take screenshot windows form c# code example

Example 1: take screenshot in c#

using System.Windows.Forms; 
using Point = System.Drawing.Point;
using Rectangle = System.Drawing.Rectangle;
Rectangle bounds = Screen.GetBounds(Point.Empty);

using(Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap(bounds.Width, bounds.Height))
{
    using(Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bitmap))
    {
         g.CopyFromScreen(Point.Empty, Point.Empty, bounds.Size);
    }
    // will save to working directory  ( for C# WPF in VS 2019: C:\Users\{user}\source\repos\{project}\{project}\bin\Debug )
    bitmap.Save("test.jpg", ImageFormat.Jpeg);
}

Example 2: c# get screenshot of window

// Usage:
ScreenCapture sc = new ScreenCapture();
Image img = sc.CaptureScreen();
this.imageDisplay = img;
sc.CaptureWindowToFile(Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle, "C:\\temp2.gif", ImageFormat.Gif);


// Code
using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;
using System.Diagnostics;

public class ScreenCapture
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Creates an Image object containing a screen shot of the entire desktop
        /// </summary>
        /// <returns></returns>
        public Image CaptureScreen()
        {
            return CaptureWindow(User32.GetDesktopWindow());
        }
        /// <summary>
        /// Creates an Image object containing a screen shot of a specific window
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="handle">The handle to the window. (In windows forms, this is obtained by the Handle property)</param>
        /// <returns></returns>
        public Image CaptureWindow(IntPtr handle)
        {
            // get te hDC of the target window
            IntPtr hdcSrc = User32.GetWindowDC(handle);
            // get the size
            User32.RECT windowRect = new User32.RECT();
            User32.GetWindowRect(handle, ref windowRect);
            int width = windowRect.right - windowRect.left;
            int height = windowRect.bottom - windowRect.top;
            // create a device context we can copy to
            IntPtr hdcDest = GDI32.CreateCompatibleDC(hdcSrc);
            // create a bitmap we can copy it to,
            // using GetDeviceCaps to get the width/height
            IntPtr hBitmap = GDI32.CreateCompatibleBitmap(hdcSrc, width, height);
            // select the bitmap object
            IntPtr hOld = GDI32.SelectObject(hdcDest, hBitmap);
            // bitblt over
            GDI32.BitBlt(hdcDest, 0, 0, width, height, hdcSrc, 0, 0, GDI32.SRCCOPY);
            // restore selection
            GDI32.SelectObject(hdcDest, hOld);
            // clean up
            GDI32.DeleteDC(hdcDest);
            User32.ReleaseDC(handle, hdcSrc);
            // get a .NET image object for it
            Image img = Image.FromHbitmap(hBitmap);
            // free up the Bitmap object
            GDI32.DeleteObject(hBitmap);
            return img;
        }
        /// <summary>
        /// Captures a screen shot of a specific window, and saves it to a file
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="handle"></param>
        /// <param name="filename"></param>
        /// <param name="format"></param>
        public void CaptureWindowToFile(IntPtr handle, string filename, ImageFormat format)
        {
            Image img = CaptureWindow(handle);
            img.Save(filename, format);
        }
        /// <summary>
        /// Captures a screen shot of the entire desktop, and saves it to a file
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="filename"></param>
        /// <param name="format"></param>
        public void CaptureScreenToFile(string filename, ImageFormat format)
        {
            Image img = CaptureScreen();
            img.Save(filename, format);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Helper class containing Gdi32 API functions
        /// </summary>
        private class GDI32
        {

            public const int SRCCOPY = 0x00CC0020; // BitBlt dwRop parameter
            [DllImport("gdi32.dll")]
            public static extern bool BitBlt(IntPtr hObject, int nXDest, int nYDest,
                int nWidth, int nHeight, IntPtr hObjectSource,
                int nXSrc, int nYSrc, int dwRop);
            [DllImport("gdi32.dll")]
            public static extern IntPtr CreateCompatibleBitmap(IntPtr hDC, int nWidth,
                int nHeight);
            [DllImport("gdi32.dll")]
            public static extern IntPtr CreateCompatibleDC(IntPtr hDC);
            [DllImport("gdi32.dll")]
            public static extern bool DeleteDC(IntPtr hDC);
            [DllImport("gdi32.dll")]
            public static extern bool DeleteObject(IntPtr hObject);
            [DllImport("gdi32.dll")]
            public static extern IntPtr SelectObject(IntPtr hDC, IntPtr hObject);
        }
        private class User32
        {
            [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
            public struct RECT
            {
                public int left;
                public int top;
                public int right;
                public int bottom;
            }
            [DllImport("user32.dll")]
            public static extern IntPtr GetDesktopWindow();
            [DllImport("user32.dll")]
            public static extern IntPtr GetWindowDC(IntPtr hWnd);
            [DllImport("user32.dll")]
            public static extern IntPtr ReleaseDC(IntPtr hWnd, IntPtr hDC);
            [DllImport("user32.dll")]
            public static extern IntPtr GetWindowRect(IntPtr hWnd, ref RECT rect);
        }
    }