How to Copy Entire Screen into a Picture Box in Visual Basic

Last reviewed: December 8, 1995
Article ID: Q140885

The information in this article applies to:

- Professional and Enterprise Editions of Microsoft Visual Basic,

  16-bit only, for Windows, version 4.0

SUMMARY

Using the Windows API call BitBlt, you can capture the entire Microsoft Windows screen and place the image into a Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows picture box.

First, get the handle to the desktop. Then use the desktop window handle to get the handle to the desktop's device context (hDC). Finally, use the Windows API call BitBlt to copy the screen into the Picture property of a Visual Basic for Windows picture box control.

MORE INFORMATION

Step-by-Step Example

Start Visual Basic for Windows (VB.EXE). Form1 is created by default.
Add a picture box (Picture1) to Form1.

Set the following properties:

   Control    Property      Value
   ------------------------------
   Picture1   AutoRedraw    True
   Picture1   Visible       False

Add the following code to your .BAS module:

Type lrect

   left As Integer
   top As Integer
   right As Integer
   bottom As Integer

End Type

Private Declare Function GetDesktopWindow Lib "user" () As Integer
Private Declare Function GetDC Lib "user" (ByVal hWnd%) As Integer
' Enter the following Declare on one, single line:
Private Declare Function BitBlt Lib "GDI" (ByVal hDestDC%, ByVal X%, ByVal

Y%,

   ByVal nWidth%, ByVal nHeight%, ByVal hSrcDC%, ByVal XSrc%,
   ByVal YSrc%, ByVal dwRop&) As Integer
' Enter the following Declare on one, single line:
Private Declare Function ReleaseDC Lib "User"(ByVal hWnd As Integer, ByVal

hDC As Integer) As Integer

Private Declare Sub GetWindowRect Lib "User" (ByVal hWnd%, lpRect As lrect)
   Global TwipsPerPixel As Single

Add the following code to the Form1 Click event procedure:

   Private Sub Form_Click ()
      Call GrabScreen
   End Sub

   Public Sub GrabScreen ()

      Dim winSize As lrect

      ' Assign information of the source bitmap.
      ' Note that BitBlt requires coordinates in pixels.
      hwndSrc% = GetDesktopWindow()
      hSrcDC% = GetDC(hwndSrc%)
      XSrc% = 0: YSrc% = 0
      Call GetWindowRect(hwndSrc%, winSize)
      nWidth% = winSize.right             ' Units in pixels.
      nHeight% = winSize.bottom           ' Units in pixels.

      ' Assign informate of the destination bitmap.
      hDestDC% = Form1.Picture1.hDC
      x% = 0: Y% = 0

      ' Set global variable TwipsPerPixel and use to set
      ' picture box to same size as screen being grabbed.
      ' If picture box not the same size as picture being
      ' BitBlt'ed to it, it will chop off all that does not
      ' fit in the picture box.
      GetTwipsPerPixel
      Form1.Picture1.Top = 0
      Form1.Picture1.Left = 0
      Form1.Picture1.Width = (nWidth% + 1) * TwipsPerPixel
      Form1.Picture1.Height = (nHeight% + 1) * TwipsPerPixel

      ' Assign the value of the constant SRCOPYY to the Raster operation.
      dwRop& = &HCC0020

      ' NOTE: function call must be on one line:
      Suc% = BitBlt(hDestDC%, x%, Y%, nWidth%, nHeight%,
                    hSrcDC%, XSrc%, YSrc%, dwRop&)

      ' Release the DeskTopWindow's hDC to Windows.
      ' Windows may hang if this is not done.
      Dmy% = ReleaseDC(hwndSrc%, hSrcDC%)

      'Make the picture box visible.
      Form1.Picture1.Visible = True
   End Sub

   Public Sub GetTwipsPerPixel ()
      ' Set a global variable with the Twips to Pixel ratio.
      Form1.ScaleMode = 3
      NumPix = Form1.ScaleHeight
      Form1.ScaleMode = 1
      TwipsPerPixel = Form1.ScaleHeight / NumPix
   End Sub

Run the program. Click Form1.

Using the mouse, change the size of the form to see more of the picture box. With a little work, you can use this as a screen saver program.

Additional reference words: 1.00 4.00 print printer vb4win vb416
KBCategory: kbui kbprg kbcode
KBSubcategory: APrgWindow APrgGrap

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Last reviewed: December 8, 1995
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