Feature Request: Window Capture Sub-Windows (right-click menus, dropdowns, preference windows etc)

[BonesJD]

Is there a feature requests somewhere for this? Apologies if there is

Feature: Ability for user to capture a specific program window and all of it's right click menus, drop downs and preferences sub-windows WITHOUT capturing any other window from another program that might open on top. (not using display capture)

Example reason: Capturing a tutorial on a single monitor of a software where it's important to show menus. You need to open File Explorer, Web browser or even start menu but you don't want to dox yourself while streaming.

Possible ideas of implementations: (I'm not a programmer so don't know what's achievable)
- Add the ability for window capture to detect and include "sub-windows" related to that program in the capture. Make a checkbox to allow this
- Make a kind of "display capture" that just captures all windows in a display area but with a blacklist and whitelist for programs that should and should not be captured when opened in that area
- The ability to add right click menus, drop downs and "sub-windows" (like a preferences menu) as extra window captures that can be captured individually but in their correct relative position on screen

 

[AaronD]

I have that same problem with the native screenshot tool in KDE on Linux, so it's probably difficult at best, if not impossible. The Active Window capture in that, doesn't do menus either, but captures what's behind them instead. I need to use the Full Screen capture to get the menus, and then crop it.

If the native tools have the same problem, then you're probably not going to do much better in something else.

Part of the problem is how a menu is drawn. Is it a special popup? Is it part of the main window? Different programs do it differently, depending on their heritage, especially ones that have been around forever and still don't want to alienate their old users. If it's a popup, how do you differentiate it from other popups? Usually, each window, including popups, has a unique id, but the id's are assigned dynamically, so you kinda have to figure out in the moment which id to look for this time. So the id is really just a shortcut, after you've found it by other means, so that you don't have to search again. So how else would you find a specific window?...

This strikes me as one of those problems that seems obvious to someone watching the screen, but surprisingly difficult to actually solve.

Tasks

xkcd.com

1425: Tasks - explain xkcd

Explain xkcd is a wiki dedicated to explaining the webcomic xkcd. Go figure.

www.explainxkcd.com

You're probably better off buying a USB display adapter, or finding an unused video port and adapting that, to get an extra monitor. Then dedicate one to be a display capture.

 

[BonesJD]

If it's a popup, how do you differentiate it from other popups? Usually, each window, including popups, has a unique id, but the id's are assigned dynamically, so you kinda have to figure out in the moment which id to look for this time. So the id is really just a shortcut, after you've found it by other means, so that you don't have to search again. So how else would you find a specific window?...

In Windows, when you have a software open and you open up a sub-window like a preferences menu or something, if you hover over the software icon on the task bar, you will see all the Windows related to that software together in a group. Obviously Windows is able to see that the sub-windows are related and not just any random window. So I guess there is some identifier that links them

 

[AaronD]

In Windows, when you have a software open and you open up a sub-window like a preferences menu or something, if you hover over the software icon on the task bar, you will see all the Windows related to that software together in a group. Obviously Windows is able to see that the sub-windows are related and not just any random window. So I guess there is some identifier that links them

Windows, maybe, but what about the other systems? Of course, it requires some OS-specific tweaks, even to make the *same* features work everywhere, but when you start thinking about OS-specific features, that's another can of worms. One feature builds on another, and pretty soon you have a completely different app for each OS that is no longer compatible with the others despite having the same name.

On Linux, KDE can group windows, but LXDE can't. And there are lots more window managers than just those two! You wanna sort that all out?

Maybe it would work to have a "provisional feature" that works if the OS supports it and fails gracefully if it doesn't - we already have a different list of sources for each OS - but that gets to be a mess too. Nevertheless, if someone decides that it's really necessary, it might end up happening anyway...for some window managers...

 

[BonesJD]

Windows, maybe, but what about the other systems? Of course, it requires some OS-specific tweaks, even to make the *same* features work everywhere, but when you start thinking about OS-specific features, that's another can of worms. One feature builds on another, and pretty soon you have a completely different app for each OS that is no longer compatible with the others despite having the same name.

On Linux, KDE can group windows, but LXDE can't. And there are lots more window managers than just those two! You wanna sort that all out?

Maybe it would work to have a "provisional feature" that works if the OS supports it and fails gracefully if it doesn't - we already have a different list of sources for each OS - but that gets to be a mess too. Nevertheless, if someone decides that it's really necessary, it might end up happening anyway...for some window managers...

There is already a mode for Windows in the Window Capture so there wouldn't need to be any extra separation between OS. Just add a checkbox on the Windows mode to capture sub windows