[vbox-dev] How to get screenshot of a guest OS using COM api?

[Grigory Petrov]

Hello.

I'm using VirtualBox to automate old DOS program and need to takes screenshots of guest OS in order to manipulate a program correctly. I have tried the following test code:

void main( void )
{
  ::CoInitialize( 0 );
  IVirtualBox* poVbox = 0;
  ::CoCreateInstance( CLSID_VirtualBox, 0, CLSCTX_ALL, IID_IVirtualBox, (void**)& poVbox );
  SAFEARRAY* poVmList = 0;
  poVbox->get_Machines( & poVmList );
  
  IMachine** ppoVmArray = 0;
  ::SafeArrayAccessData( poVmList, (void**)& ppoVmArray );
  BSTR oVmId;
  (* ppoVmArray)->get_Id( & oVmId );

  ISession* poSession = 0;
  HRESULT hRet = ::CoCreateInstance( CLSID_Session, 0, CLSCTX_ALL,
    IID_ISession, (void**)& poSession );

  IProgress* poProgress = 0;
  BSTR oEnvir = ::SysAllocString( L"" );
  
  hRet = poVbox->OpenRemoteSession( poSession, oVmId, ::SysAllocString( L"gui" ), oEnvir, & poProgress );
  // Wait resonable time for VM to start and to display something.
  ::Sleep( 10000 );

  IConsole* poConsole = 0;
  hRet = poSession->get_Console( & poConsole );
  IDisplay* poDisplay = 0;
  hRet = poConsole->get_Display( & poDisplay );
  
  UINT32 anMem[ 100 ] = { 0 };
  hRet = poDisplay->TakeScreenShot( (BYTE*)anMem, 10, 10 );
  assert( SUCCEEDED( hRet ) );
}

All works, VirtualBox starts and loads guest OS, but after calling TakeScreenShow() it returns E_NOTIMPL :(. Does anyone know what can i do? Maybe i need to use other API functions, get screen buffer, register for updates notifications or something? Host OS is windows XP SP3, latest VirtualBox and SDK from site. I will be very glad if someone can share an working example on how to take an screenshot / image of guest OS desktop, that will help a lot! Or maybe it's some error in my code?

Best, Grigory