How to programmatically take a screenshot on Android?

Here is the code that allowed my screenshot to be stored on an SD card and used later for whatever your needs are:

First, you need to add a proper permission to save the file:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>

And this is the code (running in an Activity):

private void takeScreenshot() {    Date now = new Date();    android.text.format.DateFormat.format("yyyy-MM-dd_hh:mm:ss", now);    try {        // image naming and path  to include sd card  appending name you choose for file        String mPath = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().toString() + "/" + now + ".jpg";        // create bitmap screen capture        View v1 = getWindow().getDecorView().getRootView();        v1.setDrawingCacheEnabled(true);        Bitmap bitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(v1.getDrawingCache());        v1.setDrawingCacheEnabled(false);        File imageFile = new File(mPath);        FileOutputStream outputStream = new FileOutputStream(imageFile);        int quality = 100;        bitmap.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.JPEG, quality, outputStream);        outputStream.flush();        outputStream.close();        openScreenshot(imageFile);    } catch (Throwable e) {        // Several error may come out with file handling or DOM        e.printStackTrace();    }}

And this is how you can open the recently generated image:

private void openScreenshot(File imageFile) {    Intent intent = new Intent();    intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);    Uri uri = Uri.fromFile(imageFile);    intent.setDataAndType(uri, "image/*");    startActivity(intent);}

If you want to use this on fragment view then use:

View v1 = getActivity().getWindow().getDecorView().getRootView();

instead of

View v1 = getWindow().getDecorView().getRootView();

on takeScreenshot() function

Note:

This solution doesn't work if your dialog contains a surface view. For details please check the answer to the following question:

Android Take Screenshot of Surface View Shows Black Screen

Call this method, passing in the outer most ViewGroup that you want a screen shot of:

public Bitmap screenShot(View view) {    Bitmap bitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(view.getWidth(),            view.getHeight(), Config.ARGB_8888);    Canvas canvas = new Canvas(bitmap);    view.draw(canvas);    return bitmap;}

Note: works only for rooted phone

Programmatically, you can run adb shell /system/bin/screencap -p /sdcard/img.png as below

Process sh = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("su", null,null);OutputStream os = sh.getOutputStream();os.write(("/system/bin/screencap -p " + "/sdcard/img.png").getBytes("ASCII"));os.flush();os.close();sh.waitFor();    

then read img.png as Bitmap and use as your wish.