How can I take a screenshot in a windows application?

Question

How can I take a screenshot of the current screen using Win32?

Answer 1

// get the device context of the screen
HDC hScreenDC = CreateDC("DISPLAY", NULL, NULL, NULL);     
// and a device context to put it in
HDC hMemoryDC = CreateCompatibleDC(hScreenDC);

int width = GetDeviceCaps(hScreenDC, HORZRES);
int height = GetDeviceCaps(hScreenDC, VERTRES);

// maybe worth checking these are positive values
HBITMAP hBitmap = CreateCompatibleBitmap(hScreenDC, width, height);

// get a new bitmap
HBITMAP hOldBitmap = (HBITMAP) SelectObject(hMemoryDC, hBitmap);

BitBlt(hMemoryDC, 0, 0, width, height, hScreenDC, 0, 0, SRCCOPY);
hBitmap = (HBITMAP) SelectObject(hMemoryDC, hOldBitmap);

// clean up
DeleteDC(hMemoryDC);
DeleteDC(hScreenDC);

// now your image is held in hBitmap. You can save it or do whatever with it

Answer 2

1. Use GetDC(NULL); to get a DC for the entire screen.
2. Use CreateCompatibleDC to create a DC compatible with the screen DC.
3. Use CreateCompatibleBitmap to create a bitmap compatible with the screen DC to hold the result.
4. Use SelectObject to select the compatible bitmap into the compatible DC.
5. Use BitBlt to copy from the screen DC to the compatible DC.
6. Use SelectObject to deselect the compatible bitmap from the compatible DC.
7. Use DeleteDC to delete the compatible DC.

When you create the compatible bitmap, you want it compatible with the screen DC, not the compatible DC.

For example:

HDC dcScreen = GetDC(0);
HDC dcTarget = CreateCompatibleDC(dcScreen);
HBITMAP bmpTarget = CreateCompatibleBitmap(dcScreen);
HGDIOBJ oldBmp = SelectObject(dcTarget, bmpTarget);
BitBlt(dcTarget, 0, 0, cx, cy, dcDesktop, x, y, SRCCOPY | CAPTUREBLT);
SelectObject(dcTarget, oldBmp);
DeleteDC(dcTarget);
ReleaseDC(dcScreen);

The other important part is to get the size, and location, of the entire virtual screen:

int x  = GetSystemMetrics(SM_XVIRTUALSCREEN);  //left (e.g. -1024)
int y  = GetSystemMetrics(SM_YVIRTUALSCREEN);  //top (e.g. -34)
int cx = GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXVIRTUALSCREEN); //entire width (e.g. 2704)
int cy = GetSystemMetrics(SM_CYVIRTUALSCREEN); //entire height (e.g. 1050)

Answer 3

void GetScreenShot(void)
{
    int x1, y1, x2, y2, w, h;

    // get screen dimensions
    x1  = GetSystemMetrics(SM_XVIRTUALSCREEN);
    y1  = GetSystemMetrics(SM_YVIRTUALSCREEN);
    x2  = GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXVIRTUALSCREEN);
    y2  = GetSystemMetrics(SM_CYVIRTUALSCREEN);
    w   = x2 - x1;
    h   = y2 - y1;

    // copy screen to bitmap
    HDC     hScreen = GetDC(NULL);
    HDC     hDC     = CreateCompatibleDC(hScreen);
    HBITMAP hBitmap = CreateCompatibleBitmap(hScreen, w, h);
    HGDIOBJ old_obj = SelectObject(hDC, hBitmap);
    BOOL    bRet    = BitBlt(hDC, 0, 0, w, h, hScreen, x1, y1, SRCCOPY);

    // save bitmap to clipboard
    OpenClipboard(NULL);
    EmptyClipboard();
    SetClipboardData(CF_BITMAP, hBitmap);
    CloseClipboard();   

    // clean up
    SelectObject(hDC, old_obj);
    DeleteDC(hDC);
    ReleaseDC(NULL, hScreen);
    DeleteObject(hBitmap);
}

Answer 4

Full code for saving a raw 24-bit lossless bitmap of all monitors at the current window station using Windows API:

BOOL WINAPI SaveBitmap(WCHAR *wPath)
{
    BITMAPFILEHEADER bfHeader;
    BITMAPINFOHEADER biHeader;
    BITMAPINFO bInfo;
    HGDIOBJ hTempBitmap;
    HBITMAP hBitmap;
    BITMAP bAllDesktops;
    HDC hDC, hMemDC;
    LONG lWidth, lHeight;
    BYTE *bBits = NULL;
    HANDLE hHeap = GetProcessHeap();
    DWORD cbBits, dwWritten = 0;
    HANDLE hFile;
    INT x = GetSystemMetrics(SM_XVIRTUALSCREEN);
    INT y = GetSystemMetrics(SM_YVIRTUALSCREEN);

    ZeroMemory(&bfHeader, sizeof(BITMAPFILEHEADER));
    ZeroMemory(&biHeader, sizeof(BITMAPINFOHEADER));
    ZeroMemory(&bInfo, sizeof(BITMAPINFO));
    ZeroMemory(&bAllDesktops, sizeof(BITMAP));

    hDC = GetDC(NULL);
    hTempBitmap = GetCurrentObject(hDC, OBJ_BITMAP);
    GetObjectW(hTempBitmap, sizeof(BITMAP), &bAllDesktops);

    lWidth = bAllDesktops.bmWidth;
    lHeight = bAllDesktops.bmHeight;

    DeleteObject(hTempBitmap);

    bfHeader.bfType = (WORD)('B' | ('M' << 8));
    bfHeader.bfOffBits = sizeof(BITMAPFILEHEADER) + sizeof(BITMAPINFOHEADER);
    biHeader.biSize = sizeof(BITMAPINFOHEADER);
    biHeader.biBitCount = 24;
    biHeader.biCompression = BI_RGB;
    biHeader.biPlanes = 1;
    biHeader.biWidth = lWidth;
    biHeader.biHeight = lHeight;

    bInfo.bmiHeader = biHeader;

    cbBits = (((24 * lWidth + 31)&~31) / 8) * lHeight;

    hMemDC = CreateCompatibleDC(hDC);
    hBitmap = CreateDIBSection(hDC, &bInfo, DIB_RGB_COLORS, (VOID **)&bBits, NULL, 0);
    SelectObject(hMemDC, hBitmap);
    BitBlt(hMemDC, 0, 0, lWidth, lHeight, hDC, x, y, SRCCOPY);


    hFile = CreateFileW(wPath, GENERIC_WRITE | GENERIC_READ, 0, NULL, CREATE_ALWAYS, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);
    WriteFile(hFile, &bfHeader, sizeof(BITMAPFILEHEADER), &dwWritten, NULL);
    WriteFile(hFile, &biHeader, sizeof(BITMAPINFOHEADER), &dwWritten, NULL);
    WriteFile(hFile, bBits, cbBits, &dwWritten, NULL);

    CloseHandle(hFile);

    DeleteDC(hMemDC);
    ReleaseDC(NULL, hDC);
    DeleteObject(hBitmap);

    return TRUE;
}

Answer 5

There is a MSDN sample, Capturing an Image, for capturing an arbitrary HWND to a DC (you could try passing the output from GetDesktopWindow to this). But how well this will work under the new desktop compositor on Vista/Windows 7, I don't know.