screen capture software

Snagit COM Server

Using Snagit’s COM Server, you can easily incorporate Snagit’s screen capture functionality into your organization’s proprietary applications.  The COM Server lets you customize capture instructions for Snagit, automate the capture process and programmatically control Snagit’s entire array of image and text capture features from within your own application.

Snagit's add-ins for Microsoft and Adobe products – which allow you to launch Snagit from the toolbar within these applications – are great examples of the power and convenience of Snagit's COM Server.

Why Use the Snagit COM Server?

• Innovative.
  Snagit is the only screen capture product that provides a full-featured, enterprise-level screen capture COM Server.
• Customizable.
  You can simplify or enhance your organization's use of Snagit by using only the features you want, exactly the way you need them.
• Rapid Development.
  With only a few lines of code, your application can instantly possess the complete power of Snagit's image and text capture features.
• Proven Technology.
  Fifteen years of TechSmith's industry-leading screen capture technology can now be a part of your application.

Compatible Programming Languages

Snagit’s COM Server allows any programming language that supports COM access to Snagit's screen capture features. For example, developers using Visual Basic, VB Script, Visual C/C++, Visual Studio.Net, Delphi, or C++ Builder can now embed and control Snagit directly in their applications.

If you are unfamiliar with COM, see Microsoft's site on COM technologies for more information.

How Are People Using Snagit's COM Server?

"I just used [the COM Server] to document some 60 forms... in about a minute. That ghastly job used to take a whole day."- Theo Callahan, President, I Get It! Development

There are as many possible uses for Snagit’s COM Server as there are for Snagit. For example, some of our customers have used the COM Server to

• Automatically capture Web page content on a photo portfolio site, including the entire Web page layout window
• Automatically capture images from a 3D virtual tour application
• Automatically capture data from a form-based database reporting application

In particular, developers find Snagit’s COM Server ideal for automating a process that involves screen capture, thereby eliminating direct user intervention.

How to Get Started

The Snagit COM Server is built right into Snagit. To start using it, download and install Snagit on your system. This automatically registers the Snagit COM server and makes it available to other applications.

For detailed information about how to develop with the COM server, download and read the Snagit COM Server User’s Guide, available in the following formats:

• HTML Help (180K Bytes)
• PDF Format (541K Bytes)
• Searchable HTML (HTML)

Also, download and examine our example programs. There are examples in multiple languages including C++, Visual Basic, C#, and VBScript to get you started:

• Download example programs (zip file; 444 KB)

These resources should give you the necessary information to begin developing with the Snagit COM Server. If you have any questions, please visit our Support Center.