displaying form as image

displaying form as image

• zoranj

  Ramana,

  Take a look at this article from Ken Getz: http://www.mcwtech.com/CS/blogs/keng/archive/2005/12/16/137.aspx

  It has code that uses the bitblt API method to copy the screen bit by bit. I tested it and it works on the richtextbox, but I'm not sure about com components (I tried with a vb6 listview, but that works even with drawtobitmap, so that's no reference).

  The code in the article is in vb, but it will not be that hard to convert it to c#, try http://www.carlosag.net/Tools/CodeTranslator/Default.aspx

  Hope this helps,

  
  
  

• Chris G. Jones

  Hi,

  Is your problem solved

  Bhanu.

  
  
  

• SPWilkinson

  hello bhanu

  no it is not solved.

  i am managing this with copyfromscreen but it is having problems like displaying dialogs and contextmenus

  plese help me.

  regards,

  Ramana kumar.

  
  

• AdrianG

  hello

   Sven De Bont

  thank you very much for your response,

  it is also working similar to CopyFromScreen() method

  it is capturing any contextmenus and folder dialogs

  i have to avoid those things

  again thanks,

  regards

  Ramana kumar

   

  
  

• Xancholy

  To be complete, here's the c# code (tested):

  // One of the many constants that modify

  // the behavior of the BitBlt API:

  private int SRCCOPY = 13369376;

  // (DWORD) dest = source

  [System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("gdi32.dll", EntryPoint = "BitBlt")]

  private static extern int BitBlt(IntPtr hDestDC, int x, int y, int nWidth,

  int nHeight, IntPtr hSrcDC, int xSrc, int ySrc, int dwRop);

  public Bitmap GetFormImage(Form frm) {

  Bitmap bmp = null;

  Graphics formGraphics = null;

  Graphics memoryGraphics = null;

  IntPtr dc1 = IntPtr.Zero;

  IntPtr dc2 = IntPtr.Zero;

  try {

  formGraphics = frm.CreateGraphics();

  // Create a bitmap big enough to contain

  // the entire form, and retrieve a Graphics

  // object that can work with the bitmap:

  Size sz = frm.Size;

  bmp = new Bitmap(sz.Width, sz.Height, formGraphics);

  memoryGraphics = Graphics.FromImage(bmp);

  // Retrieve the two drawing context handles (HDCs)

  // dc1 represents the form

  // dc2 represents the new bitmap

  dc1 = formGraphics.GetHdc();

  dc2 = memoryGraphics.GetHdc();

  // Copy the image to dc2,

  // using rectange 0, 0, sz.Width, sz.Height

  // from dc1

  // copy from the upper-left corner

  BitBlt(dc2, 0, 0, sz.Width, sz.Height, dc1, ((1 * SystemInformation.FrameBorderSize.Width)

  * -1), ((1

  * (SystemInformation.FrameBorderSize.Height + SystemInformation.CaptionHeight))

  * -1), SRCCOPY);

  }

  catch (Exception ex) {

  MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);

  }

  finally {

  if (!(formGraphics == null)) {

  formGraphics.ReleaseHdc(dc1);

  formGraphics.Dispose();

  }

  if (!(memoryGraphics == null)) {

  memoryGraphics.ReleaseHdc(dc2);

  memoryGraphics.Dispose();

  }

  }

  return bmp;

  }

  
  
  

• Casius211362

  Hi Ramana,

  I found the following information in the documenatation of the DrawToBitmap method:

  The DrawToBitmap method is not supported for ActiveX controls. You can override the OnPrint event and provide custom printing logic if required.

  I'm not that familiar with this myself and couldn't find any information on the net (I only did a quick search). Hopefully this gets you on the way or maybe someone else can come up with an example.

  Regards,

  
  
  
• displaying form as image