How do I take a “screenshot” of an NSView?

Question

I need to take the contents of an NSView and put them in an NSImage, for an experimental project. Is this possible? I did some Googling, tried two methods that I found - but they didn't really work. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

[[NSImage alloc] initWithData:[view dataWithPDFInsideRect:[view bounds]]];

Answer 2

From WWDC 2012 Session 245 (translated to Swift):

let viewToCapture = self.window!.contentView!
let rep = viewToCapture.bitmapImageRepForCachingDisplayInRect(viewToCapture.bounds)!
viewToCapture.cacheDisplayInRect(viewToCapture.bounds, toBitmapImageRep: rep)

let img = NSImage(size: viewToCapture.bounds.size)
img.addRepresentation(rep)

Answer 3

let dataOfView = view.dataWithPDFInsideRect(view.bounds)
let imageOfView = NSImage(data: dataOfView)

Answer 4

I thinkt, Debashis is thinking more of things like http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/CocoaDrawingGuide/Images/Images.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40003290-CH208-BCIIIJFB

Greetings