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Author Topic: Bug/Suggest: Capturing covered window.  (Read 5527 times)

fenixproductions

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Bug/Suggest: Capturing covered window.
« on: August 27, 2008, 09:59 AM »
Hi.

I've just found a "bug" common to many capturing utilities which exists in Screenshot Captor too.

The problem can be easily observed when you try to capture window which is partially covered by other one. In this case you'll got image with two applications.

badshot.pngBug/Suggest: Capturing covered window.

I assume that the source of the troubles is using some WinAPI methods (like: GetWindowDC, GetWindowRect) which are very limited for this purpose. It seems that an information about window handle is used only for knowing the boundaries of the area to be cut from the screen. Not the best way for capturing because it requires to place window on top every time you need it.

I think that it could be nice to modify this tool a little bit and give the possibility to capture any window (even hidden) user can imagine.

One of the solutions is using WM_PRINT (and WM_PRINTCLIENT) as described here:
http://www.fengyuan....article/wmprint.html

The second solution is to apply more dirty trick:
http://www.codeproje...MinimizedWindow.aspx

It is dirty but can give additional feature:
user can choose witch application should be captured from the list of available windows (instead of clicking on appropriate one). Even minimized ones can be captured ;)


« Last Edit: August 27, 2008, 10:06 AM by fenixproductions »

mouser

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Re: Bug/Suggest: Capturing covered window.
« Reply #1 on: August 27, 2008, 11:07 AM »
thanks fenix.
there actually is code in sc to capture with wmp_print stuff but i forget why i dont use it in all cases.. i'll look into code and remind myself

fenixproductions

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Re: Bug/Suggest: Capturing covered window.
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2008, 11:21 AM »
2mouser
You're welcome.

What about giving the dialog to choose which window should be captured? Or maybe additional RMB tray menu item called "Capture Application" with windows names as sub-items... This would be awesome :D

BTW If you're not planning big changes then I think that at least you could bring app to front if user wants to capture it (optional).
« Last Edit: August 27, 2008, 11:24 AM by fenixproductions »

mouser

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Re: Bug/Suggest: Capturing covered window.
« Reply #3 on: August 27, 2008, 11:48 AM »
What about giving the dialog to choose which window should be captured?

i'll do better than that, i'll go back in time and add it.
do a Windows Object Capture -- you can select the window you want to capture.