Taking a print screen of a particular window using PIL using Python

Question

I want to take a print screen of a particular window on my PC by running the python program and it taking that screen shot, before cropping it and comparing its hex value to other hex values in a SQL server.

I have thought about letting it wait 10 seconds whilst I get the other window up and then start taking the print screens continuously until one matches.

I was just wondering if I can use python to maximize that particular window that I want to print screen automatically and then have it take a print screen.

If not, could I take a print screen (a picture) of a window that is minimized? (I think this is impossible)..

Thanks!

Answer 1

If you do a quick Google search, you will find this helpful tutorial that uses PIL to take a screenshot of a desktop:

• http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/quick-screenshots-script-python-pil/38

Assuming you're on Windows, you would need to use PyWin32 (or possibly pywinauto) to get the window you want. These two links will help with that:

• Get HWND of each Window Python
• http://timgolden.me.uk/python/win32_how_do_i/find-the-window-for-my-subprocess.html

Then you could use MoveWindow to resize the window you found before taking the screenshot:

• How can I get the window focused on Windows and re-size it?