Unable to take screenshot of child window in IE

[lukeis]

Originally reported on Google Code with ID 7256

A simple scenario which works well in Firefox and Chrome. The problem occurs on IE,
versions 9 and 11 (I haven't tried any other versions)

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Open the webpage ("http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/hargreaves.htm")
2. Click on a hyperlink which opens a PDF in a separate browser window. I can maximise
that window in FF, Chrome and IE (proving that all 3 browsers can interact with it?).
A subsequent attempt to take a screenshot of that (child) browser window FAILS in IE.
3. I CAN take screenshots of the PARENT browser windows in FF, Chrome and IE.


Selenium version: 2.39.0
OS: Win 7
Browser: IE 9, 11

C# SNIPPET:

//Navigate to webpage
Driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/hargreaves.htm");

//Click hyperlink which opens a child IE window containing a pdf

IWebElement linkSurvey = DriverFindElement(By.PartialLinkText("simple guide"));
linkSurvey.Click();


//Switch focus to "new" child window...

string parentWindow = Driver.CurrentWindowHandle;

//hCount = 2  if you run this code
//int hCount= Driver.WindowHandles.Count();

foreach (var handle in Driver.WindowHandles)
{
        if (!handle.Equals(parentWindow))
        {
                    Driver.SwitchTo().Window(handle);

                    //This maximise has its desired effect in all browsers...==>
                    Driver.Manage().Window.Maximize();

                    //Prepare to take screenshot
                    var expImageLocation = new StringBuilder(Globals.Env.EXPECTED_FILEPATH);
                    ITakesScreenshot screenshotDriver = Driver.Instance as ITakesScreenshot;

                    //After the next line is executed, the "screenshot" object is empty
in IE - and I get the error "Parameter is not valid" if I subsequently save this to
a file...=>>>
                    Screenshot screenshot = screenshotDriver.GetScreenshot();


           }
}

Reported by ope1973 on 2014-04-25 13:30:23

[lukeis]

Because of the limitations of how the IE driver is forced to work in order to take full-DOM
screenshots, screenshots are only supported for browser windows viewing HTML documents.
This is entirely as intended by the driver (regardless of the behavior of Chrome or
Firefox). The driver is forced by the constraints of the IE browser itself. Accordingly,
I'm closing this as "working as intended". If you feel that resolution is in error,
I will be happy to change the resolution to "won't fix" or "not feasible". You are,
of course, welcome to submit a pull request if you feel that strongly about the issue.

Reported by james.h.evans.jr on 2014-04-25 13:55:18

• Status changed: WorkingAsIntended

[lukeis]

Reported by luke.semerau on 2015-09-17 18:22:22

• Labels added: Restrict-AddIssueComment-Commit