Perform screen-scape of Webbrowser control in thread

Question

I am using the technique shown in

WebBrowser Control in a new thread

Trying to get a screen-scrape of a webpage I have been able to get the following code to successfully work when the WebBrowser control is placed on a WinForm. However it fails by providing an arbitrary image of the desktop when run inside a thread.

Thread browserThread = new Thread(() =>
{
    WebBrowser br = new WebBrowser();
    br.DocumentCompleted += webBrowser1_DocumentCompleted;
    br.ProgressChanged += webBrowser1_ProgressChanged;
    br.ScriptErrorsSuppressed = true;
    br.Navigate(url);
    Application.Run();
});
browserThread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
browserThread.Start();

private Image TakeSnapShot(WebBrowser browser)
{
    int width;
    int height;

    width = browser.ClientRectangle.Width;
    height = browser.ClientRectangle.Height;

    Bitmap image = new Bitmap(width, height);

    using (Graphics graphics = Graphics.FromImage(image))
    {
        Point p = new Point(0, 0);
        Point upperLeftSource = browser.PointToScreen(p);
        Point upperLeftDestination = new Point(0, 0);

        Size blockRegionSize = browser.ClientRectangle.Size;
        blockRegionSize.Width = blockRegionSize.Width - 15;
        blockRegionSize.Height = blockRegionSize.Height - 15;
        graphics.CopyFromScreen(upperLeftSource, upperLeftDestination, blockRegionSize);
    }

    return image;
}

This obviously happens because of the method Graphics.CopyFromScreen() but I am unaware of any other approach. Is there a way to resolve this issue that anyone could suggest? or is my only option to create a form, add the control, make it visible and then screen-scrape? For obvious reasons I'm hoping to avoid such an approach.

Nickolas

Answer 1

You can write

private Image TakeSnapShot(WebBrowser browser)
{
     browser.Width = browser.Document.Body.ScrollRectangle.Width;
     browser.Height= browser.Document.Body.ScrollRectangle.Height;

     Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap(browser.Width - System.Windows.Forms.SystemInformation.VerticalScrollBarWidth, browser.Height);

     browser.DrawToBitmap(bitmap, new Rectangle(0, 0, bitmap.Width, bitmap.Height));

     return bitmap;
}

A full working code

var image = await WebUtils.GetPageAsImageAsync("http://www.stackoverflow.com");
image.Save(fname , System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Bmp);

---

public class WebUtils
{
    public static Task<Image> GetPageAsImageAsync(string url)
    {
        var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<Image>();

        var thread = new Thread(() =>
        {
            WebBrowser browser = new WebBrowser();
            browser.Size = new Size(1280, 768);

            WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventHandler documentCompleted = null;
            documentCompleted = async (o, s) =>
            {
                browser.DocumentCompleted -= documentCompleted;
                await Task.Delay(2000); //Run JS a few seconds more

                Bitmap bitmap = TakeSnapshot(browser);

                tcs.TrySetResult(bitmap);
                browser.Dispose();
                Application.ExitThread();
            };

            browser.ScriptErrorsSuppressed = true;
            browser.DocumentCompleted += documentCompleted;
            browser.Navigate(url);
            Application.Run();
        });

        thread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
        thread.Start();

        return tcs.Task;
    }

    private static Bitmap TakeSnapshot(WebBrowser browser)
    {
         browser.Width = browser.Document.Body.ScrollRectangle.Width;
         browser.Height= browser.Document.Body.ScrollRectangle.Height;

         Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap(browser.Width - System.Windows.Forms.SystemInformation.VerticalScrollBarWidth, browser.Height);

         browser.DrawToBitmap(bitmap, new Rectangle(0, 0, bitmap.Width, bitmap.Height));

         return bitmap;
    }
}

Terylene

Exactly what I needed. I looked for something like WebBrowser.DrawToBitmap() but it didn't appear in intellisense (and still doesn't) but compiles fine. Thank you! – Nickolas

Also thanks for showing System.Windows.Forms.SystemInformation. Never seen that before and obviously very useful. – Nickolas

Code samples without using statements. sigh. – Athena

@RobertHarvey thank to VS, it resolves that easily :) – Terylene

Sure, if you have Resharper. But even Resharper can't always read your mind. – Athena

Answer 2

using (Graphics graphics = Graphics.FromImage(image))
    {
        Point p = new Point(0, 0);
        Point upperLeftSource = browser.PointToScreen(p);
        Point upperLeftDestination = new Point(0, 0);

        Size blockRegionSize = browser.ClientRectangle.Size;
        blockRegionSize.Width = blockRegionSize.Width - 15;
        blockRegionSize.Height = blockRegionSize.Height - 15;
        graphics.CopyFromScreen(upperLeftSource, upperLeftDestination, blockRegionSize);
    }

Do you really need using statement ?

You also return image but how is copied image assigned to it?

Talus

Yes you need a using, unless you have a good reason not to dispose a IDisposable object you should. As for the image it's assigned through the line Graphics graphics = Graphics.FromImage(image). – Nickolas