Develop Reference

TestStack/White API

I'm trying to automate an application using TestStack/White API (Which is based on Microsoft's UI Automation library).
The problem is the following:
At a certain point of automation, I have to deal with an "Dialog" window, which looks to be a separate process, if i look at "Windows Task Manager". But no matter how i try to access the "Dialog Window" (Class, ID, Text, ControlType, etc.) I'm not able to access it.
You can find the UISpy image and code below...
Using UISpy - Dialog Information
using (var DISCLAIMER_App = Application.Attach(#"PathToExecutable"))
using (var DISCLAIMER_Window = DISCLAIMER_App.GetWindow(SearchCriteria.ByClassName("#32770"), InitializeOption.NoCache))
{
var IAccept_button = DISCLAIMER_Window.Get<Button>(SearchCriteria.ByText("I accept"));
IAccept_button.Click();
}
# I've tried also Application.Launch, Application.AttachOrLaunch.
# I also looked to be sure that the Dialog window is a separated process and doesn't belong to any parent window.
Any suggestions?

Found the Solution, had to use "ProcessStartInfo()" and pass the return data to "Application.AttachOrLaunch()":
var psi = new ProcessStartInfo(#"PathToExecutable");
using (var DISCLAIMER_App = Application.AttachOrLaunch(psi))
Source: http://techqa.info/programming/tag/white?after=24806697

Extract Text from a running Program's Window Title without process.MainWindowTitle

I'm trying to extract text from a Creo 2.0 Window Title. The text will be used to create a folder titled the same as the part number that is opened and in the Window Title. The issue I have is that I can iterate through, and find all the Window Titles of open applications using process.MainWindowTitle, but for some reason, Creo doesn't have a Main Window Title. It also doesn't have the text using any other "process." functions. I figure that the information has to be somewhere if it's in the title bar like other normal programs, but I'm just not going at it the right way. Is there another process using C# that I can use to try and accomplish this?
Let me know if I need to give any other information. Thank you for the help!

It may not necessarily be available via the Process object. Explorer.exe, for example, has the current folder name in the title bar but this is not the MainWindowTitle. Another option is to use UI Automation to inspect the UI and report the window's title. Depending on which version of .Net you are targeting, you can reference UiaComWrapper (which has more information and better perf, I believe) or UIAutomationClient and UIAutomationTypes. A short sample that prints all window titles:
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Windows.Automation;
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var windows = AutomationElement.RootElement.FindAll(TreeScope.Descendants,
new PropertyCondition(AutomationElement.ControlTypeProperty, ControlType.Window));
foreach(AutomationElement window in windows)
{
var props = window.Current;
var proc = Process.GetProcessById(props.ProcessId);
Console.WriteLine("{0} {1} {2}", props.ProcessId, proc.ProcessName, props.Name);
}
}
Note that you need to run this elevated if you want to get information on elevated processes.

c# customizing controls on a save dialog -- how to disable parent folder button?

I am working from the sample project here: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/8086/Extending-the-save-file-dialog-class-in-NET
I have hidden the address/location bar at the top and made other modifications but I can't for the life of me manage to disable the button that lets you go up to the parent folder. Ist is in the ToolbarWindow32 class which is the problem. This is what I have at the moment but it is not working:
int parentFolderWindow = GetDlgItem(parent, 0x440);
//Doesn't work
//ShowWindow((IntPtr)parentFolderWindow, SW_HIDE);
//40961 gathered from Spy++ watching messages when clicking on the control
// doesn't work
//SendMessage(parentFolderWindow, TB_ENABLEBUTTON, 40961, 0);
// doesn't work
//SendMessage(parentFolderWindow, TB_SETSTATE, 40961, 0);
//Comes back as '{static}', am I working with the wrong control maybe?
GetClassName((IntPtr)parentFolderWindow, lpClassName, (int)nLength);
Alternatively, if they do use the parent folder button and go where I don't want them to, I'm able to look at the new directory they land in, is there a way I can force the navigation to go back?
Edit: Added screenshot

//Comes back as '{static}', am I working with the wrong control maybe?
You know you are using the wrong control, you expected to see "ToolbarWindow32" back. A very significant problem, a common one for Codeproject.com code, is that this code cannot work anymore as posted. Windows has changed too much since 2004. Vista was the first version since then that added a completely new set of shell dialogs, they are based on IFileDialog. Much improved over its predecessor, in particular customizing the dialog is a lot cleaner through the IFileDialogCustomize interface. Not actually what you want to do, and customizations do not include tinkering with the navigation bar.
The IFileDialogEvents interface delivers events, the one you are looking for is the OnFolderChanging event. Designed to stop the user from navigating away from the current folder, the thing you really want to do.
While this looks good on paper, I should caution you about actually trying to use these interfaces. A common problem with anything related to the Windows shell is that they only made it easy to use from C++. The COM interfaces are the "unfriendly" kind, interfaces based on IUnknown without a type library you can use the easily add a reference to your C# or VB.NET project. Microsoft published the "Vista bridge" to make these interfaces usable from C# as well, it looks like this. Yes, yuck. Double yuck when you discover you have to do this twice, this only works on later Windows versions and there's a strong hint that you are trying to do this on XP (judging from the control ID you found).
This is simply not something you want to have to support. Since the alternative is so simple, use the supported .NET FileOk event instead. A Winforms example:
private void SaveButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
string requiredDir = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments);
using (var dlg = new SaveFileDialog()) {
dlg.InitialDirectory = requiredDir;
dlg.FileOk += (s, cea) => {
string selectedDir = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(dlg.FileName);
if (string.Compare(requiredDir, selectedDir, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) != 0) {
string msg = string.Format("Sorry, you cannot save to this directory.\r\nPlease select '{0}' instead", requiredDir);
MessageBox.Show(msg, "Invalid folder selection");
cea.Cancel = true;
}
};
if (dlg.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK) {
// etc...
}
}
}

I don't this is going to work. Even if you disable the button they can type ..\ and click save and it will take them up one level. You can't exactly disable the file name text box and maintain the functionality of the dialog.
You'd be better off either using the FolderBrowserDialog and setting it's RootFolder property and asking the user to type the filename in or auto generating it.
If the folder you are wanting to restrict the users to isn't an Environment.SpecialFolder Then you'll need to do some work to make the call to SHBrowseForFolder Manually using ILCreateFromPath to get a PIDLIST_ABSOLUTE for your path to pass to the BROWSEINFO.pidlRoot
You can reflect FolderBrowserDialog.RunDialog to see how to make that call.

Since you want such custom behaviors instead of developing low level code (that is likely yo break in the next versions of windows) you can try to develop your file picker form.
Basically it is a simple treeview + list view. Microsoft has a walk-through .
It will take you half a day but once you have your custom form you can define all behaviors you need without tricks and limits.

How to get the (.lnk) shortcut filepath in a program which started by the shortcut?

I have a c# program which open *.postfix file.
If a user runs a (.lnk)shortcut which points to my type of file, my program will open the target.
So, how could my program know it is started by a (.lnk)shortcut (and get it's file path)?
In some circumstances,i need to replace the .lnk file.
Thanks!
Edited
First, thanks to guys who answered my question.
By following #Anders answer, i find out my problem lays here.
I made some changes to windows registry, so browser knows to throw customized protocol string to certain program.
some thing like this..
[InternetShortcut]
URL=myProtocol://abcdefg.....
That's maybe why i lost lpTitle. :(
I'm going to try this way:
Whenever my program invoked, of course fed with %1, program checks current opened explorer(Window), and try to get it's current path with IWebBrowserApp. With that path and desktop of course, scan and analyze *.lnk to determine which one to replace.
I think this will probably work, but not be sure. I will try.
continued

In native code you can call GetStartupInfo, if the STARTF_TITLEISLINKNAME bit is set in STARTUPINFO.dwFlags then the path to the .lnk is in STARTUPINFO.lpTitle. I don't know if there is a .NET way to get this info, you probably have to P/Invoke...

You don't. There's no way to do it. End of story.
So this has been brought to my attention due to a recent downvote. There's an accepted answer showing an idea that gets the path to the launching shortcut most of the time. However my answer is to the whole. OP wants the link to the shortcut so he can change it. That is what can't be done most of the time.
Most likely case is the shortcut file exists in the start menu but is unwritable. However other cases involve the shortcut coming from another launching application that didn't even read it from a disk but from a database (I've seen a lot of corporate level restricted application launch tools). I also have a program that launches programs from shortcuts not via IShellLink but by parsing the .lnk file (because it must not start COM for reasons) and launching the program contained. It doesn't pass STARTF_TITLEISLINKNAME because it's passing an actual title.

If you're using Visual Studio Setup Project to build an installer and do the file type association, you should follow these instructions http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/topic/58005-file-associations-in-visual-studio/
Open up your solution in Visual studio.
Add a Setup Project to your solution by file , add project,New project, Setup & Deployment projects,Setup project
Right-click on your setup project in the "Solution Explorer" window,Select view,then select file types.
you'll see the "file types" window displayed in Visual studio.At the top of the window will be "File types on target machine"
Right-click on "File types on target machine".the menu will pop up with Add "file type" Click on this.
you'll see "New document Type#1" added,and "&open"underneath it.
The "new document type#1" can be anything you want - change it to something descriptive.although the user never sees this,never use something common- be as unique as possible,Because you can overlay current file associations without even realizing it.For example,you might think"pngfile" might be a useful name- but using that will now send all"*.png" files to your application,instead of to an image viewer.A good practice maybe "YourCompantName.Filetype",where your company name is your name of your company's name, and "Filetype" is a descriptive text of your file.
In the "properties" window for your new type,you will need to change a few properties.:
Command:Change to the application that you want to run.If you click on the "..." and you will proberly want to locate and use the "primary Output..." File
Description: This is the description of the file type(if it doesn't describe it's self"
Extensions:This your list of extensions for you chosen Program.Separate each one with a ","
Icon:This will associate the icon with your file type,This shows up in the window explorer.
Now we move to that "&open ".This is an action that is available if your right-click on the file.The default action("&Open" is currently set as the default) is what happens when you double click on the file.Right click on your "New document type#1" to add actions,but for the moment,lets define our "&open" action
Click on "&Open".You will see in the properties window "Name","Arguments","Verbs". Verb is hidden from the user,but is the key that is stored in the registry.Leave it same as the name,But without the "&".The default for"Arguments" is "%1",Which means to pass the full path and filename to your application.You can add other stuff here as well,if you need to pass flags to your application to do special stuff.All this infomaton is getting passed to your application on the command line,so you'll need to be familiar with the "Environment.CommandLine" object.
If you need to set a different action as your default,just right click on the action and "set as default"
Basically, you'll pass the file path as an argument to your program. Then if it's a console application or Windows Forms , you should check the arguments in Program.Main
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//if file association done with Arguments %1 as per forum post above
//you file path should be in args[0]
string filePath = null;
if(args != null && args.Length > 0)
filePath = args[0];
}
For a WPF application you'll need to handle that in the StartUp event for your Application
void App_Startup(object sender, StartupEventArgs e)
{
string filePath = null;
if ((e.Args != null) && (e.Args.Length > 0))
{
filePath = e.Args[0];
}
}

Select folder dialog WPF

I develop a WPF4 application and in my app I need to let the user select a folder where the application will store something (files, generated reports etc.).
My requirements:
Ability to see the standard folder tree
Ability to select a folder
WPF look & feel, this dialog must look like part of a modern application designed for Windows Vista/7 and not Windows 2000 or even Win9x.
As I understand, until 2010 (.Net 4.0) there won't be a standard folder dialog, but maybe there are some changes in version 4.0?
Or the only thing I can do, is to use an old-school WinForms dialog? If it's the only way to do what I need, how can I make it looking closer to Vista/7 style and not Win9x?

Windows Presentation Foundation 4.5 Cookbook by Pavel Yosifovich on page 155 in the section on "Using the common dialog boxes" says:
"What about folder selection (instead of files)? The WPF
OpenFileDialog does not support that. One solution is to use Windows
Forms' FolderBrowseDialog class. Another good solution is to use the
Windows API Code Pack described shortly."
I downloaded the API Code Pack from Windows® API Code Pack for Microsoft® .NET Framework Windows API Code Pack: Where is it?, then added references to Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.dll and Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.Shell.dll to my WPF 4.5 project.
Example:
using Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.Dialogs;
var dlg = new CommonOpenFileDialog();
dlg.Title = "My Title";
dlg.IsFolderPicker = true;
dlg.InitialDirectory = currentDirectory;
dlg.AddToMostRecentlyUsedList = false;
dlg.AllowNonFileSystemItems = false;
dlg.DefaultDirectory = currentDirectory;
dlg.EnsureFileExists = true;
dlg.EnsurePathExists = true;
dlg.EnsureReadOnly = false;
dlg.EnsureValidNames = true;
dlg.Multiselect = false;
dlg.ShowPlacesList = true;
if (dlg.ShowDialog() == CommonFileDialogResult.Ok)
{
var folder = dlg.FileName;
// Do something with selected folder string
}

I wrote about it on my blog a long time ago, WPF's support for common file dialogs is really bad (or at least is was in 3.5 I didn't check in version 4), but it's easy to work around it.
You need to add the correct manifest to your application, that will give you a modern style message boxes and folder browser (WinForms, FolderBrowserDialog) but not WPF file open/save dialogs, this is described in those 3 posts (if you don't care about the explanation and only want the solution go directly to the 3rd):
Why am I Getting Old Style File Dialogs and Message Boxes with WPF
Will Setting a Manifest Solve My WPF Message Box Style Problems?
The Application Manifest Needed for XP and Vista Style File Dialogs and Message Boxes with WPF
Fortunately, the open/save dialogs are very thin wrappers around the Win32 API that is easy to call with the right flags to get the Vista/7 style (after setting the manifest)
Vista style open and save dialogs with WPF (without using the Vista bridge sample)

Add The Windows API Code Pack-Shell to your project
using Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.Dialogs;
...
var dialog = new CommonOpenFileDialog();
dialog.IsFolderPicker = true;
CommonFileDialogResult result = dialog.ShowDialog();

If you don't want to use Windows Forms nor edit manifest files, I came up with a very simple hack using WPF's SaveAs dialog for actually selecting a directory.
No using directive needed, you may simply copy-paste the code below !
It should still be very user-friendly and most people will never notice.
The idea comes from the fact that we can change the title of that dialog, hide files, and work around the resulting filename quite easily.
It is a big hack for sure, but maybe it will do the job just fine for your usage...
In this example I have a textbox object to contain the resulting path, but you may remove the related lines and use a return value if you wish...
// Create a "Save As" dialog for selecting a directory (HACK)
var dialog = new Microsoft.Win32.SaveFileDialog();
dialog.InitialDirectory = textbox.Text; // Use current value for initial dir
dialog.Title = "Select a Directory"; // instead of default "Save As"
dialog.Filter = "Directory|*.this.directory"; // Prevents displaying files
dialog.FileName = "select"; // Filename will then be "select.this.directory"
if (dialog.ShowDialog() == true) {
string path = dialog.FileName;
// Remove fake filename from resulting path
path = path.Replace("\\select.this.directory", "");
path = path.Replace(".this.directory", "");
// If user has changed the filename, create the new directory
if (!System.IO.Directory.Exists(path)) {
System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(path);
}
// Our final value is in path
textbox.Text = path;
}
The only issues with this hack are :
Acknowledge button still says "Save" instead of something like "Select directory", but in a case like mines I "Save" the directory selection so it still works...
Input field still says "File name" instead of "Directory name", but we can say that a directory is a type of file...
There is still a "Save as type" dropdown, but its value says "Directory (*.this.directory)", and the user cannot change it for something else, works for me...
Most people won't notice these, although I would definitely prefer using an official WPF way if microsoft would get their heads out of their asses, but until they do, that's my temporary fix.

The FolderBrowserDialog class from System.Windows.Forms is the recommended way to display a dialog that allows a user to select a folder.
Until recently, the appearance and behaviour of this dialog was not in keeping with the other file system dialogs, which is one of the reasons why people were reluctant to use it.
The good news is that FolderBrowserDialog was "modernized" in NET Core 3.0, so is now a viable option for those writing either Windows Forms or WPF apps targeting that version or later.
In .NET Core 3.0, Windows Forms users [sic] a newer COM-based control that was introduced in Windows Vista:
To reference System.Windows.Forms in a NET Core WPF app, it is necessary to edit the project file and add the following line:
<UseWindowsForms>true</UseWindowsForms>
This can be placed directly after the existing <UseWPF> element.
Then it's just a case of using the dialog:
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
...
using var dialog = new FolderBrowserDialog
{
Description = "Time to select a folder",
UseDescriptionForTitle = true,
SelectedPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.DesktopDirectory)
+ Path.DirectorySeparatorChar,
ShowNewFolderButton = true
};
if (dialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
{
...
}
FolderBrowserDialog has a RootFolder property that supposedly "sets the root folder where the browsing starts from" but whatever I set this to it didn't make any difference; SelectedPath seemed to be the better property to use for this purpose, however the trailing backslash is required.
Also, the ShowNewFolderButton property seems to be ignored as well, the button is always shown regardless.

Microsoft.Win32.OpenFileDialog is the standard dialog that any application on Windows uses. Your user won't be surprised by its appearance when you use WPF in .NET 4.0
The dialog was altered in Vista. WPF in .NET 3.0 and 3.5 still used the legacy dialog but that was fixed in .NET 4.0. I can only guess that you started this thread because you are seeing that old dialog. Which probably means you're actually running a program that is targeting 3.5. Yes, the Winforms wrapper did get the upgrade and shows the Vista version. System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog class, you'll need to add a reference to System.Windows.Forms.

MVVM + WinForms FolderBrowserDialog as behavior
public class FolderDialogBehavior : Behavior<Button>
{
public string SetterName { get; set; }
protected override void OnAttached()
{
base.OnAttached();
AssociatedObject.Click += OnClick;
}
protected override void OnDetaching()
{
AssociatedObject.Click -= OnClick;
}
private void OnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
var dialog = new FolderBrowserDialog();
var result = dialog.ShowDialog();
if (result == DialogResult.OK && AssociatedObject.DataContext != null)
{
var propertyInfo = AssociatedObject.DataContext.GetType().GetProperties(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public)
.Where(p => p.CanRead && p.CanWrite)
.Where(p => p.Name.Equals(SetterName))
.First();
propertyInfo.SetValue(AssociatedObject.DataContext, dialog.SelectedPath, null);
}
}
}
Usage
<Button Grid.Column="3" Content="...">
<Interactivity:Interaction.Behaviors>
<Behavior:FolderDialogBehavior SetterName="SomeFolderPathPropertyName"/>
</Interactivity:Interaction.Behaviors>
</Button>
Blogpost: http://kostylizm.blogspot.ru/2014/03/wpf-mvvm-and-winforms-folder-dialog-how.html

Based on Oyun's answer, it's better to use a dependency property for the FolderName. This allows (for example) binding to sub-properties, which doesn't work in the original. Also, in my adjusted version, the dialog shows selects the initial folder.
Usage in XAML:
<Button Content="...">
<i:Interaction.Behaviors>
<Behavior:FolderDialogBehavior FolderName="{Binding FolderPathPropertyName, Mode=TwoWay}"/>
</i:Interaction.Behaviors>
</Button>
Code:
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Windows.Interactivity;
using Button = System.Windows.Controls.Button;
public class FolderDialogBehavior : Behavior<Button>
{
#region Attached Behavior wiring
protected override void OnAttached()
{
base.OnAttached();
AssociatedObject.Click += OnClick;
}
protected override void OnDetaching()
{
AssociatedObject.Click -= OnClick;
base.OnDetaching();
}
#endregion
#region FolderName Dependency Property
public static readonly DependencyProperty FolderName =
DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("FolderName",
typeof(string), typeof(FolderDialogBehavior));
public static string GetFolderName(DependencyObject obj)
{
return (string)obj.GetValue(FolderName);
}
public static void SetFolderName(DependencyObject obj, string value)
{
obj.SetValue(FolderName, value);
}
#endregion
private void OnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
var dialog = new FolderBrowserDialog();
var currentPath = GetValue(FolderName) as string;
dialog.SelectedPath = currentPath;
var result = dialog.ShowDialog();
if (result == DialogResult.OK)
{
SetValue(FolderName, dialog.SelectedPath);
}
}
}

The Ookii Dialogs for WPF has a VistaFolderBrowserDialog class that provides a complete implementation of a folder browser dialog for WPF.
https://github.com/augustoproiete/ookii-dialogs-wpf
There's also a version that works with Windows Forms.

Only such dialog is FileDialog. Its part of WinForms, but its actually only wrapper around WinAPI standard OS file dialog. And I don't think it is ugly, its actually part of OS, so it looks like OS it is run on.
Other way, there is nothing to help you with. You either need to look for 3rd party implementation, either free (and I don't think there are any good) or paid.

Just to say one thing, WindowsAPICodePack can not open CommonOpenFileDialog on Windows 7 6.1.7600.

A comment on the original question from C. Augusto Proiete suggested Ookii dialogs (https://github.com/ookii-dialogs/ookii-dialogs-wpf). That's what I ended up using in my situation. Here's how I used it in my app.
var dialog = new VistaFolderBrowserDialog()
{
Description = "Select Folder",
RootFolder = Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop,
ShowNewFolderButton = true,
UseDescriptionForTitle = true
};
var result = dialog.ShowDialog();
if (result.HasValue && result.Value)
{
_mySelectedFolder = dialog.SelectedPath;
}