Take screenshot and show it in form

Question

I try to create a screenshot like described here:

private Graphics takeScreenshot()
{
    //Create a new bitmap.
    var bmpScreenshot = new Bitmap(Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Width,
                                   Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Height,
                                   System.Drawing.Imaging.PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb);

    // Create a graphics object from the bitmap.
    var gfxScreenshot = Graphics.FromImage(bmpScreenshot);

    // Take the screenshot from the upper left corner to the right bottom corner.
    gfxScreenshot.CopyFromScreen(Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.X,
                                Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Y,
                                0,
                                0,
                                Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Size,
                                CopyPixelOperation.SourceCopy);

    return gfxScreenshot;
}

How can I show it in my form after it is taken? I tried to display it inside a pictureBox:

Graphics screenshot = takeScreenshot();
pictureBox1.Image = screenshot;

But I get:

Severity Code Description Project File Line Suppression State Error CS0029 Cannot implicitly convert type 'System.Drawing.Graphics' to 'System.Drawing.Image' SRAT C:\Users\Edd\documents\visual studio 2017\Projects\SRAT\SRAT\Form1.cs 20 Active

and this answer says that it is not possible to convert it

Don't return the `Graphics`, return `bmpScreenshot` instead. — Blorgbeard, Aug 30 '17 at 20:10

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 30 '17 at 20:15

A Graphics object is a sort of wrapper around an image that lets you draw on the image. They are usually temporary, and don't actually own the pixels that you're drawing.

In your case, gfxScreenshot is just providing the ability to draw onto bmpScreenshot, which is where the image actually lives in memory.

You should throw away the Graphics and return the Bitmap:

private Bitmap TakeScreenshot()
{
    //Create a new bitmap.
    var bmpScreenshot = new Bitmap(Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Width,
                                   Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Height,
                                   System.Drawing.Imaging.PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb);

    // Create a graphics object from the bitmap.
    using (var gfxScreenshot = Graphics.FromImage(bmpScreenshot))
    {    
        // Take the screenshot from the upper left corner to the right bottom corner.
        gfxScreenshot.CopyFromScreen(Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.X,
                                Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Y,
                                0,
                                0,
                                Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Size,
                                CopyPixelOperation.SourceCopy);    
    }

    return bmpScreenshot;
}

Then you can assign the bitmap to a PictureBox:

Bitmap screenshot = TakeScreenshot();
pictureBox1.Image = screenshot;

This works perfectly! Thank you! Now I have an idea how this works. — Black, Aug 30 '17 at 20:17

Take screenshot and show it in form

1 Answers1