I'm not a very experienced programmer and new at C#, and I'm having some problems getting the target of a shortcut using shell32.shell().
I found the code here on stackoverflow - and it works beautifully on regular Windows PC's, but when executed on a Citrix virtualized Windows desktop (where I need it to run) it breaks.
The code runs through shortcuts in a folder via a foreach loop, and filters out any that has an executable target. Problem is that to find the target of the shortcut I use the code below, and as soon as it is called the foreach breaks and doesn't progress any further (on Citrix).
I have determined that the break happens at the line "var shl = new Shell32.Shell();", the code after that line doesn't fire and it exits the foreach (but continues executing code after the foreach).
public static string GetLnkTarget(string lnkPath)
{
var shl = new Shell32.Shell();
lnkPath = System.IO.Path.GetFullPath(lnkPath);
var dir = shl.NameSpace(System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(lnkPath));
var itm = dir.Items().Item(System.IO.Path.GetFileName(lnkPath));
var lnk = (Shell32.ShellLinkObject)itm.GetLink;
return lnk.Target.Path;
}
Does anyone know of an alternate way to find the target of a shortcut that'll work in a Citrix virtualized environment?
I don't know what caused the issue with Shell32.Shell() specifically in the Citrix environment, but I found another way that works for me.
The answer was provided by user djdanlib here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/8661371/5992820
"Add IWshRuntimeLibrary as a reference to your project. Add Reference, COM tab, Windows Scripting Host Object Model.
Here is how I get the properties of a shortcut:
IWshRuntimeLibrary.IWshShell wsh = new IWshRuntimeLibrary.WshShellClass();
IWshRuntimeLibrary.IWshShortcut sc = (IWshRuntimeLibrary.IWshShortcut)wsh.CreateShortcut(filename);
The shortcut object "sc" has a TargetPath property."
Related
The issue:
We have an application written in C# that uses UIAutomation to get the current text (either selected or the word behind the carret) in other applications (Word, OpenOffice, Notepad, etc.).
All is working great on Windows 10, even up to 21H2, last update check done today.
But we had several clients informing us that the application is closing abruptly on Windows 11.
After some debugging I've seen some System.AccessViolationException thrown when trying to use the TextPatternRange.GetText() method:
System.AccessViolationException: 'Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.'
What we've tried so far:
Setting uiaccess=true in manifest and signing the app : as mentionned here https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsdesktop/en-US/350ceab8-436b-4ef1-8512-3fee4b470c0a/problem-with-manifest-and-uiaccess-set-to-true?forum=windowsgeneraldevelopmentissues => no changes (app is in C:\Program Files\
In addition to the above, I did try to set the level to "requireAdministrator" in the manifest, no changes either
As I've seen that it may come from a bug in Windows 11 (https://forum.emclient.com/t/emclient-9-0-1317-0-up-to-9-0-1361-0-password-correction-crashes-the-app/79904), I tried to install the 22H2 Preview release, still no changes.
Reproductible example
In order to be able to isolate the issue (and check it was not something else in our app that was causing the exception) I quickly made the following test (based on : How to get selected text of currently focused window? validated answer)
private void btnRefresh_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
var p = Process.GetProcessesByName("notepad").FirstOrDefault();
var root = AutomationElement.FromHandle(p.MainWindowHandle);
var documentControl = new
PropertyCondition(AutomationElement.ControlTypeProperty,
ControlType.Document);
var textPatternAvailable = new PropertyCondition(AutomationElement.IsTextPatternAvailableProperty, true);
var findControl = new AndCondition(documentControl, textPatternAvailable);
var targetDocument = root.FindFirst(TreeScope.Descendants, findControl);
var textPattern = targetDocument.GetCurrentPattern(TextPattern.Pattern) as TextPattern;
string text = "";
foreach (var selection in textPattern.GetSelection())
{
text += selection.GetText(255);
Console.WriteLine($"Selection: \"{selection.GetText(255)}\"");
}
lblFocusedProcess.Content = p.ProcessName;
lblSelectedText.Content = text;
}
When pressing a button, this method is called and the results displayed in labels.
The method uses UIAutomation to get the notepad process and extract the selected text.
This works well in Windows 10 with latest update, crashes immediately on Windows 11 with the AccessViolationException.
On Windows 10 it works even without the uiaccess=true setting in the manifest.
Questions/Next steps
Do anyone know/has a clue about what can cause this?
Is Windows 11 way more regarding towards UIAutomation?
On my side I'll probably open an issue by Microsoft.
And one track we might follow is getting an EV and sign the app itself and the installer as it'll also enhance the installation process, removing the big red warnings. But as this is an app distributed for free we had not done it as it was working without it.
I'll also continue testing with the reproductible code and update this question should anything new appear.
I posted the same question on MSDN forums and got this answer:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/915789/uiautomation-throws-accessviolationexception-on-wi.html
Using IUIautomation instead of System.Windows.Automation works on Windows 11.
So I'm marking this as solved but if anyone has another idea or knows what happens you're welcome to comment!
I have created a script using Python2.7 and compiled it using pyinstaller into an exe of the same name, in this case "GeneralStats.py" turns into "GeneralStats.exe" using --onefile and -w arguments.
When called with C# I use:
var pythonDirectory = (Directory.GetCurrentDirectory());
var filePathExe1 = Path.Combine(pythonDirectory + "\\Python\\GeneralStats.exe");
Process.Start(filePathExe1);
When called outside of C#, so in my local files I can run the .exe and the result is a text file with lots of values in (Running correctly).
However, when ran with C# in this format, I get an error that "GeneralStats returned -1!"
Which I have had issues with before, but it was a simple python error that when I returned to my code and ran it, I would receive an error that I overlooked.
This time my python code returns no errors and works outside of C#.
Any ideas of why this could be? I can provide any code or file directories necessary, please just ask if you feel it would help with debugging.
EDIT:
Solved by removing:
var filePathExe1 = Path.Combine(pythonDirectory + "\\Python\\GeneralStats.exe");
Process.Start(filePathExe1);
And replacing with:
ProcessStartInfo _processStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
_processStartInfo.WorkingDirectory = Path.Combine(pythonDirectory + "\\Python");
_processStartInfo.FileName = #"GeneralStats.exe";
_processStartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
Process myProcess = Process.Start(_processStartInfo);
You need to set the working directory for the Process - it is probably trying to load files from its working directory but isn't finding them.
See, e.g. this:
Use the ProcessStartInfo.WorkingDirectory property to set it prior to starting the process. If the property is not set, the default working directory is %SYSTEMROOT%\system32.
Set it to the path where GeneralStats.exe is.
I'm working on a portion of an application that has a 'finder' tool that allows the user to drag and drop a finder onto an application or internet explorer web browser so that our program can locate it and do what it needs to do. This portion of the application was not under any active development for the last few years (last time I believe IE 7 was the latest browser), but it has worked for IE 9 and below. Starting at IE 10 we get problems, and I specifically am using IE 11.
The following code locates the different Internet explorer windows (including tabs) and file explorer windows. We made a quick VB script for extra testing -
dim objShell
dim objShellWindows
set objShell = CreateObject("shell.application")
set objShellWindows = objShell.Windows
if (not objShellWindows is nothing) then
WScript.Echo objShellWindows.Count
for each win in objShellWindows
wscript.Echo TypeName(win)
WScript.Echo win.LocationUrl
WScript.Echo win.LocationName
WScript.Echo win.HWND
next
end if
set objShellWindows = nothing
set objShell = nothing
The above code will execute without error, and it gives the URL and title bar name of all the tabs we have open.
Below is our C# code. It attempts to get the main IE window (not the tab). this.Handle is the handle of this main IE window that the finder tool gets when the user drops it. We're attempting to iterate through the open windows and find the Internet Explorer window that the user selected. This particular snippet is changed slightly from our original implementation, but the end result is the same. As soon as it hits test = window.Item(i) it throws a UnauthorizedAccessException.
ShellWindows windows = null;
IWebBrowser2 shellWindow = null;
IHTMLDocument2 actualDoc = null;
Type shellApplicationType = Type.GetTypeFromProgID("Shell.Application");
Shell32.Shell shellInterface = (Shell32.Shell)Activator.CreateInstance(shellApplicationType);
windows = (ShellWindows)shellInterface.Windows();
bool found = false;
for (int i = 0; i < windows.Count; i++)
{
try
{
object test;
try
{
test = windows.Item(i); //Exception here
shellWindow = (IWebBrowser2)test;
}
catch
{
}
if (shellWindow != null && (IntPtr)shellWindow.HWND == this.Handle)
{
//the rest of the code gets the correct tab from the main IE window
This is the original unedited code from when we first revisited this portion of the program.
ShellWindows windows = null;
IWebBrowser2 shellWindow =null;
IHTMLDocument2 actualDoc = null;
windows = new SHDocVw.ShellWindowsClass();
bool found = false;
for (int i = 0; i < windows.Count; i++)
{
try{
shellWindow = windows.Item(i) as SHDocVw.IWebBrowser2; //Exception here
if (shellWindow != null && (IntPtr)shellWindow.HWND == this.Handle)
{
I would also like to note that instead of a for loop I have tried a foreach loop that followed this syntax
foreach(IWebBrowser2 browser in windows)
and
foreach(InternetExplorer browser in windows)
In those instances, the loop skips over the IE window.
I have looked at IE's security settings. I have disabled Enhanced Protection Mode and allowed cross domain. There does not seem to be a lot of information on this issue, and every approach we try seems to always end up with an UnauthorizedAccessException.
Edit: In response to Hans answer, I do not have any anti malware running on this machine. It is a virtual machine with windows 7 that has the latest SP and updates (no microsoft security essentials). I tried running the app on a 32 bit machine with similar settings and it also failed. After testing it on IE 11, I uninstalled IE 11, rebooted, tried IE 10 (it failed, same error), uninstalled IE 10, rebooted, tried IE 9, and it worked without making any other changes to the system.
Here is the SSCCE as requested by Hans. This code actually works on my target machine. I will return to this post in the next day or two while I handle other tasks that require my attention.
I build this as a 32 bit console app, and ran it on a 64bit machine.
using System;
using SHDocVw;
using mshtml;
namespace GetBrowserSSCCE
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
ShellWindows windows = null;
IWebBrowser2 shellWindow = null;
windows = new SHDocVw.ShellWindowsClass();
for (int i = 0; i < windows.Count; i++)
{
try
{
shellWindow = windows.Item(i) as SHDocVw.IWebBrowser2;
Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Window Found. HWND: {0}\nName: {1}", shellWindow.HWND, shellWindow.Name));
}
catch (UnauthorizedAccessException ex)
{
Console.WriteLine("UnauthorizedAccessException caught. Exception Text: " +ex.Message);
}
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}
That this fails in your C# program but not when you run it from the VBScript interpreter points strongly to an environmental problem. Both use the exact same shell interface. The specific exception (underlying error code is 0x8007005) has been reported before on the interwebs but never diagnosed.
First thing you should focus on whenever you have an environmental problem, particularly the kind associated with access rights, is the anti-malware installed on the machine. Disable it and try again.
Second one you should focus on is a quirk associated with ShellWindows, it doesn't just enumerate Internet Explorer windows but also Windows Explorer windows. You've been looking at having sufficient access to IE but that isn't enough, this code can also fail if you happen to have an Explorer window opened and there's an access problem with the explorer.exe process. Do note that your Activator.CreateInstance() method call is not equivalent to the VBScript code, Activator.GetObject() is. So your changes would actually make the problem worse if this is underlying problem.
Third detail that's worth checking is the bitness of your process. By default, your VBScript code will run in the 64-bit script interpreter on a machine that boots the 64-bit version of Windows. But the default setting for a C# project is to run in 32-bit mode. Right-click your EXE project, Properties, Build tab and tinker with the Platform target setting, the 'Prefer 32-bit' checkbox if you see it. This is not an explanation for the error code, it can however affect the effectiveness of anti-malware to intrude.
For our current project we are using DBus (1.6.n).
It is largely accessed from C++ in shared memory mode, and this works really well.
I am now trying to access the same DBus from a C# program.
In order to try things out first, I downloaded the latest version of dbus-sharp I could find, and started the daemon included in the download to see if I could connect to it from my test C# app.
Whenever I make a connection, the daemon console shows that I am communicating with it, but as soon as I try to access any methods on the connection I get the error;
'Access is denied: DBus.BusObject'
Here is the code I have tried;
DBus.Bus dBus = null;
try
{
//input address comes from the UI and ends up as "tcp:host=localhost,port=12345";
//dBus = new Bus(InputAddress.Text + inputAddressExtension.Text);
//string s = dBus.GetId();
//dBus.Close();
//DBus.Bus bus = DBus.Bus.System;
//DBus.Bus bus = Bus.Open(InputAddress.Text + inputAddressExtension.Text);
//DBus.Bus bus = DBus.Bus.Session;
//DBus.Bus bus = DBus.Bus.Starter;
var conn = Connection.Open(InputAddress.Text + inputAddressExtension.Text);
var bus = conn.GetObject<Introspectable>(#"org.freedesktop.DBus.Introspectable", new ObjectPath("/org/freedesktop/DBus/Introspectable"));
bus.Introspect();
}
finally
{
if(dBus != null)
dBus.Close();
}
The commented code produces the same error eventually too.
I have stepped through with the debugger and it always gets to the following code in the TypeImplementer.cs;
public Type GetImplementation (Type declType)
{
Type retT;
lock (getImplLock)
if (map.TryGetValue (declType, out retT))
return retT;
string proxyName = declType.FullName + "Proxy";
Type parentType;
if (declType.IsInterface)
parentType = typeof (BusObject);
else
parentType = declType;
TypeBuilder typeB = modB.DefineType (proxyName, TypeAttributes.Class | TypeAttributes.Public, parentType);
if (declType.IsInterface)
Implement (typeB, declType);
foreach (Type iface in declType.GetInterfaces ())
Implement (typeB, iface);
retT = typeB.CreateType (); <======== Fails here ==========
lock (getImplLock)
map[declType] = retT;
return retT;
}
I have not found any useful examples or documentation about accessing DBus from C#, and there seem to be few recent entries about this anywhere, so maybe no-one else is trying this.
I am running the daemon in the same folder as the test program.
As I am running on windows, the daemon is listening on the tcp setting;
string addr = "tcp:host=localhost,port=12345";
Since this is the example included with the download, I thought it would be really simple to get it going, but alas no luck yet.
Has anyone else been here and know the next piece of the puzzle?
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Having received no comment or response, I will answer the question with the information I have found since asking it.
There appears to be no useful C# interface to DBus. (By useful, I mean one that works!)
The only information or examples I could find are not up to date and no effort appears to be being expended on providing a working interface.
I have decided to interface with DBus by using a C++ implementation written as a Windows service, and my C# program will send messages to DBus via the service. This seems to work ok, so satisfies the business need.
I am disappointed not to be able to get the C# to DBus working, but there are lots of service bus implementations that work on Windows, so in future I will look at implementing those instead of DBus.
If anyone does come up with a workable, documented solution to accessing DBus from C# on Windows, I would still be interested to see it.
I had the same error when I created new test project and add dbus cs source files to it main project assembly. It was when IBusProxy type dynamically created in dynamically created assembly.
asmB = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.DefineDynamicAssembly (new AssemblyName ("NDesk.DBus.Proxies"), canSave ? AssemblyBuilderAccess.RunAndSave : AssemblyBuilderAccess.Run);
modB = asmB.DefineDynamicModule ("NDesk.DBus.Proxies");
......
retT = typeB.CreateType ();
I think it was cause current running assembly isnt friendly for created assembly. And just when I add to project compiled NDesk.DBus.dll this error disappeared.
I am currently developing an application in C# (.NET 4.0) that should have as a part of its functionality the ability to determine the percentage of fragmentation on a particular volume. All the other features have been tested and are working fine but I’ve hit a snag trying to access this data. I would ideally prefer to use WMI as this matches the format I’m using for the other features but at this point I’m willing to use anything that can be efficiently integrated into the application, even if I have to use RegEx to filter the data. I am currently doing the development on a Windows 7 Professional (x64) machine. I have tested the following Powershell snippet using Administrator rights and it works flawlessly.
$drive = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Volume -Namespace root\CIMV2 -ComputerName . | Where-Object { $_.DriveLetter -eq 'D:' }
$drive.DefragAnalysis().DefragAnalysis
This is the method I’m using in C# to accomplish the same thing, but the InvokeMethod keeps returning 11 (0xB).
public static Fragmentation GetVolumeFragmentationAnalysis(string drive)
{
//Fragmenation object initialization removed for simplicity
try
{
ConnectionOptions mgmtConnOptions = new ConnectionOptions { EnablePrivileges = true };
ManagementScope scope = new ManagementScope(new ManagementPath(string.Format(#"\\{0}\root\CIMV2", Environment.MachineName)), mgmtConnOptions);
ObjectQuery query = new ObjectQuery(string.Format(#"SELECT * FROM Win32_Volume WHERE Name = '{0}\\'", drive));
scope.Connect();
using (ManagementObjectSearcher searcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher(scope, query))
{
object[] outputArgs = new object[2];
foreach (ManagementObject moVolume in searcher.Get())
{
// Execution stops at this line as the result is always 11
UInt32 result = (UInt32)moVolume.InvokeMethod("DefragAnalysis", outputArgs);
if (result == 0)
{
Console.WriteLine("Defrag Needed: = {0}\n", outputArgs[0]);
ManagementBaseObject mboDefragAnalysis = outputArgs[1] as ManagementBaseObject;
if (null != mboDefragAnalysis)
{
Console.WriteLine(mboDefragAnalysis["TotalPercentFragmentation"].ToString());
}
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("Return Code: = {0}", result);
}
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine("Could not acquire fragmentation data.\n" + ex);
}
return result;
}
I have even added the following line to the app.manifest but still nothing.
<requestedExecutionLevel level="requireAdministrator" uiAccess="false" />
Could somebody please tell me what I’m overlooking? Failure is not an option for me on this, so if it cannot be done using C# I don’t mind creating a DLL in another language (even if I have to learn it), that will give me the results I need. Ideally the application should be able work on any OS from XP upwards and must be totally transparent to the user.
These are the resources I have already used. I wanted to add the jeffrey_wall blog on msdn as well but as a new user I can only add 2 hyperlinks at a time. Thanks again.
http://www.codeproject.com/Messages/2901324/Re-the-result-of-DefragAnalysis-method-in-csharp.aspx
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/vi-VN/winserverfiles/thread/9d56bfad-dcf5-4258-90cf-4ba9247200da
Try building your application targeting 'Any CPU' - on the Build tab of the project properties. I suspect you're using a target of x86. I get the same error code on my Win7 x64 machine if I do that.
In fact, running your PowerShell snippet in the x86 version of PowerShell gives an empty set of results, too.
You get the same error if you run either piece of code without full Administrator privileges, as you've found, so also ensure your app.manifest is correct. A UAC prompt is a handy hint that it's taking effect!
No idea why this WMI query doesn't like running under WoW64, I'm afraid, but hopefully this will give you a head-start.
You could simply call the PowerShell command you mentioned in your post, since you said the PowerShell code works. From C# you would want to follow this workflow:
Instantiate a PowerShell RunSpace
Open the RunSpace
Add a script to the Commands property
Invoke the command list
Here is an example of how to achieve this, and process the resulting object output.
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/18229/How-to-run-PowerShell-scripts-from-C
For Windows XP and Windows Vista, you would have to ensure that PowerShell was installed on each of the systems you want to run your program on. Not a bad prerequisite to have, but something to keep in mind as a dependency.
Hope this helps.
The 32-bit WMI provider for Win32_Volume doesn't seem to be able to start the defragsvc for whatever reason. You can force the 64-bit WMI provider even in a 32-bit client running under WOW64 by changing your code to add an additional WMI connection option:
ConnectionOptions mgmtConnOptions = new ConnectionOptions {
EnablePrivileges = true,
Context = new ManagementNamedValueCollection() {
{ "__ProviderArchitecture", 64 }
}
};