Can I screenshot or printscreen with a console app

Question

I was wondering if there is a way to screenshot your desktop with a console application without having to call Windows.Forms and call the SendKeys class.

Because I just created a compiler and it can only compile pure C# Console applications, it doesnt work if you add a reference because its going to throw you a few error See this link (My question with an answer on codeproject) and I want to create a console application which can take screenshots when I want it to.

Answer 1

I use this class to do my screenshots - see if it works for you. It doesn't reference forms and uses System.Drawing instead.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace ScreenTest
{
    public class PrintScreen
    {
        /// <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);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Helper class containing User32 API functions
        /// </summary>
        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);

        }

 }

Here is an example using it in a ConsoleApp.

using ScreenTest;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace Screentest
{
    class Program
    {
        static DirectoryInfo di;
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {

            args = new string[] { "y" };

            if (args[0] == "y")
            {

             di = new DirectoryInfo("C:\\ss");
             if (!di.Exists){ di.Create(); }                    

            PrintScreen ps = new PrintScreen();
            ps.CaptureScreenToFile(di + "\\screen.png",  System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png);

            }


        }
    }
}

Answer 2

For anyone seeing this, I made a working example based on Cody Popham code (I cant comment) https://github.com/Wyulliam/screen-shooter

I added an option to set a path for the files and I'm using a timer to take multiples screenshots, so you can set, like 3000ms (3 seconds) and it will keep taking screen shots every 3 seconds.

I also used the Garbage Collector to don't explode our memories