How to parse numbers from screen

Question

Hi, I'm trying to parse numbers, specifically percentages using an ocr.
It's plenty of topics online but 99% are all dated and old and all of them are asking how to get text from an image.
In my case, I want simply a picturebox that will scan whatever text there is under.
I found a quite old youtube tutorial watch

and the code that is stated on the bio is

Imports Emgu.CV
Imports Emgu.Util
Imports Emgu.CV.OCR
Imports Emgu.CV.Structure

Public Class Form1

Dim OCRz As Tesseract = New Tesseract("tessdata", "eng", Tesseract.OcrEngineMode.OEM_TESSERACT_ONLY)
Dim pic As Bitmap = New Bitmap(270, 100)
Dim gfx As Graphics = Graphics.FromImage(pic)

Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick

'If Windows XP
gfx.CopyFromScreen(New Point(Me.Location.X + PictureBox1.Location.X + 4, Me.Location.Y + PictureBox1.Location.Y + 30), New Point(0, 0), pic.Size)
PictureBox1.Image = pic

'If Windows 7
'gfx.CopyFromScreen(MousePositi­on, New Point(0, 0), pic.Size)

End Sub

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

OCRz.Recognize(New Image(Of Bgr, Byte)(pic))
RichTextBox1.Text = OCRz.GetText

End Sub
End Class

It is a 8+ y old code so I think there must be something better. I downloaded emgu from nuget, the first and most downloaded one emgu package but at runtime I get the error "'Unable to create ocr model using Path 'tessdata' and language 'eng'.'" At compile time I get the error "'Tesseract' is not defined.". That's really frustrating cause I've been looking everywhere, also in c# forums but none that can help me. Do you have any solution? I would appreciate your help. Thanks

Answer 1

From comments on the first sample, updated sample by using a transparent PictureBox (it seems to work better than with a Bitmap...)
Add a PictureBox with a transparent color, a Button for the click, a RichTextBox =>

' Add reference to : "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\UnionMetadata\Windows.winmd"
' For Await :
' Add reference to : "C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETCore\v4.5\System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.dll"

Imports Windows.Media.Ocr
' For .AsStream()
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices.WindowsRuntime

Public Class Form1
    Private Async Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim softwareBmp As Windows.Graphics.Imaging.SoftwareBitmap
        Using bmp As Bitmap = New Bitmap(PictureBox1.Width, PictureBox1.Height)
            Using g As Graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bmp)
                Dim pt As Point = Me.PointToScreen(New Point(PictureBox1.Left, PictureBox1.Top))
                g.CopyFromScreen(pt.X, pt.Y, 0, 0, bmp.Size, CopyPixelOperation.SourceCopy)
                Using memStream = New Windows.Storage.Streams.InMemoryRandomAccessStream()
                    bmp.Save(memStream.AsStream(), System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Bmp)
                    Dim decoder As Windows.Graphics.Imaging.BitmapDecoder = Await Windows.Graphics.Imaging.BitmapDecoder.CreateAsync(memStream)
                    softwareBmp = Await decoder.GetSoftwareBitmapAsync()
                End Using
            End Using
        End Using

        Dim ocrEng = OcrEngine.TryCreateFromUserProfileLanguages()
        'Dim ocrEng = OcrEngine.TryCreateFromLanguage(New Windows.Globalization.Language("en-US"))

        ' For test
        Dim languages As IReadOnlyList(Of Windows.Globalization.Language) = ocrEng.AvailableRecognizerLanguages
        For Each language In languages
            Console.WriteLine(language.LanguageTag)
        Next
        Dim r = ocrEng.RecognizerLanguage
        Dim n = ocrEng.MaxImageDimension

        Dim ocrResult = Await ocrEng.RecognizeAsync(softwareBmp)
        'Console.WriteLine(ocrResult.Text)
        RichTextBox1.Text = ocrResult.Text
        ' For test (extract lines from result text)
        Dim lines As IReadOnlyList(Of OcrLine) = ocrResult.Lines
        For Each line In lines
            Console.WriteLine(line.Text)
        Next
    End Sub
End Class

Answer 2

I tested Windows.Media.Ocr
but the result is not perfect
I get
"Forml Button I"
with this test with a Form and a Button :

' Add reference to : "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\UnionMetadata\Windows.winmd"  
' For Await :  
' Add reference to : "C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETCore\v4.5\System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.dll"  
  
Imports Windows.Media.Ocr  
  
Public Class Form1  
    Private Async Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click  
        Dim sFile As String = "e:\ScreenCopy_Test.bmp"    
        Using bitmap As Bitmap = New Bitmap(Me.Width, Me.Height, System.Drawing.Imaging.PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb)  
            Using g As Graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bitmap)  
                g.SmoothingMode = Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.HighQuality  
                g.InterpolationMode = Drawing2D.InterpolationMode.HighQualityBilinear  
                g.CompositingQuality = Drawing2D.CompositingQuality.HighQuality  
                g.PixelOffsetMode = Drawing2D.PixelOffsetMode.HighQuality                
                g.CopyFromScreen(Me.Left, Me.Top, 0, 0, bitmap.Size, CopyPixelOperation.SourceCopy)  
            End Using  
            bitmap.Save(sFile, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Bmp)  
        End Using  
  
        Dim ocrEng = OcrEngine.TryCreateFromUserProfileLanguages()  
        'Dim ocrEng = OcrEngine.TryCreateFromLanguage(New Windows.Globalization.Language("en-US"))  
        Dim languages As IReadOnlyList(Of Windows.Globalization.Language) = ocrEng.AvailableRecognizerLanguages  
        For Each language In languages  
            Console.WriteLine(language.LanguageTag)  
        Next  
        Dim r = ocrEng.RecognizerLanguage  
        Dim n = ocrEng.MaxImageDimension  
        Dim file = Await Windows.Storage.StorageFile.GetFileFromPathAsync(sFile)  
        Dim stream = Await file.OpenAsync(Windows.Storage.FileAccessMode.Read)  
        Dim bitmapDecoder = Await Windows.Graphics.Imaging.BitmapDecoder.CreateAsync(stream)  
        Dim softwareBitmap = Await bitmapDecoder.GetSoftwareBitmapAsync()  
        Dim ocrResult = Await ocrEng.RecognizeAsync(softwareBitmap)  
        Console.WriteLine(ocrResult.Text)  
    End Sub  
End Class