How to capture the screen and mouse pointer using Windows APIs?

I'm using the below code to capture the screen in a bitmap. The screen is captured, but I'm unable to get the mouse pointer on the screen. Could you suggest some alternative approach so that the mouse is captured as well?

    private Bitmap CaptureScreen()
    {
        // Size size is how big an area to capture
        // pointOrigin is the upper left corner of the area to capture
        int width = Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.X + Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Width;
        int height = Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Y + Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Height;
        Size size = new Size(width, height);
        Point pointOfOrigin = new Point(0, 0);

        Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap(size.Width, size.Height);
        {
            using (Graphics graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bitmap))
            {
                graphics.CopyFromScreen(pointOfOrigin, new Point(0, 0), size);
            }
            return bitmap;
        }
    }

Solution 1:

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
struct CURSORINFO
{
    public Int32 cbSize;
    public Int32 flags;
    public IntPtr hCursor;
    public POINTAPI ptScreenPos;
}

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
struct POINTAPI
{
    public int x;
    public int y;
}

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static extern bool GetCursorInfo(out CURSORINFO pci);

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static extern bool DrawIcon(IntPtr hDC, int X, int Y, IntPtr hIcon);

const Int32 CURSOR_SHOWING = 0x00000001;

public static Bitmap CaptureScreen(bool CaptureMouse)
{
    Bitmap result = new Bitmap(Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Width, Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Height, PixelFormat.Format24bppRgb);

    try
    {
        using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(result))
        {
            g.CopyFromScreen(0, 0, 0, 0, Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Size, CopyPixelOperation.SourceCopy);

            if (CaptureMouse)
            {
                CURSORINFO pci;
                pci.cbSize = System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(CURSORINFO));

                if (GetCursorInfo(out pci))
                {
                    if (pci.flags == CURSOR_SHOWING)
                    {
                        DrawIcon(g.GetHdc(), pci.ptScreenPos.x, pci.ptScreenPos.y, pci.hCursor);
                        g.ReleaseHdc();
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
    catch
    {
        result = null;
    }

    return result;
}

Solution 2:

If you're NOT looking for the EXACT replica of the cursor you're currently using, you could use the following code, all you have to do is add one line in your original code!

private Bitmap CaptureScreen()
{
    // Size size is how big an area to capture
    // pointOrigin is the upper left corner of the area to capture
    int width = Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.X + Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Width;
    int height = Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Y + Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Height;
    Size size = new Size(width, height);
    Point pointOfOrigin = new Point(0, 0);

    Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap(size.Width, size.Height);
    {
        using (Graphics graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bitmap))
        {
            graphics.CopyFromScreen(pointOfOrigin, new Point(0, 0), size);
            //Following code is all you needed!
            graphics.DrawIcon(new Icon("Sample.ico"),Cursor.Position.X-50,Cursor.Position.Y-50);
            //The reason I minus 50 in the position is because you need to "offset" the position. Please go check out the post WholsRich commented.
        }
        return bitmap;
    }
}

You could go online and download all kind of icons.

Or use ICO Convert to make your own.

Good luck!