Program a Screen-Capture Tool in C#
What you'll learn
- Develop a functional and useful screen-grab tool.
- Understand how to import Windows API functions.
- Be able to deal with screen-handling even on multi-monitor systems.
- Understand hotkeys that trigger actions throughout Windows.
- Understand the Windows Procedure (WndProc).
Requirements
- Basic knowledge of C# programming (complete beginners should first study my ‘Learn C# Programming’ course)
- Visual Studio (free or commercial edition).
Description
Create a screen-capture tool in C#. In this course you will follow the development of a complete project from the ground up. You will end up with a utility that grabs images from screen and saves them to disk in multiple image formats.
In this course you will develop programs that do all the following:
- Grab an image of the entire screen
- Grab an image of a selected window
- Grab an image from a second or third monitor
- Mark an area of the screen with the mouse and grab that area
- Add an image of the mouse pointer to grabbed images
- Calculate screen coordinates and offsets
- Save images to disk in various image formats
- Create hotkeys to trigger the screen-capture from any application
- Use forms and picture boxes to display images
- Use Windows API functions to add extra features to C#
- Use file dialogs to save and load images
- Create transparent and translucent windows
- Make forms draggable using API functions
- Override the Windows Procedure to handle events
This is a project-based course that comes with all the source code ready-to-run. It provides a great way for C# programmers to move beyond the basics to explore the development of more complex C# applications.
Who this course is for:
- Intermediate C# programmers looking for a project to extend their knowledge
- C# programmers who want to learn to use the Windows API
- Programmers wanting to understand screen-handling and image capturing
Instructor
- 4.4 Instructor Rating
- 14,129 Reviews
- 106,325 Students
- 16 Courses
Huw Collingbourne is the technology director at SapphireSteel Software, developers of programming tools for Microsoft Visual Studio. He is author of The Little Book Of C, The Little Book Of Pointers and The Little Book Of Recursion from Bitwise Books and of The Book Of Ruby from No Starch Press. He runs Bitwise Courses and teaches courses on a range of programming topics.
Huw has been a programmer for more than 30 years. He is a well-known technology writer in the UK. For over ten years he wrote the Delphi and Java programming column for PC Plus Magazine. He has also written numerous opinion and programming columns (including tutorials on C#, C++, Smalltalk and Ruby) for a number of computer magazines, such as Computer Shopper, PC Pro, and PC Plus.
In the 1980s he was a pop music journalist and interviewed most of the New Romantic stars, such as Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Adam Ant, Boy George, and Depeche Mode. He is now writing a series of 1980s murder mysteries.
At various times Huw has been a magazine publisher, editor, and TV broadcaster. He has an MA in English from the University of Cambridge and holds a 2nd dan black belt in aikido, a martial art which he teaches in North Devon, UK. The aikido comes in useful when trying (usually unsuccessfully) to keep his Pyrenean Mountain Dogs under some semblance of control.