some window managers don't necessary put the focused window on top so yes it migth be a problem

I'm one of those "sloppy" focus kinda guys where the focus follows the mouse even if the window is obscured.
i tried what you suggested, but all it gave me was a white image. any ideas?
Nope, it seems like a straight forward way to take a screen shot but I haven't put anymore thought into it beyond this thread.
I could have sworn that the custom Graphics hack is how people were getting getting swing to work in an OpenGL game. Oh well.
UPDATE: I guess you could look at the source for the paint method to see what's up if one really cared.