This tool has been replaced with oppitronic's suite of tools. Please visit oppitronic.[net|de] for more information.

Please see his thread here: http://www.blackberryforums.com/gene...y-display.html

Thanks Jibi! I'm really surprised that no one else has commented on this in the past 3 days. This is a great tool for the Help Desk to use, but what I'm most excited about is using it for documentation purposes. I recall looking for something that could do BlackBerry screenshots about 6 or 8 months ago and there was nothing out there. Is this a new feature on the device with newer software versions or was this a custom job?

Thanks again!
-Snyder81

For documention use, you can make screenshots, and device pictures with the Device Emulators (also part off the Java Develpment Environment (JDE)
http://blackberry-links.com/blackber...nment-jde.html

Regards,
Bob

It was enabled within JavaLoader as of JDE 4.1 (maybe 4.0.2), so this is just using that. You can use it for the documentational purposes, or you can use the Device Simulators (as suggested by Bob). For 'real world' documentational shots, I prefer to use JavaLoader simply because the Device Simulator, as great as it is, is not a 1:1 example of your own or your users' handheld(s).

I updated BBscreen.bat. Nothing fancy, but easy enough for the worst end-user to figure out. Simply download the attached file (BBscreen.zip) and extract BBscreen.exe from it. A couple sample screenshots are attached as well.

Use BBscreen to capture screenshots for documentation purposes from a live BlackBerry, not a simulator. Give it to your help desk who can send it to end-users to capture screenshots of error messages. Or, put it on a shared network location and have the hlep desk send links to it.


What does BBscreen.exe do to my PC?

1. BBscreen.exe extracts three files to a temp directory.
   • BBscreen.bat
   • JavaLoader.exe
   • choice.com
2. BBscreen is launched from the temp directory.
3. If desired you can enter the device password. This is a time saver if you will be taking multiple screen shots.
4. A screenshot is captured and saved to the current users desktop. The file name will have the following format: BBscreen-%UserID%-%Picture#%.bmp.
5. You are prompted to take another screenshot.
   
   
   • If Yes, the next file name will be incremented by 1. Goto step 4.
   • If No, BBscreen exits and the temp folder is deleted. Only thing left behind is the self-extracting executable.

very cool - thanks doug!

Way cool program.. works GREAT!!!!

Bottom line...this tool is AMAZING!!

This will make my life SOOOO much easier when trying to explain to my (20) users where this setting is, or where that setting is...

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Mayor111

Thank You Doug, your continued efforts here make it so much more pleasurable for the rest of us. This utility along with your JL_Cmder are Aces.

Now if I can just figure out how to include the drivers and automatically install them. What is the most bare bone way of installing the drivers? My previous attempts failed and shelved the idea for a while.

Great your changes! What drivers do you mean?

Regards,
Bob

Many thanks, this is a great tool.

The drivers that allow your PC to recognize the connected device as a BlackBerry. Normally these are installed with Blackberry Desktop Manager or BlackBerry Device Manager. I work in an enterprise with BES 4.0 and we do not install the either. Without the drivers present and installed, BBscreen cant connect to the BlackBerry.

In a perfect world, I would like the drivers to silently install with BBscreen. I dont want to have to talk users thru a seperate download and install just to capture a picture. I am going to test some tomorrow (if I have time) and see if I can copy the drivers to the drivers folder and reboot. Dont know if it will work or not. Just fishing for some ideas from others assist.

http://www.blackberry.com/knowledgec...033&vern um=2

I'd say to start there - barebones installation ... figure out what its doing. If I'm not too busy putting out fires tomorrow post-hearing, I'll attempt to script it out as well.

How to connect your BlackBerry device to your PC without the Desktop Manager

Regards,
Bob

I must be a big dummie but I'm not getting this to work. The only thing I can think of is that my BlackBerry is connected to a USB Hub which is then connected to a docking station. Could it be too many connections in the path?

Yes, BlackBerries do not like to be connected via USB hubs. Try connecting your BlackBerry directly to your laptop via a powered USB port.

Very neat! This could come in great handy when I get my new BB

We install BB Manager as Custom and deselect the Desktop manager but retain the Device manager. Once installed we run it and set the DevMan to run at startup from the system tray icon. This means while users are in the office they aren't running up data charges to connect to BES.

I would much appreciate some help with this. When I run BBscreen it cannot write the bmp. The error is that the "batch file is missing". When I go into C;/Windows/Temp, it is indeed missing.
Is this perhaps because I am running the program on Windows ME?
Thanks in advance.

I have not tested BBscreen on Windows ME, so I do not know if it will work or not. As a fairly simple work around, use WinRAR to extract the files from BBscreen.exe. Then execute the batch file manually.

Thanks for the feedback. I tried your suggestion and it still did not work. I think that the issue is Windows ME.
(I see that JL_cmdr, i.e. Javaloader, is for Windows 2000 and up and it also is not working for me.)

I finally got this to work by extracting the files using WinRAR (as suggested) into a directory and then using a modification of the code above in the .bat file. I now run the .bat file from that directory and it deposits a file named BBS in the same directory.

(Edited: see the updated .bat code below.)

This is the .bat code:

@ECHO OFF
CLS
SET BBS=BBS
bbscreen.exe -u screenshot %BBS%.bmp
cls

Thanks again for the great utility!

Thanks for BBScreen. Easy instructions.

Here at work we have 7750s and I think 7290s and it does not work, does this only work on 7100s?

For me it works on all models I tested (including 7290 and 8700). Do you have the RIM USB driver or Desktop Manager installed.

Regards,
Bob

BlackBerry OS v4.0.2 or higher required to be able to capture screenshots. Check the OS version on your devices for compatibility.

...

We are running 4.0.0.92. Guess we are out of luck..

i might be late to this thread but thanks for the utility, it's extremely useful, i have to make screenshots for our documentation and the results using your app are much crisper and nicer than from the emulator.

thanks again,
jon

I can't get BBscreen.exe. I copied BBscreen.exe to my desktop. I double clicked on the icon and it prompted my to enter password. I entered password and it didn't work after that. I took a screenshot of the error message. (attached)

Also, do you need Device Manager installed on desktop for this to work?

if you are prompted for a password, it is because your BlackBerry requires one. The only requirements to use BBScreen are 1) BlackBerry OS is 4.0.2 or higher, and 2) BlackBerry drivers are installed on the computer.

Looks like you have the drivers installed as your screenshot shows it connecting. I think you have a simple password issue.

awesome! will be great for creating user documentation

Cheers

Fantastic utility!

Works great on my 7290 although I had to run the desktop manager connection first before the BBscreen.exe recognised the connection.

Also, the zip file only appeared to contain the BBscreen.exe file and no additional batch files....still works though, thanks a lot!

The exe file is a self extracting executable. You can use WinZip to extract the files if you want to.

This is a fantastic app - so much quicker for taking screen shots when documenting stuff, rather than using the simulator.As it's running a file I can see where people might have issues if they don't have at least local admin rights. Bravo though.....top app!!!!

Doug,

I am trying to do this with a 7250 from Verizon that has 4.1 handheld. I extracted BBscreen using winzip. When I doubleclick on BBscreen I see the hourglass for a second or two but I don't see any evidence of anything else happening. Do I need additional software installed to get this to work? Where is the temp folder created? Sorry to be so dense.

Randy

If you extracted the files, execute BBscreen.bat instead of the exe. The temp directory is based on a system variable. What ever your computer uses as its temp directory is what BBscreen will use. If you dont have the BlackBerry Desktop Manager or Device Manager installed, you will need one or the other.

The BBscreen zip file that I downloaded contains only 1 file which is bbscreen.exe. Is this correct? For some reason the temp files are not being created or at least I can't find them when I run bbscreen.exe.