Project Description: Snap Camera Capture Service

Overview:
Snap is a lightweight Windows application (built as a native x64 executable using Visual Studio 2022) that captures frames from a connected webcam/video capture device using Microsoft Media Foundation (MF). It runs as either a background Windows service (named snap) or in console mode for testing. Captured frames are converted to WebP format for efficient storage and saved timestamped in a temp subdirectory. The project emphasizes self-contained deployment via static linking, avoiding runtime DLL dependencies.

Key Features:

• Capture Mechanism: Enumerates video devices, selects RGB32 or YUY2 formats, reads samples via IMFSourceReader, and converts YUY2 to BGRA/RGBA as needed.
• Image Encoding: Uses libwebp (statically linked via vcpkg) to encode RGBA frames to WebP at 80% quality, reducing file sizes compared to PNG.
• Modes:
  • Service Mode: Runs indefinitely, capturing every 10 seconds until stopped (e.g., via Service Manager). Logs to temp\service.log.
  • Console Mode: Captures every 10 seconds; exits on ESC key press.
• Logging & Temp Management: Creates/uses a temp folder in the exe directory for outputs; includes timestamped logging for debugging.
• Build & Deployment:
  • Static linking with vcpkg (libwebp:x64-windows-static) and /MT runtime for standalone snap.exe (no DLLs like libwebp.dll).
  • Command-line build: msbuild snap.vcxproj /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64 /p:RuntimeLibrary=MultiThreaded /p:VcpkgTriplet=x64-windows-static /p:VcpkgApplocalDeps=false.
• Dependencies: MF libs (mfplat.lib, etc.), GDI+ (removed in WebP version), shlwapi, ole32; libwebp for encoding.

Use Cases: Ideal for surveillance snapshots, automated monitoring, or integration into larger systems needing periodic low-bandwidth image captures. Extensible for custom intervals, formats, or outputs.

Source Code Structure: Single-file C++ (wmain entry), with helpers for logging, conversion, and service control. Total ~500 LOC.

Build Script

• Open x86 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2022 and navigate to the project directory.

• Static Build Command:

msbuild snap.vcxproj ^
  /p:Configuration=Release ^
  /p:Platform=x64 ^
  /p:RuntimeLibrary=MultiThreaded ^
  /p:VcpkgTriplet=x64-windows-static ^
  /p:VcpkgApplocalDeps=false ^
  /m

Create Service and Run

sc create snap binPath= "C:\dev\snap\x64\Release\snap.exe" start= auto DisplayName= "Snap Service"
sc description snap "This service runs the Snap application automatically on startup."
sc start snap

Status Check, Stop and Delete Service

sc qc snap
sc query snap
sc stop snap
sc delete snap