How to convert webpage to image?

Question

I want to convert a * .aspx (HTML) page (User Interface) to an image such as JPEG. I use below code for this

Protected Sub btnGet_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnGet.Click saveURLToImage("http://google.co.in") End Sub Private Sub saveURLToImage(ByVal url As String) If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(url) Then Dim content As String = "" Dim webRequest__1 As System.Net.WebRequest = WebRequest.Create(url) Dim webResponse As System.Net.WebResponse = webRequest__1.GetResponse() Dim sr As System.IO.StreamReader = New StreamReader(webResponse.GetResponseStream(), System.Text.Encoding.GetEncoding("UTF-8")) content = sr.ReadToEnd() 'save to file Dim b As Byte() = Convert.FromBase64String(content) Dim ms As New System.IO.MemoryStream(b, 0, b.Length) Dim img As System.Drawing.Image = System.Drawing.Image.FromStream(ms) img.Save("c:\pic.jpg", System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Jpeg) img.Dispose() ms.Close() End If End Sub 

But I get Error as "Invalid character in Base-64 string" in string Dim b As Byte () = Convert.FromBase64String (content)

Answer 1

You do not get the displayed image of the page using webRequest, you only get HTML code.

To generate the image, follow this code (ripped directly from this post )

 public Bitmap GenerateScreenshot(string url) { // This method gets a screenshot of the webpage // rendered at its full size (height and width) return GenerateScreenshot(url, -1, -1); } public Bitmap GenerateScreenshot(string url, int width, int height) { // Load the webpage into a WebBrowser control WebBrowser wb = new WebBrowser(); wb.ScrollBarsEnabled = false; wb.ScriptErrorsSuppressed = true; wb.Navigate(url); while (wb.ReadyState != WebBrowserReadyState.Complete) { Application.DoEvents(); } // Set the size of the WebBrowser control wb.Width = width; wb.Height = height; if (width == -1) { // Take Screenshot of the web pages full width wb.Width = wb.Document.Body.ScrollRectangle.Width; } if (height == -1) { // Take Screenshot of the web pages full height wb.Height = wb.Document.Body.ScrollRectangle.Height; } // Get a Bitmap representation of the webpage as it rendered in the WebBrowser control Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap(wb.Width, wb.Height); wb.DrawToBitmap(bitmap, new Rectangle(0, 0, wb.Width, wb.Height)); wb.Dispose(); return bitmap; } 

Here are some examples of using the above method:

 // Generate screenshot of a webpage at 1024x768 resolution Bitmap screenshot = GenerateScreenshot("http://pietschsoft.com", 1024, 768); // Generate screenshot of a webpage at the webpage full size (height and width) screenshot = GenerateScreenshot("http://pietschsoft.com"); // Display screenshot in PictureBox control pictureBox1.Image = thumbnail; /* // Save screenshot to a File screenshot.Save("screenshot.png", System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png); */