I'm getting an exception when using this method when the explorer shell is not running.  The exception is a Win32Exception.

The Stacktrace is:

at OpenNETCF.Drawing.GraphicsEx.CopyFromScreen()
at OpenNETCF.Drawing.GraphicsEx.CopyFromScreen()
at MyNamespace.FormBase.Snapshot()
at MyNamespace.Button.OnPaintBackground()
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WnProc()
at System.Windows.Forms.Control._InternalWnProc()
at Microsoft.AGL.Forms.WL.BeginPaint()

 The call works great as long as the shell is running.  Any suggestions?  Is this expected?

Thanks,

 note: this is the SDF Version 2.2

If you look at the source for CopyFromScreen, the first call it makes is GetDesktopWindow() followed by a GetWindowDC for that HWND - my bet is that this API is serviced by a call to the shell application to get the shell container, and if you have no shell, there is no window to get.

Makes sense.

I don't have the source for 2.2 yet, so I'll wait till then to find a work around.

Thanks for the response.