Sending keystrokes to a program - c#

In window form, I made a button and I'm trying to make it send F1 to a specific window (Such as FireFox, My Computer, etc...)
My questions are :
How do I do it by the window's name? (such as "Mozilla Firefox")
How do I do it by the process's name? (such as firefox.exe)

By Window name:
[DllImport("User32.dll")]
static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string lpClassName, string lpWindowName);
[DllImport("User32.dll")]
static extern int SetForegroundWindow(IntPtr hWnd);
IntPtr ptrFF = FindWindow(null, "Mozilla Firefox");
SetForegroundWindow(ptrFF);
SendKeys.SendWait("{F1}");
By Process name:
Process proc = Process.GetProcessesByName("firefox")[0];
IntPtr ptrFF = proc.Handle;
SetForegroundWindow(ptrFF);
SendKeys.SendWait("{F1}");

Take a look into the SendKeys class.

Related

Handle external app and populate input fields

I have a C# Windows Desktop app that needs to handle a given external app, - unmanaged code - and populate it's input fields.
Note that this must be done programatically, so the use of SPY++ to get windows names is out of discussion, I just can get windows classes using SPY++.
Looking and reading over there I'found that it can be accomplished with the following steps (pseducode):
Get or start the external app process.
Get the main window using FindWindow();
Get the childWindows, which are the input fields, using FindWindowEx.
Send messages using Sendmessage().
I've tested populating a notepad, however dealing with my given app has been a PITA. Can't populate anything.
here is my actual code:
/*
List of references, which includes System.Diagnostics,
System.Runtime.InteropServices,...
*/
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string lpClassName, string lpWindowName);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr FindWindowEx(IntPtr hwndParent, IntPtr hwndChildAfter, string lpszClass, string lpszWindow);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern int SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, int uMsg, int wParam, string lParam);
private void click_test(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
Process[] apps = Process.GetProcessesByName("givenApp");
if (apps.Length == 0) return;
if (apps[0] != null)
{
IntPtr mainWindow = FindWindow("class name", null);
IntPtr child = FindWindowEx(apps[0].MainWindowHandle, new IntPtr(0), "Class Name", null);
SendMessage(child, 0x000C, 0, input_test.Text);
}
}
With this code I can populate notepad. However populating notepad is a test stage. I need to populate other app.
What is missing, what is wrong?
I found what the error was, simply:
When instantiating a child, instead of calling the generic MainWindowHadle, call the App Window handle, which is previously defined in a variable called MainWindow which invokes the FindWindow() Class.
This is wrong:
IntPtr child = FindWindowEx(apps[0].MainWindowHandle, new IntPtr(0), "Class Name", null);
This is Correct:
IntPtr child = FindWindowEx(mainWindow, new IntPtr(0), "Class Name", null);

Capture events from other windows applications

I have a third party application which I did not create myself. I need to create an application which is able to listen for button clicks and read data from tables in that application. I believe that the third party application is made in C# but I do not know for sure. Is there a way to know when UI buttons are pressed and to harvest data from the application? I do not mind which programming language the solution must be written in, as long as it fulfils the above tasks.
You can use few dlls like user32.dll, to get data from other apps.
Find parent handle of a window:
[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string lpClassName, string lpWindowName);
public static IntPtr FindWindow(string windowName)
{
var hWnd = FindWindow(windowName, null);
return hWnd;
}
After that, find handle of a child window
[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
public static extern IntPtr FindWindowEx(IntPtr parentHandle, IntPtr childAfter, string className, string windowTitle);
private IntPtr FindSomeElement(IntPtr parent)
{
IntPtr childHandle;
childHandle = FindWindowEx(
parent,
IntPtr.Zero,
"WindowsForms10.EDIT.app21",
IntPtr.Zero);
return childHandle;}
and get text from it:
private static string GetText(IntPtr childHandle)
{
const uint WM_GETTEXTLENGTH = 0x000E;
const uint WM_GETTEXT = 0x000D;
var length = (int)SendMessage(handle, WM_GETTEXTLENGTH, IntPtr.Zero, null);
var sb = new StringBuilder(length + 1);
SendMessage(handle, WM_GETTEXT, (IntPtr)sb.Capacity, sb);
return sb.ToString();
}
//I didnt test this code, just gave an idea.
Visit www.pinvoke.net/default.aspx/ for more information. You can find alot about user32.dll

Send text to "save as" dialog

I have winapi c# to save webpage as pdf. Application uses control + P on webpage and hit enter. My default printer is "nuance pdf" and I want to save the file as pdf. My code looks as below:
static class Program
{
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern int SetForegroundWindow(IntPtr hWnd);
[DllImport("User32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, uint Msg, IntPtr wParam, string lParam);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string lpClassName, string lpWindowName);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr FindWindowEx(IntPtr hwndParent, IntPtr hwndChildAfter, string lpszClass, string lpszWindow);
[STAThread]
static void Main()
{
Boolean Check = true;
string text = "MyFileName";
while (Check)
{
Process[] processes = Process.GetProcessesByName("iexplore");
foreach (Process proc in processes)
{
SetForegroundWindow(proc.MainWindowHandle);
SendKeys.SendWait("^(p)");
SendKeys.SendWait("{ENTER}");
var handle = FindWindow(null, "Save As");
Console.WriteLine("handle {0}", handle);
//SendMessage(handle, 0x000C, IntPtr.Zero, text);
SendKeys.SendWait("{ENTER}");
}
Check = false;
}
}
}
This code saves the file name as "https___www.google.pdf". I would like to change the file name (highlighted).
How do I do that? Any pointers?
Thanks for helping out.
Given your current approach, and given that the text is highlighted by default, why not just send keys with the file name you want?
var handle = FindWindow(null, "Save As");
Console.WriteLine("handle {0}", handle);
SendKeys.SendWait(text);
SendKeys.SendWait("{ENTER}");
You may need to highlight the text first. Which could be a double click, or access the control directly, e.g. var filename = FindEdit(handle, "File Name:") to access it in case it's not highlighted by default.

Repeat FindWindow function everytime the window appears/opens

The title says it all, I have this code:
[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string lpClassName, string lpWindowName);
[DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "FindWindow", SetLastError = true)]
static extern IntPtr FindWindowByCaption(IntPtr ZeroOnly, string lpWindowName);
[DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
static extern IntPtr SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, UInt32 Msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam);
const UInt32 WM_CLOSE = 0x0010;
and here's what I added to Form1_Load:
IntPtr windowPtr = FindWindowByCaption(IntPtr.Zero, "Untitled - Notepad");
if (windowPtr == IntPtr.Zero)
{
MessageBox.Show("Window not found");
return;
}
SendMessage(windowPtr, WM_CLOSE, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero);
so I added the code above to the Form1_Load function, and it actually works, it closes notepad when I open my program, but my question is, how to make the function repeat, like close notepad whenever it opens and not only on Form1_Load ?
You have to enumerate the windows yourself: EnumWindows and in the return procedure check if the title is the same as what you want (hardcoding 'Untitled' might not be the best way by the way). Alternatively traverse the window graph yourself with GetWindow, starting at the first desktop child and iterate the siblings from there.
Also you don't need the IntPtr version of FindWindow, you can pass null as a string parameter and it accomplishes the same.

Alt+F,S not working in sendKeys C#

I want to save and close all kinds of application which is opened. The specific application is identified from Process command. with this I can kill it.
For saving I tried SendKeys class, First I set the SetForegroundWindow(h), and succeeded with ctrl+s by using
SendKeys.Send("^s"); //Ctrl+s
but, user defined applications are there, and also I have a situation to save a new(not existing file) which has to be saved by Alt+F+S.
So that it saves with default name
How do I achieve this,
I tried,
SendKeys.Send("%(fs)");
SendKeys.Send("%f"+"s"); //Alt+F
SendKeys.Send("%f" + "%s)"); //Alt+F
SendKeys.Send("%fs");
Please guide me, If its not possible with SendKeys, what else should I try.
Always use the breakets and you can avoid errors.
SendKeys.Send("%{f}"); //Alt+F
SendKeys.Send("{A}"); //A
or try
SendKeys.Send("%{f}{A}"); //Alt+F And A
What APP? SendKeys will send key strokes but under the hood most things use the good old message loop.
SendMessage(hWnd, WM_SETTEXT, wParam, lParam);
c#
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string lpClassName, String lpWindowName);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern int SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, int wMsg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam);
[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError=true, CharSet=CharSet.Auto)]
static extern uint RegisterWindowMessage(string lpString);
IntPtr hwnd= FindWindow(null, "Window Title");
SendMessage(hwnd, id, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero);
To get notepad to save it would be
const int WM_COMMAND = 0x111;
SendMessage(hwnd, WM_COMMAND,777 , NULL);

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