Temporarily disable all other windows vb.net - vb.net

Question

I'm making a color picker and I want it so on button press it will disable everything but the program (like what snipping tool does, but not add grey to the screen).
So when I click somewhere, it can capture the color from mouse pointer, and re-enable all other programs. The reason why I want it to disable all other programs is so when you click to pick the color then it won't interfere with anything and change the color.
Any help is very much appreciated.

Answer 1

In this sample, there are two form FrmDesktopDisplay and FrmCaller
Public Class FrmDesktopDisplay
Public myResultStts As Boolean = False
Public myResultValue As Integer = -1
Private Sub FrmDesktopDisplay_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Click
'Here your code, not just in click event, you must modify according to your need
'And for example the result as follow:
myResultStts = True
myResultValue = 30
Me.Hide()
End Sub
Private Sub FrmDesktopDisplay_KeyDown(sender As Object, e As KeyEventArgs) Handles Me.KeyDown
If e.KeyCode = Keys.Escape Then
'Here Just Hide, don't be closed or disposed, because you need the result
Me.Hide()
End If
End Sub
Private Sub FrmDesktopDisplay_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
'First you must hide this form, to take desktop image
Me.Hide()
'This to make borderless
Me.FormBorderStyle = Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.None
Me.Refresh()
Dim g As Graphics
Dim bmp As Bitmap
'This to take size of screen
Dim myWidth As Integer = My.Computer.Screen.Bounds.Size.Width
Dim myHeight As Integer = My.Computer.Screen.Bounds.Size.Height
'This to make this form's Size is same as screen size
Me.Width = myWidth
Me.Height = myHeight
'Create Blank Bitmap with size as same as screen size
bmp = New Bitmap(myWidth, myHeight)
'Create graphic with composition of bitmap
g = Graphics.FromImage(bmp)
'Take Image from screen, and move to graphic g
g.CopyFromScreen(0, 0, 0, 0, bmp.Size)
'Relocate this form to (0,0)
Me.Top = 0
Me.Left = 0
'Set this form's backgroundimage with bitmap of bmp, that have been taken by graphic g
Me.BackgroundImage = bmp
Me.Show()
Me.Refresh()
End Sub
End Class
The Caller Form
Public Class FrmCaller
Private Sub ButtonToPick_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles ButtonToPick.Click
'Hide the caller form if don't need this form when you run your sniff or clip
Me.Hide()
FrmDesktopDisplay.ShowDialog()
'To show again this form
Me.Show()
'Take the result from FrmDesktopDisplay, you can do it, because the form still active
Dim myResultStts As Boolean = FrmDesktopDisplay.myResultStts
Dim myResultValue As Integer = FrmDesktopDisplay.myResultValue
'Here you close the FrmDesktopDisplay
FrmDesktopDisplay.Close()
FrmDesktopDisplay.Dispose()
PictureBox1.Visible = False
End Sub
End Class

Answer 2

'Here you must have PictureBox1 in Your Form, and the form must be as parent container
Private Sub ButtonToPick_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles ButtonToPick.Click
PictureBox1.Visible = False
Me.Refresh()
Dim g As Graphics
Dim bmp As Bitmap
bmp = New Bitmap(Me.Width, Me.Height)
g = Graphics.FromImage(bmp)
Dim myFRect As Rectangle
myFRect = Me.RectangleToScreen(Me.DisplayRectangle)
g.CopyFromScreen(myFRect.Left, myFRect.Top, 0, 0, bmp.Size)
PictureBox1.Top = 0
PictureBox1.Left = 0
PictureBox1.Width = Me.Width
PictureBox1.Height = Me.Height
PictureBox1.Image = bmp
PictureBox1.Visible = True
PictureBox1.BringToFront()
'Me.Refresh()
End Sub
Private Sub PictureBox1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles PictureBox1.Click
'Here you process before picture box be hidden again
PictureBox1.Visible = False
End Sub