Develop Reference

Does windows api messages still exists?

Long long time ago (in a galaxy far away), I used to program some fun tools to assist me (as having a disability) or just support my lazyness :)
Tools that do things like "wait 30 seconds and then press play on my media player" or "save a list of all song names from winamp that streaming a live m3u based radio". it was almost 20 years ago, using C# and window messages api (not wanting to relay on mouse clicks and strict window size&position). I would've found the window's handle and the "control" handle and interact with it.
The question is: Can I still do it today in the age of Windows 10?
If so, how?
I would appreciate a starting point.
Let's say I want to press play on my bs.player after x seconds, or close an error message that comes up every 10 seconds (well, its not cause' my windows is healthy ..but theoretically).
Thank you :)

Yes you can, if you talk about Windows API.
You need to declare the external WinAPI's signatures as static extern using the DllImport attribute.
For example to know if the screen saver is active or if an app runs in full screen:
private const int WM_SYSCOMMAND = 0x0112;
private const int SC_SCREENSAVE = 0xF140;
private const int SPI_GETSCREENSAVERRUNNING = 0x0072;
[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
static extern bool SystemParametersInfo(int action, int param, ref int retval, int updini);
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
private struct RECT
{
public int left;
public int top;
public int right;
public int bottom;
}
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static private extern bool GetWindowRect(HandleRef hWnd, [In, Out] ref RECT rect);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static private extern IntPtr GetForegroundWindow();
static private bool IsForegroundFullScreen()
{
return IsForegroundFullScreen(null);
}
static private bool IsForegroundFullScreen(Screen screen)
{
if ( screen == null ) screen = Screen.PrimaryScreen;
RECT rect = new RECT();
GetWindowRect(new HandleRef(null, GetForegroundWindow()), ref rect);
return new Rectangle(rect.left, rect.top, rect.right - rect.left, rect.bottom - rect.top)
.Contains(screen.Bounds);
}
private bool IsScreensaverActive()
{
int active = 1;
SystemParametersInfo(SPI_GETSCREENSAVERRUNNING, 0, ref active, 0);
return active != 0;
}
private bool IsForegroundFullScreenOrScreensaver()
{
return IsForegroundFullScreen() || IsScreensaverActive();
}
Calling Win32 DLLs in C#
c# dllimport with pointers

Can you get the position of a window that is inside of another application

So I found an example from an answer provided here
There was an answer that gave this example of code to move the Notepad window to the top left corner of the screen. I tried it and it worked fine. I then tried it on a small project I am working on and I couldn't move it.
NOTE: I did change the "Notepad" to the name at the top of the window I wanted to move.
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices; // For the P/Invoke signatures.
public static class PositionWindowDemo
{
// P/Invoke declarations.
[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string lpClassName, string lpWindowName);
[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
static extern bool SetWindowPos(IntPtr hWnd, IntPtr hWndInsertAfter, int X, int Y, int cx, int cy, uint uFlags);
const uint SWP_NOSIZE = 0x0001;
const uint SWP_NOZORDER = 0x0004;
public static void Main()
{
// Find (the first-in-Z-order) Notepad window.
IntPtr hWnd = FindWindow("Notepad", null);
// If found, position it.
if (hWnd != IntPtr.Zero)
{
// Move the window to (0,0) without changing its size or position
// in the Z order.
SetWindowPos(hWnd, IntPtr.Zero, 0, 0, 0, 0, SWP_NOSIZE | SWP_NOZORDER);
}
}
}
I will give an example. Consider Visual Studios and how it has the Solution Explorer Window or the Output window, and I can drag them with the mouse and move them or undock them. Would there be a way to have an application that has windows inside of it similar to Visual Studios and get the position of them in a program?
I have seen many answers on here about moving a window or finding the active window etc. However I am not sure if I will be able to access this subWindow that is inside of another application.
Thanks

Pinvoke MoveWindow in C#

I am try to get form2 positioned relative to form1. I've tried many things an nothing seems to work right. I wanted to try:
http://www.pinvoke.net/default.aspx/user32/MoveWindow.html
As a newbie to windows programming especially C# I'm looking at the syntax/example and I find it difficult to know what to put in for the parameters. I did get a different simpler p/invoke to work:
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
...
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{ InitializeComponent(); }
[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
static extern bool CreateDirectory(string lpPathName,
IntPtr lpSecurityAttributes);
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) { }
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{ CreateDirectory(#"c:\test4", IntPtr.Zero); }
}
...
I'm taking a guess IntPtr is "saying" I'm pointing at the first node - but only a guess...
The C# signature for MoveWindow:
[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
internal static extern bool MoveWindow(IntPtr hWnd, int X, int Y, int nWidth, int nHeight, bool bRepaint);
there's comments on this as well on the site. "IntPtr hWnd" - I need to get that associated with Form2 (?) , do I repaint? I'm trying to show I've looked at it and tried to figure it out - I know we are getting it from the system's dll's...the x-y I got but getting it "with" Form2 I'm lost. Help appreciated.

In general you wouldn't need PInvoke for something as simple as this.
As long as you have a reference to form2 from form1 then you can easily do this by listening to the LocationChanged event of form1. When form1 moves then you can move form2 by doing the following:
var location = this.Location;
location.Offset(xoffset, yoffset);
form2.Location = location;
That would normally be enough to make sure form2 is placed somewhere relatively to form1 and that its position is updated when form1 is moved. You may have to set an initial position of form2 if the LocationChanged event is not called when the form is first created.

Something like this should work. Tested too. You can alter this to fit exactly what you wanted to do, which shouldn't be an issue at all.
// Win32 RECT
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct RECT
{
public int Left;
public int Top;
public int Right;
public int Bottom;
}
// GetWindowRect gets the win32 RECT by a window handle.
[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError=true)]
static extern bool GetWindowRect(IntPtr hwnd, out RECT lpRect);
// MoveWindow moves a window or changes its size based on a window handle.
[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
static extern bool MoveWindow(IntPtr hWnd, int X, int Y, int nWidth, int nHeight, bool bRepaint);
// MoveForms moves one form to another using the win api.
void MoveForms(Form fromForm, Form toForm)
{
IntPtr hWnd_from = fromForm.Handle; // fromForm window handle
IntPtr hWnd_to = toForm.Handle; // toForm window handle
RECT rect_from, rect_to; // RECT holders for fromForm and toForm
if (GetWindowRect(hWnd_from, out rect_from) &&
GetWindowRect(hWnd_to, out rect_to)) // if it gets the win32 RECT for both the fromForm and toForm do the following ...
{
int x_to = rect_to.Left; // toForm's X position
int y_to = rect_to.Top; // toForm's Y position
int width_from = rect_from.Right - rect_from.Left; // fromForm's width
int height_from = rect_from.Bottom - rect_from.Top; // fromForm's height
// Moves fromForm to toForm using the x_to, y_to for X/Y and width_from, height_from for W/H.
MoveWindow(hWnd_from, x_to, y_to, width_from, height_from, true);
}
}

Refreshing system tray icons programmatically

I've an application which has a system tray icon. While uninstalling I'm killing the process if its running. So, as am not gracefully stopping the app, the icon remains in the system tray and will remove only if we hover the mouse on it. I wrote a code that would run the cursor along the tray and get the cursor back in its initial position. This is what I have done:
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string className, string windowName);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static extern IntPtr FindWindowEx(IntPtr parent, IntPtr child, string className, string windowName);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static extern bool GetWindowRect(HandleRef handle, out RECT rct);
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
struct RECT
{
public int Left;
public int Top;
public int Right;
public int Bottom;
}
void RefreshTray()
{
IntPtr taskbar_Handle = FindWindow("Shell_Traywnd", "");
IntPtr tray_Handle = FindWindowEx(taskbar_Handle, IntPtr.Zero, "TrayNotifyWnd", "");
RECT rct;
if (!(GetWindowRect(new HandleRef(null, tray_Handle), out rct)))
{
}
System.Drawing.Point init = Control.MousePosition;
for (int i = rct.Left; i < rct.Right-20; i++)
{
Cursor.Position = new System.Drawing.Point(i, (rct.Bottom + rct.Top) / 2);
}
Cursor.Position = init;
}
This works good in all the cases except when the option "do not show notification icons" is enabled. Is there some way I could refresh the tray in this case?
EDIT
As the comments suggested I changed my approach. Instead of killing the tray application, I established a communication between my application service (yeah, forgot to mention, I have a service too running along with the application) and tray application. While uninstalling, I stop the service, from the service stop method I would send a socket message of a particular format to the tray application and ask it to close and I would set the notify icon visibility to false. This would leave the Tray Application running in background so I am using "taskkill" to remove the application. It worked fine in Win7 and Vista, but is not working properly in Win XP. But I have not written any environment specific code. Any possible clue?

That's similar to what I use.
A simple floating Keyboard I added to a touch gallery interface. The user wanted to also have my keyboard as a standalone application on their desktop. So I did this, created a tray app for it. Now - what if its open and they launch my gallery?
They would have two keyboards.
Sure - the user could end the first - but its easier to just end it. There are no repercussions from me killing it, so I do. But the tray Icon remains, as its waiting for an event. To get around this, I refresh the Tray area.
Please note - This would only work on an English Locale Installation. To get this to work on another language, change "User Promoted Notification Area", and "Notification Area" to the translated / equivalent string.
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct RECT
{
public int left;
public int top;
public int right;
public int bottom;
}
[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 bool GetClientRect(IntPtr hWnd, out RECT lpRect);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, uint msg, int wParam, int lParam);
public static void RefreshTrayArea()
{
IntPtr systemTrayContainerHandle = FindWindow("Shell_TrayWnd", null);
IntPtr systemTrayHandle = FindWindowEx(systemTrayContainerHandle, IntPtr.Zero, "TrayNotifyWnd", null);
IntPtr sysPagerHandle = FindWindowEx(systemTrayHandle, IntPtr.Zero, "SysPager", null);
IntPtr notificationAreaHandle = FindWindowEx(sysPagerHandle, IntPtr.Zero, "ToolbarWindow32", "Notification Area");
if (notificationAreaHandle == IntPtr.Zero)
{
notificationAreaHandle = FindWindowEx(sysPagerHandle, IntPtr.Zero, "ToolbarWindow32",
"User Promoted Notification Area");
IntPtr notifyIconOverflowWindowHandle = FindWindow("NotifyIconOverflowWindow", null);
IntPtr overflowNotificationAreaHandle = FindWindowEx(notifyIconOverflowWindowHandle, IntPtr.Zero,
"ToolbarWindow32", "Overflow Notification Area");
RefreshTrayArea(overflowNotificationAreaHandle);
}
RefreshTrayArea(notificationAreaHandle);
}
private static void RefreshTrayArea(IntPtr windowHandle)
{
const uint wmMousemove = 0x0200;
RECT rect;
GetClientRect(windowHandle, out rect);
for (var x = 0; x < rect.right; x += 5)
for (var y = 0; y < rect.bottom; y += 5)
SendMessage(windowHandle, wmMousemove, 0, (y << 16) + x);
}

Shouldn't be difficult to close the current instance using something like pipes, or TCP if you don't feel like doing that and aren't running .NET4.0.
As everyone is implying, the issue is that by killing your process it doesn't get a chance to unregister its tray icon instance, so it sticks around until Windows attempts to send an event to it (the next time you move the mouse over it) at which point Windows will remove it.
Depending on what installer you are using, this could be quite easy or more difficult. Most popular installer frameworks allow for plugins, and a few of them support Pipes, many more support TCP requests. Alternatively, write up a small executable that your installer can run before it begins the uninstall process, which communicates with your primary app and sends a close message.
As a final note, if you can use .NET4.0 then I'd suggest looking at the built in System.IO.Pipes namespace and the included classes.

Use this tool
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/19620/LP-TrayIconBuster
It iterates through ToolBarButtons in TrayNotifyWnd & NotifyIconOverflowWindow and removes those with null file names.

I found this (http://maruf-dotnetdeveloper.blogspot.com/2012/08/c-refreshing-system-tray-icon.html) solution worked for me.

Setting position of a Console Window opened in a WinForms App

I found some source code in this thread posted by Rex Logan here on SO :
link text
... there's also some very interesting code posted in this same thread by Foredecker, but it is incomplete and complex : I'm not up enough on the 'Trace facility to know how to fully implement it ...
I am able to use this Console code Rex (kindly) posted successfully in a WinForms application to log various events, and to push messages onto which are useful in debugging; I can clear it from the application code, also.
What I can't seem to do is to reliably set the screen position of the Console Window when I open the Console Window (in the Main Form load event). I get compile blocking System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException errors if I try to set WindowLeft or WindowTop properties like this :
The window position must be set such
that the current window size fits
within the console's buffer, and the
numbers must not be negative.
Parameter name: left Actual value was
#
I am able, however, to set WindowWidth and WindowHeight properties.
I have tried moving the code that activates the Console various locations including :
in the Program.cs file before the MainForm is 'run
before and after the call to 'InitializeComponent() in the MainForm ctor
in the Form Load event
in the Form Shown event
The Console was activated okay in all these places in the code, but with no change in the seemingly random switching around of where in the upper-left quadrant of the screen it appeared.
Where the Console window opens seems to vary at random (the Main Form is always initialized in the same place on the screen).

you can try something like this.
This code set the position of the Console Window in a Console Application.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
namespace ConsoleApplication10
{
class Program
{
const int SWP_NOSIZE = 0x0001;
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", ExactSpelling = true)]
private static extern IntPtr GetConsoleWindow();
private static IntPtr MyConsole = GetConsoleWindow();
[DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "SetWindowPos")]
public static extern IntPtr SetWindowPos(IntPtr hWnd, IntPtr hWndInsertAfter, int X, int Y, int cx, int cy, int wFlags);
static void Main(string[] args)
{
int xpos = 300;
int ypos = 300;
SetWindowPos(MyConsole, 0, xpos, ypos, 0, 0, SWP_NOSIZE);
Console.WriteLine("any text");
Console.Read();
}
}
}
This code set the position of the Console Window in a WinForm Application.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
namespace WindowsFormsApplication10
{
static class Program
{
const int SWP_NOSIZE = 0x0001;
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
private static extern bool AllocConsole();
[DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "SetWindowPos")]
public static extern IntPtr SetWindowPos(IntPtr hWnd, IntPtr hWndInsertAfter, int X, int Y, int cx, int cy, int wFlags);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
public static extern IntPtr GetConsoleWindow();
[STAThread]
static void Main()
{
AllocConsole();
IntPtr MyConsole = GetConsoleWindow();
int xpos = 1024;
int ypos = 0;
SetWindowPos(MyConsole, 0, xpos, ypos, 0, 0, SWP_NOSIZE);
Console.WindowLeft=0;
Console.WriteLine("text in my console");
Application.EnableVisualStyles();
Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
Application.Run(new Form1());
}
}
}