How can I take a screenshot in a windows application?

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

5 Answers

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;
}
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