How to capture drop-down menus?

[jhebert]

I've spent some time digging through the docs and looking here on the forum, and either I'm missing this or I'm not looking for the right terms.

I want to capture a screen with its drop-down menu open (it's got nearly two dozen choices on it).

When I press any of the shortcut commands to capture, the dropdown closes and then the capture takes place.

I haven't figured out quite how to work around this... can anyone point my in the right direction?

Thank you,

James

[housetier]

maybe it has an option for delayed capture? so you could start the capturing procedure, open your dropdown menus and only then the screen is captured.

[40hz]

Use the delay function on your screen capture program, if it has one. DC's own Screenshot Captor has a delay feature if you app doesn't support it. You can download it here.

Set the delay, click on your drop down menu, and wait until you hear the sound your app uses to tell you your screen has been captured.





<Edit: whoops! I was posting just as housetier was answering your question. )

[jhebert]

Thank you, housetier and 40hz,

I tried screenshot captor first (unaware of the delay option as a workaround) but then went "googling" to find a capture program that touted dropdown capture. I found one, but did not like that it forced me to take additional steps to complete a sequence of images (walking through an app to document how a process works). Plus, Vista occasionally complained about it "has stopped working." But then, Vista is a form of malware anyway 

Ultimately, the ideal would be a combination of the program's dropdown capture PLUS screenshot captor's ability to auto-save and name without insisting on further user intervention, so I can run through the whole process without having to divert my focus.

Working in cubeland, interruptions are all too frequent, so being able to get through a project with fewer sidetracks is highly desirable. If I can make this whole thing work, I'm hoping to sell management on screenshot captor and balsamiq's mockup software to make my life easier here!

James

[mouser]

If you want to capture ONLY the dropdown menu, use Screenshot Captor's object capture.

If you want to capture the screen with dropdown menu dropped, just hit prtscr like normal -- nothing special to do.

Now, if you want to capture only the active window, with the dropdown menu dropped, THEN you might have run into a problem, since the default hotkey for active window capture is ALT+PRTSCR and when you hit the ALT key the menu will close.   The solution in this case is to change the hotkey for active window capture to something else, like SHIFT+PRTSCR.  I probably should have not made ALT+PRTSCR the default hotkey for active window because of this reason.

[40hz]

You could always just go with a screen recorder application, do your thing, and then snip the individual screen images you want from that. That would give you any possible sequential screen you could want since it would capture your entire session.

But keep Googling. I'm sure there's an application already written that will record multiple screen images at selected intervals. I seem to recall seeing something along those lines either over at ghacks.net or downloadsquad.com . You could also cruise snapfiles.com and nonags.com for some other possible solutions.

Good luck.

[mouser]

most screenshot programs, like screenshot captor, will let you take a sequence of images automatically in a timed fashion.

however 40hz's idea of using a screen recorder to capture basically a movie, where you can extract the particular images you want after the fact has some real merit in some cases and is definitely something to consider.

[jhebert]

Ah... yes, I am using ALT+PRTSCR to capture! I'll change that and see how smoothly it goes for me. I'm pretty sure I tried the PRTSCR key alone to capture the dropdown itself... but I was trying out a LOT of things during a hectic period yesterday, and it's entirely possible I overlooked that. Changing ALT to SHIFT with PRTSCR sounds most promising.

The idea of a screen recorder is interesting... there may be need to train others and it could work for that. I'll check it out, too!

Thank you

James

[40hz]

most screenshot programs, like screenshot captor, will let you take a sequence of images automatically in a timed fashion.

-mouser (December 05, 2008, 10:59 AM)

Thanks Mouser! I suspected (but didn't know) it did.

I'm really gonna need to read the docs for Screenshot Captor one of these days, so I can use it more effectively than I do.

Great app!

[mouser]

For Screenshot Captor, from tray menu you can toggle the delay capture mode and autocapture mode (set times in options dialog):

[jhebert]

Odd... even after changing to SHIFT+PRTSCR, I still have the dropdown menu close just prior to the grab. Maybe a Vista issue?

However, when I capture the entire screen with PRTSCR, it works as expected. And this is nice, screenshot captor displays the grabbed screen (window plus desktop area) with cropmarks predefining the active window, so with one button click I get the image I wanted. Swe-e-et.

 

[mouser]

try something else besides shift -- hell, change prtscr to capture active window, and alt+prtscr to capture screen.

[Shades]

You should definitely go after a piece of software called: Wink
It is an open source screenrecorder that captures your whole screen or parts from it at intervals you specify. If you want it can turn all those screnshots even into a flash (.swf) animation.

[TomD101]

Hello all,

just for testing, give HyperSnap DX a try. It is shareware and adds a logo on the shots during evaluation period, but it one of the most advanced progs of its kind.

It has a special option just for dropdown menues, enabling it to snap the dropdown and recurring menus (i.e. File - Open - ...), so it only snaps the outline (and content) of the dropdown menus without the background.

And living in cubeland, maybe smiling man pays for it if it really adds to your work quality. I had it purchased for our complete 60 people team. So you may be lucky.

Test it first, of course. You can download it from www.hyperionics.com

Have a nice holiday and a great new year.

Thomas from Berlin

[hpearce]

I've been using JING for alot of my captures recently.... it autodetects window regions as you move your mouse and allows for both image and video capture followed by immediate upload for sharing.

The last is a time save for me.

[IQLover]

You do NOT need an extra software for this! I just tried it on my PC a minute ago so I know this works!
Simply open the dropdown menue & then press the "Print" button on your Keyboard - that's it 

Now you can insert the captured Image in any application by "ctrl+v" (I did it with Pain)

Hope you get the same success