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\example desktop/screenshot
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\title Screenshot Example
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\ingroup examples-desktop
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\brief The Screenshot example shows how to take a screenshot of the
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\brief The Screenshot example shows how to take a screenshot of the
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desktop using QApplication and QDesktopWidget. It also shows how
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to use QTimer to provide a single-shot timer, and how to
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reimplement the QWidget::resizeEvent() event handler to make sure
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that an application resizes smoothly and without data loss.
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\image screenshot-example.png
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With the application the users can take a screenshot of their
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desktop. They are provided with a couple of options:
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\li Delaying the screenshot, giving them time to rearrange
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\li Hiding the application's window while the screenshot is taken.
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In addition the application allows the users to save their
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screenshot if they want to.
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\section1 Screenshot Class Definition
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\snippet desktop/screenshot/screenshot.h 0
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The \c Screenshot class inherits QWidget and is the application's
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main widget. It displays the application options and a preview of
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We reimplement the QWidget::resizeEvent() function to make sure
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that the preview of the screenshot scales properly when the user
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resizes the application widget. We also need several private slots
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to facilitate the options:
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\li The \c newScreenshot() slot prepares a new screenshot.
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\li The \c saveScreenshot() slot saves the last screenshot.
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\li The \c shootScreen() slot takes the screenshot.
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\li The \c updateCheckBox() slot enables or disables the
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\uicontrol {Hide This Window} option.
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We also declare some private functions: We use the \c
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createOptionsGroupBox(), \c createButtonsLayout() and \c
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createButton() functions when we construct the widget. And we call
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the private \c updateScreenshotLabel() function whenever a new
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screenshot is taken or when a resize event changes the size of the
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screenshot preview label.
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In addition we need to store the screenshot's original pixmap. The
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reason is that when we display the preview of the screenshot, we
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need to scale its pixmap, storing the original we make sure that
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no data are lost in that process.
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\section1 Screenshot Class Implementation
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\snippet desktop/screenshot/screenshot.cpp 0
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In the constructor we first create the QLabel displaying the
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We set the QLabel's size policy to be QSizePolicy::Expanding both
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horizontally and vertically. This means that the QLabel's size
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hint is a sensible size, but the widget can be shrunk and still be
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useful. Also, the widget can make use of extra space, so it should
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get as much space as possible. Then we make sure the QLabel is
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aligned in the center of the \c Screenshot widget, and set its
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We create the applications's buttons and the group box containing
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the application's options, and put it all into a main
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layout. Finally we take the initial screenshot, and set the initial
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delay and the window title, before we resize the widget to a
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\snippet desktop/screenshot/screenshot.cpp 1
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The \c resizeEvent() function is reimplemented to receive the
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resize events dispatched to the widget. The purpose is to scale
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the preview screenshot pixmap without deformation of its content,
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and also make sure that the application can be resized smoothly.
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To achieve the first goal, we scale the screenshot pixmap using
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Qt::KeepAspectRatio. We scale the pixmap to a rectangle as large
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as possible inside the current size of the screenshot preview
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label, preserving the aspect ratio. This means that if the user
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resizes the application window in only one direction, the preview
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screenshot keeps the same size.
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To reach our second goal, we make sure that the preview screenshot
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only is repainted (using the private \c updateScreenshotLabel()
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function) when it actually changes its size.
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\snippet desktop/screenshot/screenshot.cpp 2
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The private \c newScreenshot() slot is called when the user
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requests a new screenshot; but the slot only prepares a new
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First we see if the \uicontrol {Hide This Window} option is checked, if
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it is we hide the \c Screenshot widget. Then we disable the \uicontrol
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{New Screenshot} button, to make sure the user only can request
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one screenshot at a time.
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We create a timer using the QTimer class which provides repetitive
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and single-shot timers. We set the timer to time out only once,
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using the static QTimer::singleShot() function. This function
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calls the private \c shootScreen() slot after the time interval
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specified by the \uicontrol {Screenshot Delay} option. It is \c
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shootScreen() that actually performs the screenshot.
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\snippet desktop/screenshot/screenshot.cpp 3
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The \c saveScreenshot() slot is called when the user push the \uicontrol
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Save button, and it presents a file dialog using the QFileDialog
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QFileDialog enables a user to traverse the file system in order to
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select one or many files or a directory. The easiest way to create
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a QFileDialog is to use the convenience static
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We define the default file format to be png, and we make the file
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dialog's initial path the path the application is run from. We
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create the file dialog using the static
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QFileDialog::getSaveFileName() function which returns a file name
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selected by the user. The file does not have to exist. If the file
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name is valid, we use the QPixmap::save() function to save the
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screenshot's original pixmap in that file.
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\snippet desktop/screenshot/screenshot.cpp 4
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The \c shootScreen() slot is called to take the screenshot. If the
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user has chosen to delay the screenshot, we make the application
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beep when the screenshot is taken using the static
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QApplication::beep() function.
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The QApplication class manages the GUI application's control flow
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and main settings. It contains the main event loop, where all
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events from the window system and other sources are processed and
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\snippet desktop/screenshot/screenshot.cpp 5
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Using the static function QApplication::primaryScreen(), we
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obtain the QScreen object for the application's main screen.
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We take the screenshot using the QScreen::grabWindow()
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function. The function grabs the contents of the window passed as
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an argument, makes a pixmap out of it and returns that pixmap.
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The window id can be obtained with QWidget::winId() or QWindow::winId().
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Here, however, we just pass 0 as the window id, indicating that we
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want to grab the entire screen.
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We update the screenshot preview label using the private \c
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updateScreenshotLabel() function. Then we enable the \uicontrol {New
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Screenshot} button, and finally we make the \c Screenshot widget
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visible if it was hidden during the screenshot.
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\snippet desktop/screenshot/screenshot.cpp 6
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The \uicontrol {Hide This Window} option is enabled or disabled
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depending on the delay of the screenshot. If there is no delay,
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the application window cannot be hidden and the option's checkbox
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The \c updateCheckBox() slot is called whenever the user changes
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the delay using the \uicontrol {Screenshot Delay} option.
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\snippet desktop/screenshot/screenshot.cpp 7
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The private \c createOptionsGroupBox() function is called from the
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First we create a group box that will contain all of the options'
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widgets. Then we create a QSpinBox and a QLabel for the \uicontrol
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{Screenshot Delay} option, and connect the spinbox to the \c
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updateCheckBox() slot. Finally, we create a QCheckBox for the \uicontrol
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{Hide This Window} option, add all the options' widgets to a
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QGridLayout and install the layout on the group box.
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Note that we don't have to specify any parents for the widgets
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when we create them. The reason is that when we add a widget to a
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layout and install the layout on another widget, the layout's
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widgets are automatically reparented to the widget the layout is
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\snippet desktop/screenshot/screenshot.cpp 8
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The private \c createButtonsLayout() function is called from the
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constructor. We create the application's buttons using the private
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\c createButton() function, and add them to a QHBoxLayout.
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\snippet desktop/screenshot/screenshot.cpp 9
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The private \c createButton() function is called from the \c
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createButtonsLayout() function. It simply creates a QPushButton
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with the provided text, connects it to the provided receiver and
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slot, and returns a pointer to the button.
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\snippet desktop/screenshot/screenshot.cpp 10
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The private \c updateScreenshotLabel() function is called whenever
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the screenshot changes, or when a resize event changes the size of
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the screenshot preview label. It updates the screenshot preview's
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label using the QLabel::setPixmap() and QPixmap::scaled()
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QPixmap::scaled() returns a copy of the given pixmap scaled to a
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rectangle of the given size according to the given
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Qt::AspectRatioMode and Qt::TransformationMode.
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We scale the original pixmap to fit the current screenshot label's
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size, preserving the aspect ratio and giving the resulting pixmap