App Inventor Extensions

Take Screenshot Extension

See the App Inventor Extensions document about how to use an App Inventor Extension.

For questions about this extension or bug reports please start a new thread in the App Inventor community. Thank you.

For feature requests please contact me by email. To be a sponsor of a new method already is possible starting from only 10 USD! With your contribution you will help the complete App Inventor community. Thank you.

Aug 11th, 2016: Version 1a: avoid DX execution failed error: build each extension separately

Sep 8th, 2016: Version 1b: provide error message in case something goes wrong

Sep 15th, 2021: Version 2: SDK30 adjustment to store the screenshot in the ASD - Application Specific Directory

Description

Take Screenshot Extension to take a screenshot.
Required permission: none

Note: You also might be interested in the Screenshot Service Extension, which is able to take screenshots while your app is not running...

Properties

Return fileName of screenshot to be taken. Default filename is screenshot.jpg.

Set fileName of screenshot to be taken.

Methods

Take a screenshot.

Events

Return image.

Example Use

Questions and Answers

Q1: I am unable to get the screenshot of a web page. When I open it with web viewer, it shows perfectly but when I use the screenshot extension to share the screenshot of that, the chart area is removed automatically. Please let me know about any other ways or extensions which i could you for this.
A: Try the Component to Image Screenshot Extension by Jerin Jacob, which also can take screenshots of a webviewer page.

Q2: how to make user cannot take screenshot when open our apps?
A: Add the Disable Screen Capture Extension by Ken to every screen you want to prevent screenshots. Thank you Ken!

Java source code (Version 1)

package com.puravidaapps;

import android.content.Context;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.View;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Environment;

import com.google.appinventor.components.annotations.DesignerComponent;
import com.google.appinventor.components.annotations.DesignerProperty;
import com.google.appinventor.components.annotations.PropertyCategory;
import com.google.appinventor.components.annotations.SimpleEvent;
import com.google.appinventor.components.annotations.SimpleFunction;
import com.google.appinventor.components.annotations.SimpleObject;
import com.google.appinventor.components.annotations.SimpleProperty;
import com.google.appinventor.components.annotations.UsesPermissions;
import com.google.appinventor.components.common.ComponentCategory;
import com.google.appinventor.components.common.PropertyTypeConstants;
import com.google.appinventor.components.runtime.*;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;


@DesignerComponent(version = TaifunScreenshot.VERSION,
    description = "Extension to take a screenshot.",
    category = ComponentCategory.EXTENSION,
    nonVisible = true,
    iconName = "https://puravidaapps.com/images/taifun16.png")
@SimpleObject(external = true)
@UsesPermissions(permissionNames = "android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE")

public class TaifunScreenshot extends AndroidNonvisibleComponent implements Component {

  public static final int VERSION = 1;
  private ComponentContainer container;
  private Context context;
  private final Activity activity;
  private String fileName;
  private static final String LOG_TAG = "TaifunScreenshot";


  public TaifunScreenshot(ComponentContainer container) {
    super(container.$form());
    this.container = container;
    context = (Context) container.$context();
    activity = (Activity) container.$context();
    fileName = "screenshot.jpg";
    Log.d(LOG_TAG, "TaifunScreenshot Created" );
  }



  /**
   * Return fileName
   */
  @SimpleProperty(category = PropertyCategory.BEHAVIOR,
      description = "filename of the screenshot to be taken")
  public String FileName() {
    return fileName;
  }


  /**
   * Set fileName
   */
  @DesignerProperty(editorType = PropertyTypeConstants.PROPERTY_TYPE_STRING,
      defaultValue = "screenshot.jpg")
  @SimpleProperty
  public void FileName(String fileName) {
    this.fileName = fileName;
  }


  /**
   * Take a screenshot
   */
  @SimpleFunction(description = "Take a screenshot.")
  public void TakeScreenshot() {
    // "http://stackoverflow.com/a/5651242/1545993
    try {
      // image naming and path  to include sd card  appending name you choose for file
      String mPath = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().toString() + File.separator + fileName;

      // create bitmap screen capture
      View v1 = activity.getWindow().getDecorView().getRootView();
      v1.setDrawingCacheEnabled(true);
      Bitmap bitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(v1.getDrawingCache());
      v1.setDrawingCacheEnabled(false);

      File imageFile = new java.io.File(mPath);

      FileOutputStream outputStream = new FileOutputStream(imageFile);
      int quality = 100;
      bitmap.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.JPEG, quality, outputStream);
      outputStream.flush();
      outputStream.close();

      Log.d(LOG_TAG, "screenshot taken: " + imageFile.toString());
      AfterScreenshot(imageFile.toString());
    } catch (Throwable e) {
      // Several error may come out with file handling or OOM
      Log.e(LOG_TAG, e.getMessage(), e);
      e.printStackTrace();
    }
  }

  /**
   * The AfterScreenshot event
   */
  @SimpleEvent(description = "Return image.")
  public void AfterScreenshot(String image){
    EventDispatcher.dispatchEvent(this, "AfterScreenshot", image);
  }

}

Terms and Conditions

• Have fun and use this extension in your App Inventor projects! Pura Vida!
• THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
• This is is the only authorized place to download this extension. It is not allowed to host this extension somewhere else and offer it for others to download, be it on another website or market place or similar. The reason is, everybody should be able to have the opportunity to donate something in case you like my work. You are allowed to provide a link to this site, so others can download the extension here. You will find the most up to date version always here including documentation and usage examples. Thank you for your kind understanding.

Download

Download TaifunScreenshot extension (aix file)
Back to top of page ...

This work by Pura Vida Apps is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
with attribution (name=Pura Vida Apps and link to the source site) required.