take screenshot of the desktop after every milisecond

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Jan 27th, 2002, 01:14 AM
abdul

take screenshot of the desktop after every milisecond

I am trying to do that, but it's taking hell a lot of RAM space and slowing down my system. Is there any other faster way to do that so it does not take much RAM and does not slow down my system?
Jan 27th, 2002, 06:31 AM
Hack

Anything running every milisecond is going to chew up resources. What are you trying to accomplish? Perhaps there is a better way.
Jan 27th, 2002, 06:45 AM

i think that every millisecond is not the hard point Hack but taking the screenshot is :) :) ;)
Jan 27th, 2002, 07:58 AM
dongaman

I am wonder what way do u use to snapshot the desktop.:rolleyes:
Do u use send PrintScreen keys:confused:
Jan 27th, 2002, 08:02 AM
Mega_Man

This is actually a good question. I am going to attempt to write my own remote control program which will allow me to take control of any machines on a network.
This is the sort of thing that I would want. I don't know if ever millisecond is required. Perhaps every 250 milliseconds would be appropriate.

Mega.

Quote:

Originally posted by [B]Staifour]/B]
i think that every millisecond is not the hard point Hack but taking the screenshot is

Taking the screen shot is the easy part. Here are two different ways. To save the screen as a bitmap...

VB Code:

Private Declare Sub keybd_event Lib "user32" (ByVal bVk As Byte, ByVal bScan As Byte, _ 
ByVal dwFlags As Long, ByVal dwExtraInfo As Long) 
 
Private Const VK_SNAPSHOT = &H2C 
 
'Author: Dalin Nie (Edited by Matthew Gates) 
'Origin: [url]http://www.vbcode.com[/url] 
'Purpose: This function capture the screen or the active window of your computer. Programmatically and save it to a .bmp file. 
'VB version: VB 6,VB 5,VB 4/32 
'Save Screen As Bitmap
Private Function SaveScreen(ByVal theFile As String) As Boolean 
On Error Resume Next 
 
'To get the Entire Screen 
Call keybd_event(vbKeySnapshot, 1, 0, 0) 
 
'To get the Active Window 
'Call keybd_event(vbKeySnapshot, 0, 0, 0) 
 
SavePicture Clipboard.GetData(vbCFBitmap), theFile 
 
SaveScreen = True 
Exit Function 
End Function 
'Usage 
Call SaveScreen("C:\Windows\Desktop\shot1.bmp")

To simply send to the clipboard, see MattT's post here
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...t=print+screen

Jan 27th, 2002, 08:11 AM
dongaman

Like my ways:cool:
Jan 27th, 2002, 11:36 AM
abdul

Right now, I am trying to write a program that will alow you to make a video of your desktop (so the frame rate does matter if you wanna get better video). This program can also be used to make a video of you playing a game but it won't work because today's games take hell a lot of RAM to work correctly, so I need some better code to make it work fast but not take more RAM.
Jan 27th, 2002, 11:49 AM
first of all
i just want you to know that there are software that does that (try to find a software in the lotus collection i think)
secondly:
to make a video normally you don't use a frame rate greater than 25 so what you need is a timer with an interval of 40 that will read the code of Hack i suggest:

add a new folder to your C drive and call it TestDir
add a timer to your form and name it TestTimer and set it's interval to 40
add this code to the form
VB Code:
```
Private Declare Sub keybd_event Lib "user32" (ByVal bVk As Byte, ByVal bScan As Byte, _ 
ByVal dwFlags As Long, ByVal dwExtraInfo As Long) 
Private Const VK_SNAPSHOT = &H2C 
Private Function SaveScreen(ByVal theFile As String) As Boolean 
On Error Resume Next 
Call keybd_event(vbKeySnapshot, 1, 0, 0) 
SavePicture Clipboard.GetData(vbCFBitmap), theFile 
SaveScreen = True 
End Function 
 
Private Sub TestTimer_Timer
   DoEvents
   Static Frame
   TestTimer.Interval = 40
   Frame = Frame + 1
   Call SaveScreen("C:\TestDir\shot" & Frame & ".bmp")
End Sub
```
now goto that folder and see the results

hope it'll work (i didn't test Hack's code)
if it doesn't wotk try to change vbKeySnapshot in the SaveScreen function to VK_SNAPSHOT

tell me what happens
Jan 27th, 2002, 12:16 PM
BuggyProgrammer

i did something like what you asked for but the funny thing is where you would put the images. It would be at leat a 1.5 second wait to transfer a 2.5 meg (1024x768) across the network. Retrieval of the image is also difficult unless you number it and it will still be slowed down (ie ur screenshot is at 2 while it has captured 5 screenshots). And just saving to 1 picture will cause 'File already open' errors. Many aspects to think about.
Jan 27th, 2002, 12:39 PM
abdul

Quote:

Originally posted by BuggyProgrammer
i did something like what you asked for but the funny thing is where you would put the images. It would be at leat a 1.5 second wait to transfer a 2.5 meg (1024x768) across the network. Retrieval of the image is also difficult unless you number it and it will still be slowed down (ie ur screenshot is at 2 while it has captured 5 screenshots). And just saving to 1 picture will cause 'File already open' errors. Many aspects to think about.

Acutally, I thought of something different for my upcoming chat program. it will just send 1 desktop picture at the start, and then it'll send a the x and y coordinates' colours that are different from the previous desktop picture, and then you send them over the network as ASCII text. I think that method will be a little faster but haven't tried the full program yet.
Jan 27th, 2002, 12:48 PM

if i was the one programming that network program i would change the size of the picture (decrease it) then i will resize it after transfering it to the other computer on the same network so that it matches the screen, i know this will decrease the pictures quality but i think it is the faster way, also you can cahnge the extension of the pictures (or try to)

for the synchronizing thing that BuggyProgrammer said, well, you can add a text file that will save the number of the last saved picture, the other computer that is trying to retrieve the pictures will read the text file and load the picture depending on it

isn't it an idea ??:cool: i think it is
Jan 27th, 2002, 12:52 PM
abdul
Quote:
Originally posted by Staifour
first of all
i just want you to know that there are software that does that (try to find a software in the lotus collection i think)
secondly:
to make a video normally you don't use a frame rate greater than 25 so what you need is a timer with an interval of 40 that will read the code of Hack i suggest:

add a new folder to your C drive and call it TestDir
add a timer to your form and name it TestTimer and set it's interval to 40
add this code to the form

VB Code:

Private Declare Sub keybd_event Lib "user32" (ByVal bVk As Byte, ByVal bScan As Byte, _
ByVal dwFlags As Long, ByVal dwExtraInfo As Long)
Private Const VK_SNAPSHOT = &H2C
Private Function SaveScreen(ByVal theFile As String) As Boolean
On Error Resume Next
Call keybd_event(vbKeySnapshot, 1, 0, 0)
SavePicture Clipboard.GetData(vbCFBitmap), theFile
SaveScreen = True
End Function

Private Sub TestTimer_Timer
DoEvents
Static Frame
TestTimer.Interval = 40
Frame = Frame + 1
Call SaveScreen("C:\TestDir\shot" & Frame & ".bmp")
End Sub

now goto that folder and see the results

hope it'll work (i didn't test Hack's code)
if it doesn't wotk try to change vbKeySnapshot in the SaveScreen function to VK_SNAPSHOT

tell me what happens
Hmmm, this method is working hell a lot faster than the one I was using before in which you use "StretchBlt" to first copy the picture onto a picture box and then you save it as a file. I'll work on it more and then hopefully it will come out as a really fast method of creating a video.
Jan 27th, 2002, 12:58 PM
Arc

2 questions.

1) Why do the pictures no contain the mouse? When you send a picture to the Clipboard the Cursor always disapears....and can you fix it?

2) Is there anyway to save the files as .JPG instead of BMP? BMP's take up way too much space.
Jan 27th, 2002, 01:10 PM

well
for the cusor i know why it doesn't appear
this code presses PrintScreen from the keyboard and PrintScreen doesn't take the cursor but i don't see the it as a problem, but if you want to knw where the cursor is you should use an API function that returns the mouse position and write a code that will draw the cursor
i think this is the way (not sure)
Jan 27th, 2002, 02:13 PM
BuggyProgrammer

i bltted a picture of the mouse to the picture then saved it so you can see the mouse.
Jan 27th, 2002, 07:49 PM
ukid4

saving as JPGs

There's code at vbAccelerator.com for saving pictures as JPGs. It requires some DLL. But you can download it as a package with a demo project.
Jan 27th, 2002, 08:23 PM
BuggyProgrammer

converting takes more time too
Nov 10th, 2003, 12:43 AM
BuggyProgrammer

Quote:

Originally posted by Spetnik
Most remote control programs do not constantly take screenshots. After the initial screenshots, screenshots are only taken occasionally. What the program does is capture paint events on the screen and sends them over to the client, which replicates them on the original screenshot. This way, used resources and data transfer overhead are minimized. :)

most people don't bump up really old posts too :rolleyes: :p