Capture the Screen into a Bitmap

Question

I want to capture the screen in my code to get an image - like using the 'print screen' button on the keyboard .

Does anyone have an idea how to do this? I have no starting point.

Answer 1

If using the .NET 2.0 (or later) framework you can use the CopyFromScreen() method detailed here:

http://www.geekpedia.com/tutorial181_Capturing-screenshots-using-Csharp.html

//Create a new bitmap.
var bmpScreenshot = new Bitmap(Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Width,
                               Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Height,
                               PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb);

// Create a graphics object from the bitmap.
var gfxScreenshot = Graphics.FromImage(bmpScreenshot);

// Take the screenshot from the upper left corner to the right bottom corner.
gfxScreenshot.CopyFromScreen(Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.X,
                            Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Y,
                            0,
                            0,
                            Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Size,
                            CopyPixelOperation.SourceCopy);

// Save the screenshot to the specified path that the user has chosen.
bmpScreenshot.Save("Screenshot.png", ImageFormat.Png);