Take a screenshot of RecyclerView in FULL length

Question

I want to get a "full page" screenshot of the activity. The view contains a RecyclerView with many items.

I can take a screenshot of the current view with this function:

public Bitmap getScreenBitmap() {
    View v= findViewById(R.id.container).getRootView();
    v.setDrawingCacheEnabled(true);
    v.buildDrawingCache(true);
    Bitmap b = Bitmap.createBitmap(v.getDrawingCache());
    v.setDrawingCacheEnabled(false); // clear drawing cache
    return b;
}

But it contains only the items I can view normally (as expected).

Is there some way to make the RecyclerView magically show in full length (display all items at once) when I take the screenshot?

If not, how should I approach this problem?

If you have many items, no matter if solution is possible, I guarantee you an out of memory error. — Bojan Kseneman, May 06 '15 at 18:46

score 23 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 08 '17 at 01:15

Inspired from Yoav's answer. This code works for recyclerview item types and probably regardless of it's size.

It was tested with a recyclerview having linearlayout manager and three item types. Yet to check it with other layout managers.

public Bitmap getScreenshotFromRecyclerView(RecyclerView view) {
        RecyclerView.Adapter adapter = view.getAdapter();
        Bitmap bigBitmap = null;
        if (adapter != null) {
            int size = adapter.getItemCount();
            int height = 0;
            Paint paint = new Paint();
            int iHeight = 0;
            final int maxMemory = (int) (Runtime.getRuntime().maxMemory() / 1024);

            // Use 1/8th of the available memory for this memory cache.
            final int cacheSize = maxMemory / 8;
            LruCache<String, Bitmap> bitmaCache = new LruCache<>(cacheSize);
            for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
                RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder = adapter.createViewHolder(view, adapter.getItemViewType(i));
                adapter.onBindViewHolder(holder, i);
                holder.itemView.measure(View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(view.getWidth(), View.MeasureSpec.EXACTLY),
                        View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(0, View.MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED));
                holder.itemView.layout(0, 0, holder.itemView.getMeasuredWidth(), holder.itemView.getMeasuredHeight());
                holder.itemView.setDrawingCacheEnabled(true);
                holder.itemView.buildDrawingCache();
                Bitmap drawingCache = holder.itemView.getDrawingCache();
                if (drawingCache != null) {

                    bitmaCache.put(String.valueOf(i), drawingCache);
                }
//                holder.itemView.setDrawingCacheEnabled(false);
//                holder.itemView.destroyDrawingCache();
                height += holder.itemView.getMeasuredHeight();
            }

            bigBitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(view.getMeasuredWidth(), height, Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888);
            Canvas bigCanvas = new Canvas(bigBitmap);
            bigCanvas.drawColor(Color.WHITE);

            for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
                Bitmap bitmap = bitmaCache.get(String.valueOf(i));
                bigCanvas.drawBitmap(bitmap, 0f, iHeight, paint);
                iHeight += bitmap.getHeight();
                bitmap.recycle();
            }

        }
        return bigBitmap;
    }

they very much thanks, one more point can we add mobile frame with that — Dart, Jan 12 '18 at 11:48
java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: length=10; index=-1 at java.util.ArrayList.get(ArrayList.java:439) at .adapter.InsightsDetailAdapter.onBindViewHolder(InsightsDetailAdapter.java:170) at .ui.insights.insightdetail.InsightsDetailFragment.getScreenshotFromRecyclerView(InsightsDetailFragment.java:456) — Nouman Ch, Aug 27 '18 at 10:14
Better solution than the first accepted one. The accepted solution on top creates a low quality image with missing data. — Shubham Goel, Feb 04 '21 at 14:55
java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'boolean android.graphics.Bitmap.isRecycled()' on a null object reference..... ---on this line--- Bitmap bitmap = bitmaCache.get(String.valueOf(i)); — Ahamadullah Saikat, Mar 12 '23 at 11:50

score 18 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:31

Here is my solution for LinearLayoutManager when all the items are on same size and there is only one type of item. This solution is based on This answer.

Note: It can possibly lead to out of memory error.

public static Bitmap getRecyclerViewScreenshot(RecyclerView view) {
        int size = view.getAdapter().getItemCount();
        RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder = view.getAdapter().createViewHolder(view, 0);
        view.getAdapter().onBindViewHolder(holder, 0);
        holder.itemView.measure(View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(view.getWidth(), View.MeasureSpec.EXACTLY),
                View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(0, View.MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED));
        holder.itemView.layout(0, 0, holder.itemView.getMeasuredWidth(), holder.itemView.getMeasuredHeight());
        Bitmap bigBitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(view.getMeasuredWidth(), holder.itemView.getMeasuredHeight() * size,
                Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888);
        Canvas bigCanvas = new Canvas(bigBitmap);
        bigCanvas.drawColor(Color.WHITE);
        Paint paint = new Paint();
        int iHeight = 0;
        holder.itemView.setDrawingCacheEnabled(true);
        holder.itemView.buildDrawingCache();
        bigCanvas.drawBitmap(holder.itemView.getDrawingCache(), 0f, iHeight, paint);
        holder.itemView.setDrawingCacheEnabled(false);
        holder.itemView.destroyDrawingCache();
        iHeight += holder.itemView.getMeasuredHeight();
        for (int i = 1; i < size; i++) {
            view.getAdapter().onBindViewHolder(holder, i);
            holder.itemView.setDrawingCacheEnabled(true);
            holder.itemView.buildDrawingCache();
            bigCanvas.drawBitmap(holder.itemView.getDrawingCache(), 0f, iHeight, paint);
            iHeight += holder.itemView.getMeasuredHeight();
            holder.itemView.setDrawingCacheEnabled(false);
            holder.itemView.destroyDrawingCache();
        }
        return bigBitmap;
    }

Note 2: It has originally been written in Kotlin. Here is the original code used by me.

Making it to work where not all the items have same size would require you to save the data for each item, probably on a file. — Yoav Sternberg, May 08 '15 at 12:43
The Kotlin code in the link uses the async library from https://github.com/metalabdesign/AsyncAwait — dmathewwws, Mar 06 '17 at 21:25
@dmathewwws Actually it is based on old version of `Anko` (before async was reserved word). `AsyncAwait` can be used for that, but actually every async library can work here. — Yoav Sternberg, Mar 07 '17 at 19:03
I've updated the snippet, so now it uses modern Kotlin syntax. — Yoav Sternberg, Mar 07 '17 at 21:05

score 9 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 27 '18 at 12:18

9

Take the Screenshot of complete Recyclerview regardless of its items and item types:

This piece of code works like a charm.

Here is a clean way to do this short and precise:

recyclerView.measure(
        View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(recyclerView.getWidth(), View.MeasureSpec.EXACTLY),
        View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(0, View.MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED));

Bitmap bm = Bitmap.createBitmap(recyclerView.getWidth(), recyclerView.getMeasuredHeight(), Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888);
recyclerView.draw(new Canvas(bm));

saveImage(bm);
ImageView im
          = new ImageView(getActivity());
im.setImageBitmap(bm);
 new AlertDialog.Builder(getActivity()).setView(im).show();

answered Aug 27 '18 at 12:18

Nouman Ch

4,023
4
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42

Works well. One thing I would like to do is remove the white space above and below. I've tried removing all padding and margin but no luck. – Jeffrey Sep 22 '18 at 15:37
Try giving background to the layout – Nouman Ch Sep 22 '18 at 15:39
4

Two thing I had to do: Call recyclerView.getLayoutManager().scrollToPosition(0) before creating the bitmap to remove the bottom space and ensure consistent output. I also had another view group above the recyclerView which I had to create as a separate bitmap of and combine the two together. – Jeffrey Sep 23 '18 at 04:18
my screenshot gets a black background for the rows that are out of visible area. Any suggestion to fix it? – ChaturaM Apr 24 '19 at 06:58
yeah it do budddy. @J.Dragon – Nouman Ch Jul 04 '20 at 16:28
What about horizontal recycleview ? – Mohammad Taqi Nov 26 '21 at 09:22

Momen Zaqout · Answer 4 · 2020-09-22T18:02:11.850

The best solution I found is

create a new NestedScrollView
add it to recyclerview's parent
remove recyclerview from its parent "it's important to add it to a new parent"
add recyclerview to nestedscrollview
take screenshot of nestedscrollview

add recyclerview to its main parent.

 nestedScreenShot = new NestedScrollView(getContext());

 constraintLayout.removeView(recyclerView);

 ConstraintLayout.LayoutParams params =new 

 Constraints.LayoutParams(viewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,

 ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT);

 nestedScreenShot.setLayoutParams(params);

Drawable scrollBackground = scrollView.getBackground();
if (scrollBackground != null) {
    tempNestedScreenShot.setBackground(scrollBackground);
}
tempNestedScreenShot.setPadding(scrollView.getLeft(), 
scrollView.getTop(), scrollView.getRight(), scrollView.getBottom());

 constraintLayout.addView(nestedScreenShot);

 nestedScreenShot.addView(recyclerView, params);

 new Handler().postDelayed(new Runnable() {
        @Override
        public void run() {

            nestedScreenShot.removeView(recyclerView);
            constraintLayout.removeView(nestedScreenShot);
            nestedScreenShot = null;
            constraintLayout.addView(recyclerView, params);


        }
        }, 8000);
  takescreenshotOfNested(nestedScreenShot);

This method will return screenshot of nestedscrollview

       private Bitmap takescreenshotOfNested(View u) {
        
        NestedScrollView viewNested = null;
            
        ScrollView viewScroll = null;
              
        if (u instanceof NestedScrollView) {
                 
       
        viewNested = (NestedScrollView) u;
             
     
       } else if (u instanceof ScrollView) {
              
      
         viewScroll = (ScrollView) u;
            
       }
            
                Bitmap bitmap;
                if (viewNested != null) {
                    viewNested.setDrawingCacheEnabled(false);
                    viewNested.invalidate();
                    viewNested.getChildAt(0).setDrawingCacheEnabled(false);
                    viewNested.getChildAt(0).invalidate();
            
                    bitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(viewNested.getChildAt(0).getWidth(),
                            viewNested.getChildAt(0).getHeight() + 8, Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888);
                    Canvas canvas = new Canvas(bitmap);
                    canvas.drawColor(activity.getResources().getColor(R.color.layout_background));
                    viewNested.draw(canvas);
                } else {
            
                    try {
            
                        viewScroll.setDrawingCacheEnabled(false);
                        viewScroll.invalidate();
                    } catch (Exception ignored) {
                    }
                    viewScroll.getChildAt(0).setDrawingCacheEnabled(false);
                    viewScroll.getChildAt(0).invalidate();
            
                    bitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(viewScroll.getChildAt(0).getWidth(),
                            viewScroll.getChildAt(0).getHeight() + 8, Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888);
                    Canvas canvas = new Canvas(bitmap);
                    canvas.drawColor(activity.getResources().getColor(R.color.layout_background));
                    viewScroll.draw(canvas);
            
                }
                return bitmap;
            
            }

don't forget to recycle the bitmap after using it

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 08 '19 at 21:36

I wrote a method to get a screenshot of a few different views:

private static Bitmap getBitmapFromView(View view) {
    if (view.getVisibility() != View.VISIBLE) {
        view = getNextView(view);
        Log.d(TAG, "New view id: " + view.getId());
    }
    //Define a bitmap with the same size as the view
    Bitmap returnedBitmap;
    if (view instanceof ScrollView) {
        returnedBitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(((ViewGroup) view).getChildAt(0).getWidth(), ((ViewGroup) view).getChildAt(0).getHeight(), Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888);
    } else if (view instanceof RecyclerView) {
        view.measure(
                View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(view.getWidth(), View.MeasureSpec.EXACTLY),
                View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(0, View.MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED));

        returnedBitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(view.getWidth(), view.getMeasuredHeight(), Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888);
    } else {
        returnedBitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(view.getWidth(), view.getHeight(), Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888);
    }

    //Bind a canvas to it
    Canvas canvas = new Canvas(returnedBitmap);
    //Get the view's background
    Drawable bgDrawable = view.getBackground();
    if (bgDrawable != null) {
        //has background drawable, then draw it on the canvas
        bgDrawable.draw(canvas);
    } else {
        //does not have background drawable, then draw white background on the canvas
        canvas.drawColor(Color.WHITE);
    }
    // draw the view on the canvas
    view.draw(canvas);
    //return the bitmap
    return returnedBitmap;
}

/**
 * If the base view is not visible, then it has no width or height.
 * This causes a problem when we are creating a PDF based on its size.
 * This method gets the next visible View.
 *
 * @param view The invisible view
 * @return The next visible view after the given View, or the original view if there's no more
 * visible views.
 */
private static View getNextView(View view) {
    if (view.getParent() != null && (view.getParent() instanceof ViewGroup)) {
        ViewGroup group = (ViewGroup) view.getParent();
        View child;
        boolean getNext = false;
        //Iterate through all views from parent
        for (int i = 0; i < group.getChildCount(); i++) {
            child = group.getChildAt(i);
            if (getNext) {
                //Make sure the view is visible, else iterate again until we find a visible view
                if (child.getVisibility() == View.VISIBLE) {
                    Log.d(TAG, String.format(Locale.ENGLISH, "CHILD: %s : %s", child.getClass().getSimpleName(), child.getId()));
                    view = child;
                }
            }
            //Iterate until we find out current view,
            // then we want to get the NEXT view
            if (child.getId() == view.getId()) {
                getNext = true;
            }
        }
    }
    return view;
}

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 24 '23 at 07:33

Inspired from Nouman Ch answer, that solution works great, but I am facing background color issue in final image and recyclerView scrolling also not working fine after that. Here is quick fix!

After creating the bitmap from recyclerView

presenter?.dataRecyclerView?.let {
            it.measure(
                View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(it.width, View.MeasureSpec.EXACTLY),
                View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(0, View.MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED)
            );

            var bm = Bitmap.createBitmap(
                it.width,
                it.measuredHeight,
                Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888
            )
            it.draw(Canvas(bm))

//to fix background color of final image
            val newBitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(bm.width, bm.height, bm.config)
            val canvas = Canvas(newBitmap)
            canvas.drawColor(Color.WHITE)
            canvas.drawBitmap(bm, 0f, 0f, null)
            bm = newBitmap

            saveBitmapeToGallery(bm)
//notify adapter, to fix scrolling
            it.adapter?.notifyDataSetChanged()
        }

Take a screenshot of RecyclerView in FULL length

6 Answers6

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