Probably an old question

[parkes]

I know this is probably an old question but its one I could do with being answered.

How do you check to see if another program is running?

[HeSaidJoe]

' See if there is already and instance.
    If App.PrevInstance Then
 ' Activate the previous instance
        AppActivate App.Title
        
' Terminate the new instance
        Unload Me
    End If

[parkes]

Sorry my mistake I didn't explain myself clearly.
I would like to check if something like Word or Excel is open or just about any other program.

[crispin]

http://www.blackbeltvb.com/free/getwhwnd.htm

I would have butchered the code myself to stop when you reach a certain window (i.e. your program) but I don't think Matt Hart (the author) would've liked that so take a look at the code and see what you think, it basically runs through all your windows and gets their names into a list box. There might be an easier way to do this, but this works for me

[HeSaidJoe]

Using Part of a title find an existance

Start Notepad and minimize it

This code uses EnumWindows to retrieve the title of all 
windows in the system, compares it with the partial name, 
and stops when a match is made.  

this example looks for notepad based on a partial knowlege
of the title..ie I look for notepa

When I find it I close it.

'~~~~~~~MODULE CODE~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Option Explicit 

Public Const WM_CLOSE = &H10 
Public Const MAX_PATH = 260 

Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowA" _ 
    (ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long 
Declare Function PostMessage Lib "user32" Alias "PostMessageA" _ 
    (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, _ 
    ByVal lParam As Long) As Long 
Declare Function EnumWindows Lib "user32" _ 
    (ByVal lpEnumFunc As Long, ByVal lParam As Long) As Long 
Declare Function GetWindowText Lib "user32" Alias "GetWindowTextA" _ 
    (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpString As String, ByVal cch As Long) As Long 

Private sAppTitle As String 
Public glHwnd As Long 

Public Function fEnumWindowsCallBack(ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpData As Long) As Long 
    Dim lResult    As Long 
    Dim sWndName   As String 
     
    fEnumWindowsCallBack = 1 
    sWndName = Space$(MAX_PATH) 
     
    lResult = GetWindowText(hwnd, sWndName, MAX_PATH) 
    sWndName = Left$(sWndName, lResult) 
    'Search Title for our string 
    If (InStr(1, sWndName, sAppTitle, vbTextCompare) > 0) Then 
        Debug.Print sWndName 
        glHwnd = hwnd 
        fEnumWindowsCallBack = 0 
    End If 
End Function 

Public Function SearchWindows(sApp As String, hwnd As Long) As Long 
    sAppTitle = sApp 
    glHwnd = 0 
    Call EnumWindows(AddressOf fEnumWindowsCallBack, hwnd) 
    SearchWindows = glHwnd 
End Function

'~~~~~~~FORM CODE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Option Explicit 

Private Sub Command1_Click() 
    Dim sApp As String 
    'Find notepad with partial name 
    sApp = "notepa" 
    glHwnd = SearchWindows(sApp, Me.hwnd) 
    
'I End the running application if found 
   'you would put your code here to do what you want
   'to do
    If glHwnd > 0 Then 
        PostMessage glHwnd, WM_CLOSE, 0&, 0& 
    End If 
End Sub