What is a webgrabber? A webgrabber downloads complete sites, including pictures and sounds (if you want) onto your harddisk. Just start it and when you come back from a short walk or whatever (You can also use your PC/Internet connection while the garbber works), chances are it already has downloaded what you wanted. You now can surf the site "offline", that's why those programmes are called "offline browser"s sometimes. It is also very handy for doing backups and routine downloads.

It is a lot easier to have a webgrabber download a site than doing it manually through a standard browser. Just fire it up and let it do everything. However, if you have to pay for every minute or transmitted Kilobyte, you might want to restrict what the webgrabber downloads. Also, please be considerate with your webgrabbing! Hosting costs are high and using a webgrabber mindlessly can cause many problems for people running the site you appreciate!



Whom is wGetGUI for? Webgrabbers are a good idea for people who want to download complete sites, pages with inline objects, routine downloads. wget has long been a favourite among geeks. Coming from a Unix background, it has grown over the years with many options, partly interacting with one another. If you can memorize the options and use them to the fullest, wget is extremely powerful. But it took me quite some time to get accustomed to its purely command line interface.

When I took a course at university where Visual Basic was a prerequisite, I had to teach myself VB. I decided to do a GUI for wget. It turned out better than I hoped, with me using it heavily, almost from the start. It is not a polished application, but I decided to release it for the public to use, keeping with the "free software" spirit of the GNU public license that wget is published under. So, wGetGUI is aimed at primarily me and secondarily computer-literate people who understand the way wget works but want something easier to handle in a Windows environment.

At the end of 2006, it seemed as people who are not aware how wget operates where looking at wGetGUI and getting intimidated by the overloaded GUI screen. I never thought those users would look at wgetGUI, but apparently, they do/did. I therefore now include a "Simple" mode which gives you some simple choices while retaining much of the versatility of the standard mode, which still can be used.

Screenshot



wGetGUI main window, normal size, simple tab







wGetGUI main window, normal size, standard tab







wGetGUI main window, normal size, direct .bat access tab







wGetGUI, small size, always on top.





Downloads wgetgui: wgetgui.zip (46kB)

wGetGui is released under the GPL, please read through the website, there is also a gpl.html included in the .zip file. So, as it is GPL, here is the source-code. wGetGUI needs wget 1.07 or later. wget 1.10.x adds useful features like proper "ave to custom directory" under windows, so I recommend 1.10.2 or newer. You can get the latest Windows binaries from: http://space.tin.it/computer/hherold/ and http://users.ugent.be/~bpuype/wget/.

There may be different versions of the wGet Binaries. I would advise you to try the newest one first. If you choose to download a wget version with SSL enabled, make sure to download the SSL files, too. Depending on which Windows you run and how uptodate it is, you might need the Visual Basic runtime files. They can be downloaded directly from Microsoft:

vbrun60sp5.exe (1MB)

Includes ssycfilt.dll, comcat.dll, msvbvm60.dll, oleaut32.dll, olepro32.dll stdole2.tlbin!

Installation Just put everything from the wGetGUI-zip, the wGet-zip file (including the SSL) in one directory and execute the MS VB runtime file. That's it.

At least it should be. If you get an error message like "Class not registered. You need the following to be installed on your maschine: msstdfmt.dll" you'll need to do the following:

MSSTDFMT.DLL (118kB)

REGSVR32.EXE (40kB)

How to install those:

Put both in your windows/system folder, run regsvr32.exe /u C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSSTDFMT.DLL from a DOS/Command box, where you replace the path so it is correct for your system.

After that, run regsvr32.exe C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSSTDFMT.DLL This registers the new .DLL with your Windows. If you already have an MSSTDFMT.DLL in your system folder, don't download this one but run both commands nevertheless.

I think that problem is pretty rare, but in case you encounter it, you now know what to do. But if you need any further dll/ocx files like the often necessary

COMDLG32.OCX and COMDLG32.DLL,

you can get them here:

www.dll-files.com

www.dll-download.net

windowsxp.mvps.org/comdlg32.htm

If you want to know what a certain dll/ocx/... file is, go here:

www.iamnotageek.com/a/comdlg32.dll.php



If you get an error like "Error #429 - ActiveX component can't create object" you probably have Windows Scripting Host disabled or not installed. To remedy this, go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/list/webdev.asp (~670kB) and download/install it.

"Expert" hint: You could try re-registering scrrun.dll if you already have it in your Windows folder. Or install it from here: www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?scrrun





Help During use, make sure to read the included tool-tips when running wGetGUI: Stay with your mouse arrow over the option/field you are interested in. After a second or so, a tool-tip will be displayed.



Ryan has created a very comprehensive pdf-manual for wGetGUI 1.08. It will still be very helpful for the newer versions.

For the Haters At the end of 2006, one GUI expert used wGetGUI as an example for a bad GUI. Of course I felt honoured. Not. I think it was kinda suboptimal to do this without telling me, without giving me a chance to improve the GUI and without #whoa here's a thought# helping me. Well, he posted the GUI without saying which it is, but that was soon found out and I got some love mail. Not. The amount of bashing wGetGUI and me have received is a testament to the state of the internet "culture". There certainly were a few people who either liked the GUI or gave constructive criticism. But the rest was insultive bashing in mob mentality. And all this about a piece of free software that I have spent my time on - to bring it beyond what I need.

To those who have supported me: Thanks, I really appreciate it. For the haters: Hate yourself, don't spread the hate.

I like to hear what non-haters think of wGetGUI, so send in comments, wishes, critique.





External links worth visiting wget::gui Martin Achern has done a nice version of wGetGUI in Perl. Apart from the advantage of running on both Linux and Windows, he also added a few new features and streamlined the GUI. sunsite.dk/wget Main wget page, the mother of all wget stuff! www.ccp14.ac.uk Especially dealing with the use of wget to auto mirror pages. www.gnu.org Read all about the GPL and what free software means! Something important missing? Just send it in!