <WINDOW_TITLE> --run <RUN_COMMAND> --background-colour --with-window-manager

where: COMMAND: {start, stop, url, clients} start: start sharing a display or app based on the given arguments. stop: stop sharing the given display. url: print the novnc URL where the provided display is being served. clients: print the number of clients connected to a particular display. --display-id DISPLAY_ID: integer, id for the display to use/create. If the provided display ID doesn't exist, a new one will be created. --height SCREEN_HEIGHT: integer, height in pixels for the virtual display to create. Defaults to 1080. --width SCREEN_WIDTH: integer, width in pixels for the virtual display to create. Defaults to 1920. --depth SCREEN_DEPTH: integer, pixel depth for the virtual display to create. Defaults to 24. --ssl-certificate SSL_CERTIFICATE: path to combined SSL certificate & key file. Optional. --window-title WINDOW_TITLE: Title of a window in a display to share over VNC. Optional. --run RUN_COMMAND: Command to run before starting VNC server. --background-colour COLOUR: string with a colour name to use as background for the virtual display. --with-window-manager: start a window manager in the specified DISPLAY_ID. For now, the window manager used is 'bspwm'.

Examples

Start a virtual display with custom dimensions and background

.. code-block:: bash

$ pt-web-vnc start --display-id 100 --height 500 --width 1000 --background-colour red
# Get the URL to connect
$ pt-web-vnc url --display-id 100
http://pi-top.local:61100/vnc.html?autoconnect=true
$ pt-web-vnc stop --display-id 100

Run an application in a virtual display and share its window

By using the :code:--run argument to start an application and providing its window title via :code:--window-title it's possible to share a particular window.

.. code-block:: bash

# Start chromium and look for its window title
$ pt-web-vnc start --display-id 50 --run 'chromium-browser' --window-title 'New Tab - Chromium'
# Get the URL to connect
$ pt-web-vnc url --display-id 50
http://pi-top.local:61050/vnc.html?autoconnect=true
$ pt-web-vnc stop --display-id 50

Share an existing display

It's possible to share your main display instead of creating a new one by providing its display id. In most cases, the id for your main display will be :code:0.

.. code-block:: bash

$ pt-web-vnc start --display-id 0
# Get the URL to connect
$ pt-web-vnc url --display-id 0
http://pi-top.local:61000/vnc.html?autoconnect=true
$ pt-web-vnc stop --display-id 000

Python module examples

Create and share a display with custom dimensions and background colour

.. code-block:: python

from pt_web_vnc import start, connection_details, stop start( display_id=50, height=500, width=1000, background_colour="blue", )

Get connection details

details = connection_details(display_id=50) details.url 'http://pi-top.local:61050/vnc.html?autoconnect=true&resize=scale'

Stop sharing

stop(display_id=50)

Asynchronously start sharing display 0

.. code-block:: python

import asyncio from pt_web_vnc import async_start, async_connection_details, async_stop

Start sharing display 0

asyncio.run(async_start(display_id=0)) ...

Get connection details

details = asyncio.run(async_connection_details(display_id=0)) details.url 'http://pi-top.local:61000/vnc.html?autoconnect=true&resize=scale'

Returned object also contains parsed elements of the URL

details.scheme 'http' details.hostname 'pi-top.local' details.port 61000 details.path '/vnc.html?autoconnect=true&resize=scale'

Stop sharing display 0

asyncio.run(async_stop(display_id=0)