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

OpenFileDialog Spy

I'm trying to capture the path of selected files and folders from the standard OpenFileDialog window created by another application.
I have seen that is possible to perform this task with windows explorer:
IntPtr handle = GetOpenFileDialogHwnd();
ArrayList selected = new ArrayList();
var shell = new Shell32.Shell();
foreach(SHDocVw.InternetExplorer window in shell.Windows())
{
if (window.HWND == (int)handle)
{
Shell32.FolderItems items = ((Shell32.IShellFolderViewDual2)window.Document).SelectedItems();
foreach(Shell32.FolderItem item in items)
{
selected.Add(item.Path);
}
}
}
However, the SHDocVw.ShellWindows () method does not return the opened openFileDialog hwnd. As windows explorer is very similar to OpenFileDialog, I imagine there is some way to do a cast having the hwnd of OpenFileDialog for the Shell32.IShellFolderViewDual2 interface like:
var view = Shell32.ShellFolderViewDual2.FromHwnd(hwnd);
Is there any alternative way?
The goal is simple, make a log of files used in standard OpenFileDialog windows. Workable in Windows 7, 8, 10.
I know, it seems a very very very strange thing.
Edit:
Inspect.exe give me hope:

An open file dialog is not a shell window so it won't show up in the ShellWindows list.
You can send the undocumented WM_GETISHELLBROWSER (WM_USER+7) message to the dialog window, but the returned IShellBrowser pointer is only valid inside the same process. Using it in another process would cause access violation.
Once you got IShellBrowser you can get other interfaces like IShellView or IFolderView2. For selection you want to use IFolderView2::GetSelection.
It is possible to inject a proxy DLL into the target process to control the file dialog, but you can't write the DLL in C#.

How do I automate SAP GUI with c#

I would like to automate an SAP GUI window using the C# language. I am able to do it in VBScript but code reuse is horrible. Besides Id like to use threading instead of having 80 or more processes running. Where can I find any documentation and samples of how to do this? Here is the code I am working with. Basically, the problem I am facing is - how do I make a connection to SAP GUI then create an SAP GUI on the fly then start making transactions and entering text in some fields.
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using White.Core.Factory;
using White.Core.UIItems.Finders;
using White.Core.InputDevices;
using System.Threading;
using System.Diagnostics;
using SAP.Connector;
using SAP;
namespace SAP_Automation
{
class Program
{
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
string ExeSourceFile = #"C:\Program Files\SAP\SapSetup\setup\SAL\SapLogon.s8l";
White.Core.Application _application;
White.Core.UIItems.WindowItems.Window _mainWindow;
var c = SAP.Connector.Connection.GetConnection("**");
var c = new SAPConnection("ASHOST=*; GWHOST=*; GWSERV=*; ASHOST=*; SYSNR=00;USER=user; PASSWD=**;");
c.Open();
}
}
}
}
As you can see I can create a connection but I dont know how to create a session to the GUI and start entering text in fields. Any examples and samples would be appreciated.

This might be necro-threading but I was in a similar situation where I work. We needed SAP GUI Automation for testing purposes that could integrate with the rest of our homegrown automation platform written in C#. I helped create a proposal for one solution that took advantage of a SAP provided library for GUI automation that could be used as the basis for an automation layer for SAP.
Does the following file exist on your SAP file installation? x:\Program Files\SAP\FrontEnd\SAPGui\sapfewse.ocx?
If so, add it to Visual Studio (or whatever IDE you're using) as a reference. It is basically a class library which contains a bunch of SAP specific objects that will allow you to interact with. It is very effective because it exposes most of what you need from the SAP GUI. We discovered in other attempts that a lot of the objects in SAP were not available.
This is an early proof of concept I did. Start SAP with a connection string, enter credentials, navigate to a transaction code.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using SAPFEWSELib;
namespace SAPGuiAutomated
{
//created a class for the SAP app, connection, and session objects as well as for common methods.
public class SAPActive
{
public static GuiApplication SapGuiApp { get; set; }
public static GuiConnection SapConnection { get; set; }
public static GuiSession SapSession { get; set; }
public static void openSap(string env)
{
SAPActive.SapGuiApp = new GuiApplication();
string connectString = null;
if (env.ToUpper().Equals("DEFAULT"))
{
connectString = "1.0 Test ERP (DEFAULT)";
}
else
{
connectString = env;
}
SAPActive.SapConnection = SAPActive.SapGuiApp.OpenConnection(connectString, Sync: true); //creates connection
SAPActive.SapSession = (GuiSession)SAPActive.SapConnection.Sessions.Item(0); //creates the Gui session off the connection you made
}
public void login(string myclient, string mylogin, string mypass, string mylang)
{
GuiTextField client = (GuiTextField)SAPActive.SapSession.ActiveWindow.FindByName("RSYST-MANDT", "GuiTextField");
GuiTextField login = (GuiTextField)SAPActive.SapSession.ActiveWindow.FindByName("RSYST-BNAME", "GuiTextField");
GuiTextField pass = (GuiTextField)SAPActive.SapSession.ActiveWindow.FindByName("RSYST-BCODE", "GuiPasswordField");
GuiTextField language = (GuiTextField)SAPActive.SapSession.ActiveWindow.FindByName("RSYST-LANGU", "GuiTextField");
client.SetFocus();
client.text = myclient;
login.SetFocus();
login.Text = mylogin;
pass.SetFocus();
pass.Text = mypass;
language.SetFocus();
language.Text = mylang;
//Press the green checkmark button which is about the same as the enter key
GuiButton btn = (GuiButton)SapSession.FindById("/app/con[0]/ses[0]/wnd[0]/tbar[0]/btn[0]");
btn.SetFocus();
btn.Press();
}
}
//--------------------------//
//main method somewhere else
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
SAPActive.openSAP("my connection string");
SAPActive.login("10", "jdoe", "password", "EN");
SAPActive.SapSession.StartTransaction("VA03");
}
You're right there is not a lot of documentation on this subject. Below are a few sources that helped me get started
-Original source of our plan
http://scn.sap.com/thread/1729689
-Documentation on the API (For VB and javascript but the general rules and objects are identical). Definitely read the portion on the SAP GUI Runtime hierarchy. It'll answer a lot of questions.
http://www.synactive.com/download/sap%20gui%20scripting/sap%20gui%20scripting%20api.pdf

It is very important here to understand what UI Automation can do and what its limitations are. It was designed to automate a user interface's capabilities. You can click buttons, enter text in a textbox, move windows, etcetera, whatever a user can do using the mouse and keyboard.
What it can not do is bridge the tall wall that the operating system puts up between processes. A wall that prevents a process from accessing the memory of another process. This is a very important security and safety feature. It for one prevents a process from accessing data that should be private to a process. Like a password. And for another it stops a crashing process from affecting other processes that run on the machine. You can kill a process with Task Manager and everything keeps motoring along happily as though nothing happened.
A consequence of this is that creating a SAPConnection object in your program is a connection that only your program can use. There is no mechanism to somehow pass this object to another process with UI Automation. At best you could use the data you retrieve from the connection to affect what buttons you click.
The kind of process interop that would allow sharing data between processes is well supported in .NET. Low-level approaches are socket and named pipes, high-level are Remoting and WCF. Older programs have COM Automation support, Office is a good example of that. That however requires two to tango, both programs must be written to take advantage of it.
So if you are trying to automate an existing SAP application and this app does not otherwise explicitly support automation, the kind that an Office program supports, then you are pretty much stuck with just filling text boxes and clicking buttons.

You can automate any kind of application (browser, desktop, java, etc) with UiPath.
Here's a tutorial on how to automate data entry, menu navigation and screen scraping on SAP.
You can
use it from code (SDK). It has a tool that auto-generates C# code
create and run workflows (visual automation) directly from UiPath Studio.
Here's a sample of the C# auto-generated code:
// Attach window menu
UiNode wnd3 = UiFactory.Instance.NewUiNode().FromSelector("<wnd app='sap business one.exe' cls='#32768' idx='1' />");
// Click 'Business Pa...' menu
UiNode uiClickBusinessPamenu_3 = wnd3.FindFirst(UiFindScope.UI_FIND_DESCENDANTS, "<ctrl name='Business Partners' role='popup menu' /><ctrl automationid='2561' />");
uiClickBusinessPamenu_3.Click(88, 9, UiClickType.UI_CLICK_SINGLE, UiMouseButton.UI_BTN_LEFT, UiInputMethod.UI_HARDWARE_EVENTS);
// Attach window 'SAP Business'
UiNode wnd4 = UiFactory.Instance.NewUiNode().FromSelector("<wnd app='sap business one.exe' cls='TMFrameClass' title='SAP Business One 9.0 - OEC Computers' />");
// Click 'Add' button
UiNode uiClickAddbutton_4 = wnd4.FindFirst(UiFindScope.UI_FIND_DESCENDANTS, "<wnd cls='ToolbarWindow32' title='View' /><ctrl name='View' role='tool bar' /><ctrl name='Add' role='push button' />");
uiClickAddbutton_4.Click(13, 24, UiClickType.UI_CLICK_SINGLE, UiMouseButton.UI_BTN_LEFT, UiInputMethod.UI_HARDWARE_EVENTS);
Here's how workflow automation of SAP Business One menus, buttons or typing looks like:
And finally the SDK documentation is located here... in case you don't want to use workflows.
Note: I work at UiPath. You should also try other automation tools like Automation Anywhere, WinAutomation, Jacada, Selenium, Ranorex use them side by side and choose the one that suits better your needs.

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];
}
}

C# can I add the command prompt control to my app

Title says it. I know I can use Process or ProcessStartInfo to run arguments, but I mean actually adding a command prompt control to my app (because I use it very often and it'd be convenient if it was already built-in.
Is there any way to do this other than coding a custom control? If not I can live with it, but it would definitely help.

Something like this (not tested):
ProccessInfo pi = new ProccessInfo("cmd.exe");
pi.RedirectStandardError=true;
pi.RedirectStandardInput=true;
pi.RedirectStandardOutput=true;
Process cmd = Process.Start(pi);
cmd.StandardInput.WriteLine("Dir");
textBox1.Text = cmd.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
Watch out for deadlocks, those method can be blocking!
You can also use this solution from codeproject.com: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/miscctrl/commandprompt.aspx

See this question and related. Also this source code for example.
You can start a console near your win app's window which you will control and can output some data or get input from a user.

What is the problem with doing Console.ReadLine()/Console.WriteLine() in a loop? It is the most efficient way and you have fully control over what you are doing.