Screen Capture Specific Window

Question

Is it possible to screen capture a specific window (also possibly of another process)?

Currently I am capturing the entire desktop of a specific monitor, however what I truly want is to capture the content of a specific window (regardless of its position).

Answer 1

There is a new API in Windows 10 in winrt/Windows.Graphics.Capture.h There is a very complex example here by Microsoft: https://github.com/microsoft/Windows.UI.Composition-Win32-Samples/tree/master/cpp/ScreenCaptureforHWND

I wanted to create some dirty example (very dirty) and in my example, you have a simple function that gets HWND of a window and captures it, and saves it as ScreenShot.bmp

Note that the error handling in this function is bad. You are welcome to improve this answer!

NOTES:

• It should work perfectly for any Window. Even if the window does not have WDA_NONE display affinity (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/winuser/nf-winuser-setwindowdisplayaffinity)
• It should work also when the window is offscreen or covered by another window. It will get the full window frame even if part of it is not visible on the screen
• There is a limitation that you will see a yellow border around the window for a very short time during the capture process

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <Windows.h>
#include <dxgi.h>
#include <inspectable.h>
#include <dxgi1_2.h>
#include <d3d11.h>
#include <winrt/Windows.Foundation.h>
#include <winrt/Windows.System.h>
#include <winrt/Windows.Graphics.Capture.h>
#include <windows.graphics.capture.interop.h>
#include <windows.graphics.directx.direct3d11.interop.h>
#include <roerrorapi.h>
#include <shlobj_core.h>
#include <dwmapi.h>
#pragma comment(lib,"Dwmapi.lib")
#pragma comment(lib,"windowsapp.lib")


void CaptureWindow(HWND hwndTarget)
{
    // Init COM
    winrt::init_apartment(winrt::apartment_type::multi_threaded);
    
    // Create Direct 3D Device
    winrt::com_ptr<ID3D11Device> d3dDevice;

    winrt::check_hresult(D3D11CreateDevice(nullptr, D3D_DRIVER_TYPE_HARDWARE, nullptr, D3D11_CREATE_DEVICE_BGRA_SUPPORT,
                                           nullptr, 0,D3D11_SDK_VERSION, d3dDevice.put(), nullptr, nullptr));


    winrt::Windows::Graphics::DirectX::Direct3D11::IDirect3DDevice device;
    const auto dxgiDevice = d3dDevice.as<IDXGIDevice>();
    {
        winrt::com_ptr<::IInspectable> inspectable;
        winrt::check_hresult(CreateDirect3D11DeviceFromDXGIDevice(dxgiDevice.get(), inspectable.put()));
        device = inspectable.as<winrt::Windows::Graphics::DirectX::Direct3D11::IDirect3DDevice>();
    }


    auto idxgiDevice2 = dxgiDevice.as<IDXGIDevice2>();
    winrt::com_ptr<IDXGIAdapter> adapter;
    winrt::check_hresult(idxgiDevice2->GetParent(winrt::guid_of<IDXGIAdapter>(), adapter.put_void()));
    winrt::com_ptr<IDXGIFactory2> factory;
    winrt::check_hresult(adapter->GetParent(winrt::guid_of<IDXGIFactory2>(), factory.put_void()));

    ID3D11DeviceContext* d3dContext = nullptr;
    d3dDevice->GetImmediateContext(&d3dContext);

    RECT rect{};
    DwmGetWindowAttribute(hwndTarget, DWMWA_EXTENDED_FRAME_BOUNDS, &rect, sizeof(RECT));
    const auto size = winrt::Windows::Graphics::SizeInt32{rect.right - rect.left, rect.bottom - rect.top};

    winrt::Windows::Graphics::Capture::Direct3D11CaptureFramePool m_framePool =
        winrt::Windows::Graphics::Capture::Direct3D11CaptureFramePool::Create(
            device,
            winrt::Windows::Graphics::DirectX::DirectXPixelFormat::B8G8R8A8UIntNormalized,
            2,
            size);

    const auto activationFactory = winrt::get_activation_factory<
        winrt::Windows::Graphics::Capture::GraphicsCaptureItem>();
    auto interopFactory = activationFactory.as<IGraphicsCaptureItemInterop>();
    winrt::Windows::Graphics::Capture::GraphicsCaptureItem captureItem = {nullptr};
    interopFactory->CreateForWindow(hwndTarget, winrt::guid_of<ABI::Windows::Graphics::Capture::IGraphicsCaptureItem>(),
                                    reinterpret_cast<void**>(winrt::put_abi(captureItem)));

    auto isFrameArrived = false;
    winrt::com_ptr<ID3D11Texture2D> texture;
    const auto session = m_framePool.CreateCaptureSession(captureItem);
    m_framePool.FrameArrived([&](auto& framePool, auto&)
    {
        if (isFrameArrived) return;
        auto frame = framePool.TryGetNextFrame();

        struct __declspec(uuid("A9B3D012-3DF2-4EE3-B8D1-8695F457D3C1"))
            IDirect3DDxgiInterfaceAccess : ::IUnknown
        {
            virtual HRESULT __stdcall GetInterface(GUID const& id, void** object) = 0;
        };

        auto access = frame.Surface().as<IDirect3DDxgiInterfaceAccess>();
        access->GetInterface(winrt::guid_of<ID3D11Texture2D>(), texture.put_void());
        isFrameArrived = true;
        return;
    });


    session.IsCursorCaptureEnabled(false);
    session.StartCapture();


    // Message pump
    MSG msg;
    clock_t timer = clock();
    while (!isFrameArrived)
    {
        if (PeekMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0, PM_REMOVE) > 0)
            DispatchMessage(&msg);

        if (clock() - timer > 20000)
        {
            // TODO: try to make here a better error handling
            return;
        }
    }

    session.Close();

    D3D11_TEXTURE2D_DESC capturedTextureDesc;
    texture->GetDesc(&capturedTextureDesc);

    capturedTextureDesc.Usage = D3D11_USAGE_STAGING;
    capturedTextureDesc.BindFlags = 0;
    capturedTextureDesc.CPUAccessFlags = D3D11_CPU_ACCESS_READ;
    capturedTextureDesc.MiscFlags = 0;

    winrt::com_ptr<ID3D11Texture2D> userTexture = nullptr;
    winrt::check_hresult(d3dDevice->CreateTexture2D(&capturedTextureDesc, NULL, userTexture.put()));

    d3dContext->CopyResource(userTexture.get(), texture.get());


    D3D11_MAPPED_SUBRESOURCE resource;
    winrt::check_hresult(d3dContext->Map(userTexture.get(), NULL, D3D11_MAP_READ, 0, &resource));

    BITMAPINFO lBmpInfo;

    // BMP 32 bpp
    ZeroMemory(&lBmpInfo, sizeof(BITMAPINFO));
    lBmpInfo.bmiHeader.biSize = sizeof(BITMAPINFOHEADER);
    lBmpInfo.bmiHeader.biBitCount = 32;
    lBmpInfo.bmiHeader.biCompression = BI_RGB;
    lBmpInfo.bmiHeader.biWidth = capturedTextureDesc.Width;
    lBmpInfo.bmiHeader.biHeight = capturedTextureDesc.Height;
    lBmpInfo.bmiHeader.biPlanes = 1;
    lBmpInfo.bmiHeader.biSizeImage = capturedTextureDesc.Width * capturedTextureDesc.Height * 4;
    
    std::unique_ptr<BYTE> pBuf(new BYTE[lBmpInfo.bmiHeader.biSizeImage]);
    UINT lBmpRowPitch = capturedTextureDesc.Width * 4;
    auto sptr = static_cast<BYTE*>(resource.pData);
    auto dptr = pBuf.get() + lBmpInfo.bmiHeader.biSizeImage - lBmpRowPitch;

    UINT lRowPitch = std::min<UINT>(lBmpRowPitch, resource.RowPitch);

    for (size_t h = 0; h < capturedTextureDesc.Height; ++h)
    {
        memcpy_s(dptr, lBmpRowPitch, sptr, lRowPitch);
        sptr += resource.RowPitch;
        dptr -= lBmpRowPitch;
    }

    // Save bitmap buffer into the file ScreenShot.bmp
    WCHAR lMyDocPath[MAX_PATH];

    winrt::check_hresult(SHGetFolderPath(nullptr, CSIDL_PERSONAL, nullptr, SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT, lMyDocPath));

    std::wstring lFilePath = L"ScreenShot.bmp";

    FILE* lfile = nullptr;

    if (auto lerr = _wfopen_s(&lfile, lFilePath.c_str(), L"wb"); lerr != 0)
        return;

    if (lfile != nullptr)
    {
        BITMAPFILEHEADER bmpFileHeader;

        bmpFileHeader.bfReserved1 = 0;
        bmpFileHeader.bfReserved2 = 0;
        bmpFileHeader.bfSize = sizeof(BITMAPFILEHEADER) + sizeof(BITMAPINFOHEADER) + lBmpInfo.bmiHeader.biSizeImage;
        bmpFileHeader.bfType = 'MB';
        bmpFileHeader.bfOffBits = sizeof(BITMAPFILEHEADER) + sizeof(BITMAPINFOHEADER);

        fwrite(&bmpFileHeader, sizeof(BITMAPFILEHEADER), 1, lfile);
        fwrite(&lBmpInfo.bmiHeader, sizeof(BITMAPINFOHEADER), 1, lfile);
        fwrite(pBuf.get(), lBmpInfo.bmiHeader.biSizeImage, 1, lfile);

        fclose(lfile);
    }

    return;
}

How to use:

auto targetHwnd = FindWindow(L"Notepad",NULL); // Or user any other HWND
CaptureWindow(targetHwnd); // If it worked, it will create ScreenShot.bmp file

Answer 2

Yes, Just as easy as capturing the full screen. You just use GetWindowDC() on the required window rather than GetDesktopWindow(), then BitBlt() from that to your target DC. You can also get the correct size by using GetWindowRect().

Note that this method also allows you to capture from hidden/covered windows where a full screenshot with a bounding rectangle doesn't.

See this question for some more details.

Answer 3

Yes it is. All what you need is get handle to window which you want to capture and use WinAPI function PrintWindow for example:

// Get the window handle of calculator application.
HWND hWnd = ::FindWindow( 0, _T( "Calculator" ));

// Take screenshot.
PrintWindow( hWnd, getDC(hWnd), 0 );

Here you have PrintWindow documentation.