Question

I have a fun application written in Visual Studio (C#), and I’m wondering – What I do is I draw panels in certain ways on the form – if it’s possible to render the form, without taking a screenshot?

Thanks

Answer 1

If by “taking a screenshot” you mean “sending PrtSc“, then there’s a better way, using System.Drawing.Graphics.CopyFromScreen:

using(Bitmap b = new Bitmap(this.ClientSize.Width, this.ClientSize.Height)) {
    using(Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(b)) {
        g.CopyFromScreen(this.PointToClient(Point.Empty), Point.Empty, this.ClientSize);
    }

    // Your form is now rendered into b.
}

If you want to include the border, just use Size instead of ClientSize, and this.Location instead of this.PointToClient(Point.Empty).

Alternatively, you can use this.DrawToBitmap:

using(Bitmap b = new Bitmap(this.Width, this.Height)) {
    this.DrawToBitmap(b, new Rectangle(0, 0, this.Width, this.Height));

    // Your form is now rendered into b.
}

This will work even if your form doesn’t have focus. However, it will draw the border and it will draw it in Windows Basic style if Aero is active.