I am working on a project that is supposed to take a program written in C++ using Windows forms (a basic calculator taking two ints, an operator and has an equals button) and automates it using C++ and low level WinAPI calls.
I have been googling a bit, but most of the references I find on this are fairly old and I want to make sure I'm going in the right direction. I see OLE Automation but not sure if that's the right direction
What I do know:
I cannot use Reflection, any 3rd party library including Visual Studio's UI/Testing automation assemblies.
I assume whatever I use I will launch the application, get the window by it's title, get each element by the element name somehow, simulate a click, read the calculated value, etc. It's just getting there that is the problem
It sounds like you're familiar with the basics of window handles and such so I'll skip that part, but here are some pointers to help you get started:
To find the form's control windows - EnumChildWindows()
To send messages to each of those windows - SendMessage()
Finally, a list of the messages you can send to buttons - Button Messages (for your program check out the BM_CLICK message in particular)
You can find MSDN references for each of the other controls' messages by goggling "msdn edit control (etc.) messages".
Related
I would like to create a Windows application (for Windows 10) using the C++ and the Windows API. I already have some basic knowledge of using the built-in windows controls to create a basic application, but would now like to expand into custom controls . Since I have no need for my application to be compatible with anything but Windows 10, and would like to use a reliable API which supports transparency and anti-aliasing but is also fast enough to render a GUI, I have chosen to use Direct2D.
The MSDN documentation says:
'Your application should create render targets once'
Bearing this in mind, should each child window use one ID2D1HwndRenderTarget which renders only to the parent window (and doesn't respond to the child windows' WM_PAINT messages), or should there be a single ID2D1DCRenderTarget which would draw to each control using the device context from the WM_PAINT message (using bindDC() - although I would still like to be able to use transparency, and am not interested in GDI interoperability)? Should I even be using Direct2D at all?
I would like to use the Windows API, so a solution involving QT or MFC wouldn't work. I haven't got a specific application in mind, but would eventually like to create a simple library that would enable me to quickly produce GUI applications that have a custom look.
I have spent hours scouring the web for answers, but have found nothing conclusive. MSDN itself seems particularly unhelpful, it just teaches you to draw an ellipse and stops there. Please forgive me if I have accidentally broken the rules of asking questions - as you can probably tell I am new to Stack Overflow - and if any other information is needed, I will of course include it (I am using C++ with Visual Studio Community 2019).
Is it possible to create a keyboard shortcut to switch between the monitor and portion selection of this wacom preferences window, via a c++ console program?
Sorry if this is poorly worded, I've had trouble trying to find the right words to search for ways to do it.
I think it should be possible, although a bit tedious. You should be able to use the Windows API, and try to EnumWindows/EnumDesktopWindows to identify the respective application Window, and its respective controls (which are also Windows).
You should identify the window title, and class ids, for the app window, and the checkbox button controls, then when you enumerate through all the desktop windows, you can identify the ones you are interested in.
Then you can use the SendMessage() API to send messages to the controls (Windows) of interest to manipulate them.
It's a bit tedious, but sounds possible.
An example of use here to get an idea:
http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/windows/25280/
I wanna ask if someone can provide me a c++ code in which I can hide/show the pointer of the mouse when pressing a specific key..
I found several codes written for only TURBO C++, none of which can be compiled and run using dev c++ or even visual c++..
I tried running the codes I found in Dev C++ but I only get lots of errors and incompatibilities..
I also found several articles that says I can use the function ShowCursor but it just wouldn't work..
In fact hiding the cursor can turn out to be quite a task, depending on what you want to achive. If you're programming a GUI-application using the WinAPI it is pretty easy.
Just calling ShowCursor(false); once might turn out not to work in some cases though, since the ShowCursor function only "sets an internal display counter". The cursor is displayed until this counter is smaller than 0 (see msdn on it). You could try something like this:
while(ShowCursor(false)>=0);
to ensure the counter gets below 0.
This will however only hide the cursor inside your applications window, if you're using newer Windows versions like Windows 7. Hiding the cursor all over the system could turn out to be a lot more difficult.
If you are programming a console application ShowCursor won't show any effect as far as I've tested it. Using the following code:
while(ShowCursor(false)>=0);
std::cout<<ShowCursor(false)<<std::endl;
std::cout<<ShowCursor(true)<<std::endl;
we can see, that the counter definitely is below 0, but still the cursor is displayed. I haven't come up with a solution to this so far.
If you look at the documentation for the SetCursor function, setting the cursor to a NULL handle (e.g SetCursor(NULL)) will remove the cursor from the screen.
I have a third party encryption library, which may create a MessageBox if key creation fails. The failure can be caused by bad random number generation or other rarities, and in most cases, trying again will result in success. My code will attempt key creation up to three times before deciding it failed.
Now, the issue is that the program may be used with automation. If a MessageBox is created during automation, it will block the process forever, because there's nobody to click the 'OK' button.
Does anyone know of a way to catch when this message box is created and automatically close it?
Anything is fair game, as long as it's not something that will make security suites angry. This means no hooking or code tunneling.
In summary, I need to catch when a MessageBox is created and close it. The MessageBox's creation is outside of my control. Modifying the code at runtime is not acceptable.
Also, I've noticed there are some other similar questions, but they don't have the same requirements.
EDIT: Additional note, I can find the message box via searching through all windows until I find one with a matching title and then send it a WM_CLOSE message, but I don't think this is a great solution. I also have no guarantee that the message box has been/will be displayed, or how long after my call it will be displayed. It could display instantly, it could display 1200 ms later, or it could not display at all.
Just before you begin the encryption process, install a WH_CBT hook, and in its callback watch for an nCode of HCBT_CREATEWND. If you get a matching class name ('#32770 (Dialog)' ?) and a matching title either return a nonzero value from the callback, or if that doesn't work post a WM_CLOSE (or a BM_CLICK to a relevant button if selecting an option is necessary). Uninstall the hook after the process for not messing with every possible dialog your application pops up.
That sounds like bad design on the part of that library. Generally any sort of utility library (like encryption) has no business invoking any kind of GUI (unless you explicitly ask it to).
Is there possibly some configuration or setting in this library that could disable its use of message boxes?
If not, I'd suggest that you might want to investigate using a different library. After all, if the designers of this library have already made this kind of poor design decision once, then there may be other unfortunate surprises lurking in there.
You can hope that it will be found by GetForegroundWindow, but this may catch other applications. The more brute force way is to iterate over all windows with EnumWindows looking for something that has a caption or text equal to this shown by the library.
I have once "remote controlled" an application by sending mouse click events to some controls. I guess you would have to do this in a separate thread that is watching for Events if a window is opened. Pretty ugly but working...
Create a new thread. If your function fails and a Message Box is opened, obtain a handle to the message box by looping through the windows (GetTopWindow, GetNextWindow) and comparing the window's process id to the one returned from GetCurrentProcessId().
Or, you can avoid all the hard work and just hook the MessageBox API with detours. It's not very hard, and if you don't want to pay for detours, you can do it manually.
Call VirtualProtect and set the memory protection at MessageBox at PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE
Create a naked function, and use it as a trampoline.
Create a function identical in parameters to MessageBox (this will be your hook)
Create a jump from MessageBox to your hook function.
Short version:
How can I receive input messages in Windows with C++/C when the window is not active?
Background information:
I'm currently working on an Input System that should not depend on any window, so it can e.g. be used in the console as well.
My idea is to create an invisible window only receiving messages, which is possible using HWND_MESSAGE as hWndParent. It only receives input messages when it's active though, and I don't want this. It should always receive input (unless the application requests it no longer does so, e.g. because it lost focus).
I know this is possible somehow, many applications support global shortcuts (e.g. media players (playback control) or instant messengers (opening the contact list)), I just don't know how. Do you know?
Options:
RegisterHotKey if you need to register just one or a few hotkeys
SetWindowsHookEx with WH_KEYBOARD / WH_KEYBOARD_LL. Use when you need to filter many or all keyboard events. However, the hook code needs to be implemented in a DLL (which is loaded into other processes). You need separate 32 bit and 64 bit versions of the DLL
You need to setup windows keyboard input hook. Here is an example how to do it; it is even easier to do in C++