[RESOLVED] Capture Picture Of A Form When A Portion Of It Is Off The Screen...

[mcoulter876]

I can capture a picture of the form and put it on the clipboard perfectly... except the portion that's off the screen. If my form is wider than the screen is, it takes that portion of the picture and just makes it black when I paste it into something like PaintBrush. I've even tried saving it, as opposed to just putting it on the clipboard... same result. Any way to capture a picture of the entire form without blacking out the portion that's off the screen?

[jcis]

Try this, first add a PictureBox to your Form and make it invisible, then add this code (I used a CommandButton to capture)

Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias _
   "SendMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, _
   ByVal wParam As Long, ByVal lParam As Long) As Long

Private Const WM_PAINT = &HF
Private Const WM_PRINT = &H317
Private Const PRF_CLIENT = &H4&    ' Draw the window's client area
Private Const PRF_CHILDREN = &H10& ' Draw all visible child
Private Const PRF_OWNED = &H20&    ' Draw all owned windows

Private Sub Command1_Click()
Dim rv As Long

    Clipboard.Clear
    
    Picture1.Width = Me.Width
    Picture1.Height = Me.Height
   
    Picture1.AutoRedraw = True
    rv = SendMessage(Me.hwnd, WM_PAINT, Picture1.hDC, 0)
    rv = SendMessage(Me.hwnd, WM_PRINT, Picture1.hDC, PRF_CHILDREN + PRF_CLIENT + PRF_OWNED)
    
    Set Picture1.Picture = Picture1.Image
    Clipboard.SetData Picture1.Picture, vbCFBitmap
End Sub

This should add the complete Form Picture to Clipboard with offscreen parts included. Just ensure the Form use twips as Scalemode, if not a little coordinate conversion would be needed.

[mcoulter876]

JCIS... you are the man (unless you're a girl). That totally worked! Thank you so much!!! Now, how do I set this as [RESOLVED]?

[jcis]

You're welcome, go to Thread Tools Menu (up right) and select "Mark thread Resolved".

[jmsrickland]

I don't know how yours turned out but when I try it I get a black rectangle on the left side of the client area and it chops off part of the top of the client area. I used that code exactly as is, I made the picturebox invisible.

[jcis]

I don't know how yours turned out but when I try it I get a black rectangle on the left side of the client area and it chops off part of the top of the client area. I used that code exactly as is, I made the picturebox invisible.

Could you attach an example project so i can see what's happening? The problem could be a control in the Form or the Form's properties or many other things, so if you attach an small project it will be easier.

[mcoulter876]

Okay. I've created a community gmail account.

Username: vbforumsmail@gmail.com
Password: vbforumsmail1

Since I can't upload anything larger than 500k, you can use this. Just don't change anything and we can all use it. Use the honor system.

You'll see my project (RPG Map Maker) in the GMail Inbox.

[Bobbles]

I tried to sign in to the communal gmail and copped this -

[kmoffitt]

jcis,
I am trying to capture a form - part of which is off-screen; your code and code below I am using does capture the whole form... BUT some parts of the form are out of place and it does not capture a RichText Box information; my code below
Clipboard.Clear
picDest.AutoRedraw = True
picDest.ScaleMode = 1 '- Twip
picDest.Width = Me.Width
picDest.Height = Me.Height

rv = SendMessage(Me.hWnd, WM_PAINT, picDest.hdc, 0)
rv = SendMessage(Me.hWnd, WM_PRINT, picDest.hdc, PRF_CHILDREN + PRF_CLIENT + PRF_OWNED)

Set picDest.Picture = picDest.Image
Clipboard.SetData picDest.Picture, vbCFBitmap

What is wrong?