Find window question..

Im looking to find a window, but the caption will never be exactly the same..it will always have the word AIM in it..could anyone tell me how id find it?

Why not search by Class?

Look here for details http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...findwindow.asp

uh oh..i dont like msdn to much..ill do my best to find it..

okay, how do i search by class? its class is :icoPMsgAIM

This is easy. Here is it here: http://www.mentalis.org/apilist/FindWindow.shtml

And you can use this code to find out the class name for a window (if you know it's title). Only use this once to find out the class name for what you need, then just hardcode it in the FindWindow

VB Code:

Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowA" (ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long
Private Declare Function PostMessage Lib "user32" Alias "PostMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, lParam As Any) As Long
Private Declare Function GetClassName Lib "user32" Alias "GetClassNameA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal nMaxCount As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function ShowWindow Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal nCmdShow As Long) As Long
Const SW_SHOWNORMAL = 1
Const WM_CLOSE = &H10
Const gcClassnameMSWord = "OpusApp"
Const gcClassnameMSExcel = "XLMAIN"
Const gcClassnameMSIExplorer = "IEFrame"
Const gcClassnameMSVBasic = "wndclass_desked_gsk"
Const gcClassnameNotePad = "Notepad"
Const gcClassnameMyVBApp = "ThunderForm"
Private Sub Form_Load()
    'KPD-Team 1998
    'URL: [url]http://www.allapi.net/[/url]
    'E-Mail: [email][email protected][/email]
    Dim WinWnd As Long, Ret As String, RetVal As Long, lpClassName As String
    'Ask for a Window title
    Ret = InputBox("Enter the exact window title:" + Chr$(13) + Chr$(10) + "Note: must be an exact match")
    'Search the window
    WinWnd = FindWindow(vbNullString, Ret)
    If WinWnd = 0 Then MsgBox "Couldn't find the window ...": Exit Sub
    'Show the window
    ShowWindow WinWnd, SW_SHOWNORMAL
    'Create a buffer
    lpClassName = Space(256)
    'retrieve the class name
    RetVal = GetClassName(WinWnd, lpClassName, 256)
    'Show the classname
    MsgBox "Classname: " + Left$(lpClassName, RetVal)
    'Post a message to the window to close itself
    PostMessage WinWnd, WM_CLOSE, 0&, 0&
End Sub

thanks, i think i got it :wave:

on a roll tonight arent we baja?

oops...how do i find more than one window with its class name?

Yeah :)

You can use this. Enumerate all windows to a list, then loop through it and check for a given class:

http://www.mentalis.org/apilist/EnumWindows.shtml
http://www.mentalis.org/apilist/EnumThreadWindows.shtml

two examples are avilable.

You should download the API Guide from their site. It has all that, code examples etc.

thanks..im a bit puzzled at their examples

I remembered I saw a complete application that implements it. Here is the link:

http://www.planetsourcecode.com/vb/s...tp%2FC92098362

http://www.planetsourcecode.com/vb/s...tp%2FC3196UPLO

well, since ive posted ive gotten both to work. But they dont do as i want..The enumwindows will tell me the forms name, not classname. The 2nd one just shows children..

ill check out those two examples. Just to clarify, i want to search thru all the classes open, and if a class is icoPMAim or whatever- then i want to find its hwnd

The code in the first link does just that. Lists them all in a ListView.

To find a window based on a partial caption look here :

http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=316924
http://www.vbforums.com/showpost.php...7&postcount=36

the first link that baja works, im just stripping it to bare bones, then ill post what i have for reference : )

Yeah, but then you increase the chances of mistaking. If you search for partial (example AOL) it is easy that some other window will have 'aol' in it's name.

yes, i now prefer classes more : )

baja, im not sure if you have the download still, but on the api page it says

Insert hwnd, lParam, WText, WClass

how come i cannot do a messagebox of the hwnd? it just stays blank even though it contains a number..?

So don't search just for AOL, make it more specific :D You can't really avoid getting a wrong window. You can reduce the chances by checking the classname (I don't know if that is done in the examples)...

Try the code I modified. When you click refresh, it lists the objects, then loops through them and searches for a class (BaseBar in my example), and diplays their hwnds (if any found)

aha, str(hwnd)
i wonder why :?

Totally stripped down code, searches for a Class and gives you its hwnd
In form:

VB Code:

Option Explicit
 
Private Sub Command2_Click()
On Error Resume Next 'i was getting a bad dll error or something, dunno how to fix
    Dim myLong As Long
    myLong = EnumWindows(AddressOf WndEnumProc, vbNullString)
End Sub
 
Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
    Dim i As Integer
    For i = Forms.Count - 1 To 1 Step -1
        Unload Forms(i)
    Next
End Sub

VB Code:

Option Explicit
Public Declare Function GetWindowText Lib "user32" Alias "GetWindowTextA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpString As String, ByVal cch As Long) As Long
Public Declare Function GetWindowTextLength Lib "user32" Alias "GetWindowTextLengthA" (ByVal hwnd As Long) As Long
Public Declare Function EnumWindows Lib "user32" (ByVal lpEnumFunc As Long, ByVal lParam As Any) As Long
Public Declare Function GetClassName Lib "user32" Alias "GetClassNameA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal nMaxCount As Long) As Long
 
Public Function WndEnumProc(ByVal hwnd As Long) As Long
    Dim WText As String * 512
    Dim bRet As Long, WLen As Long
    Dim WClass As String * 50
    Dim hwnds As Long
        
    WLen = GetWindowTextLength(hwnd)
    bRet = GetWindowText(hwnd, WText, WLen + 1)
    GetClassName hwnd, WClass, 50
            If InStr(WClass, "icoPMsgAIM") Then
            Insert hwnd, WText, WClass
            End If
    WndEnumProc = 1
End Function
Private Sub Insert(iHwnd As Long, iText As String, iClass As String)
    MsgBox Str(iHwnd) & " " & iClass
End Sub

Here are the bare esentials of what you need.

EDIT: Hmm... I should have refreshed before I posted. Anyway, another example.

and one last thing, for others.

This works for my trillian(It finds all the class windows with AIM and shrinks them , then brings them back to original size!)
add a listbox name list, add 2 command buttons.

VB Code:

Option Explicit
 
Private Sub Command2_Click()
On Error Resume Next
    Dim myLong As Long
    myLong = EnumWindows(AddressOf WndEnumProc, vbNullString)
End Sub
 
Private Sub Command23_Click()
Dim i As Integer
    For i = 0 To List.ListCount
  SetWindowPos Val(List.List(i)), -1, Oleft, oTop, oRight - Oleft, oBottom - oTop, SWP_SHOWWINDOW
  SetWindowPos Val(List.List(i)), -2, Oleft, oTop, oRight - Oleft, oBottom - oTop, SWP_SHOWWINDOW
  DoEvents
  Next
End Sub

VB Code:

Option Explicit
Public Const SWP_HIDEWINDOW = &H80
Public Const SWP_SHOWWINDOW = &H40
Public Declare Function GetWindowText Lib "user32" Alias "GetWindowTextA" (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal lpString As String, ByVal cch As Long) As Long
Public Declare Function GetWindowTextLength Lib "user32" Alias "GetWindowTextLengthA" (ByVal hWnd As Long) As Long
Public Declare Function EnumWindows Lib "user32" (ByVal lpEnumFunc As Long, ByVal lParam As Any) As Long
Public Declare Function GetClassName Lib "user32" Alias "GetClassNameA" (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal nMaxCount As Long) As Long
Public Declare Function GetWindowRect Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long, lpRect As RECT) As Long
Public Declare Sub SetWindowPos Lib "user32" _
    (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal hWndInsertAfter As Long, ByVal X As Long, _
    ByVal Y As Long, ByVal cx As Long, ByVal cy As Long, ByVal wFlags As Long)
Public Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowA" (ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long
 Type RECT
        Left As Long
        Top As Long
        Right As Long
        Bottom As Long
End Type
Public sizeofwin As RECT
Public cat As Long: Public Oleft As Long: Public oTop As Long: Public oRight As Long: Public oBottom As Long
 
Public Function WndEnumProc(ByVal hWnd As Long) As Long
    Dim WText As String * 512
    Dim bRet As Long, WLen As Long
    Dim WClass As String * 50
    Dim hwnds As Long
        
    WLen = GetWindowTextLength(hWnd)
    bRet = GetWindowText(hWnd, WText, WLen + 1)
    GetClassName hWnd, WClass, 50
            If InStr(WClass, "icoPMsgAIM") Then
            GetWindowRect hWnd, sizeofwin    'oLeft = Sizeofwin.Left: oTop = Sizeofwin.Top: oRight = Sizeofwin.Right: oBottom = Sizeofwin.Bottom
                Oleft = sizeofwin.Left: oTop = sizeofwin.Top: oRight = sizeofwin.Right: oBottom = sizeofwin.Bottom
                SetWindowPos hWnd, -2, Oleft, oTop, oRight - Oleft, oBottom - oTop, SWP_HIDEWINDOW
            ' MsgBox Str(hWnd) & " " & WClass
            Form1.List.AddItem Str(hWnd)
            End If
    WndEnumProc = 1
End Function

THANKS for all the help, never used this type of API before so its new :wave:
glad it all worked nice. I will be back tommorrow for some more help :)