Develop Reference

How to apply windows 11 taskbar layout without restarting Explorer?

I'm trying to make a program to switch my taskbar to match my virtual desktop in Windows 11. For instance, I'd have a Desktop named "3d Modeling" where I'd have Blender, Meshmixer, etc., pinned to the taskbar, but when I switch to the "3d Printing" Desktop then the taskbar would have SuperSlicer, Lychee, etc., pinned instead.
I have most of this working using an XML layout file, and using some powershell and the VirtualDesktop module to import the layout that matches the current desktop. The layout will be imported, but the taskbar won't reflect that change unless explorer.exe is restarted. But, when I restart Explorer, the program starts throwing a bunch of errors, I'm assuming because the module is unable to reconnect to the new Explorer process. The program works as expected other than the taskbar layouts not visually displaying (desktop switch is detected, new layout is selected properly, and layout is imported successfully) if Explorer is not restarted.
I would much rather not have to fully restart Explorer since that causes a bunch of stuff to disappear from the screen. I have gone down the rabbit hole a bit trying to get this to work using some C#, specifically following this thread and poking through the code for the AdaptiveTaskbar module. Both of those are older than Win11, so I'm thinking something may have changed since then. So far I haven't managed to get it to refresh the taskbar at all, and I'm not experienced enough with the Windows API to know where to look next.
So my question is: is there a way to do this in Win11? It doesn't necessarily have to be a C# or Powershell solution. Here's my most recent code, the relevant parts taken from AdaptiveTaskbar in case there's maybe a small thing I'm missing. I have also tried it using SendMessageTimeout.
Import-Module VirtualDesktop
Add-Type -Namespace Win32 -Name NativeMethods -MemberDefinition #"
[DllImport("User32.dll", SetLastError=true, CharSet=CharSet.Auto)]
public static extern bool SendNotifyMessage(IntPtr hWnd, uint Msg, IntPtr wParam, string lParam);
"#
$lastDesktopIndex = -1
$currentDesktopIndex = 0
$currentDesktopName = ''
while ($True) {
$currentDesktopIndex = Get-DesktopIndex -Desktop $(Get-CurrentDesktop)
$currentDesktopName = Get-DesktopName -Desktop $(Get-CurrentDesktop)
if ($lastDesktopIndex -ne $currentDesktopIndex) {
Import-StartLayout -LayoutPath "$PSScriptRoot\taskbars\$currentDesktopName.xml" -MountPath "C:\"
Write-Output "$currentDesktopIndex : $currentDesktopName : $PSScriptRoot\taskbars\$currentDesktopName.xml"
# Stop-Process -name explorer
# Start-Process -FilePath "explorer.exe"
[void] ([Win32.Nativemethods]::SendNotifymessage([IntPtr]0xffff, 0x1a, [IntPtr]::Zero, "TraySettings"))
}
$lastDesktopIndex = $currentDesktopIndex
#Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
Read-Host -Prompt "Press any key to continue"
}

How to copy content of an opened notepad instance?

I need to get the text found in an notepad process instance that isn't saved on the hard-drive. For example the notepad app is opened and contains a string "This is a notepad Window" but still isn't saved, I wanna get the string inside the notepad without saving it to a file.
I must complete this task, in powershell. But if it can't be done in powershell C# is the next best option. The closest thing to my case I found in an answer on stack overflow is the following code in C#, but I couldn't really figure out how to make use of it
I've tried dumping the memory data of the notepad app, but it wasn't useful.
I've tried creating an com object for the notepad app but it wasn't doable.
Code I talked about:
[DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "FindWindowEx")]
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 btnCopyToNotepad_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
StartNotepad();
Process[] notepads = null;
while (notepads == null || notepads.Length == 0)
{
notepads = Process.GetProcessesByName("notepad");
Thread.Sleep(500);
}
if (notepads.Length == 0) return;
if (notepads[0] != null)
{
Clipboard.SetText(textBox1.Text);
SendMessage(FindWindowEx(notepads[0].MainWindowHandle, new IntPtr(0), "Edit", null), 0x000C, 0, textBox1.Text);
}
}
private static void StartNotepad()
{
Process.Start("notepad.exe");
}
I expect to be able to copy the text from a running notepad instance without saving it on the hard-drive.

As for...
I expect to be able to copy the text from a running notepad instance
without saving it on the hard-drive.
...why are you trying to grab something that you had to put there to start with?
Or... are you saying, some other process started and wrote something to notepad?
If so, then capture why not just content from the other process before it goes to notepad?
Anyway, you can just do something like this directly and avoid all the C# stuff...
Old school...
$wshell = New-Object -ComObject wscript.shell
$wshell.AppActivate((Get-Process -Name notepad).MainWindowTitle)
$wshell.SendKeys("^{A}^{C}")
Or via .Net
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("'Microsoft.VisualBasic")
[Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction]::AppActivate((Get-Process -Name notepad).MainWindowTitle)
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("^{A}^{C}")
Update for OP
As for …
Any Chance we can get the text from the memory ? Without using the
Send Keys ?
Not without using some other 3rd UI Automation tool, or writing your own or memory dumping (but the last one is a serialization thing, soooo..., it would be just as easy to save the notepad session in a tempo location and call it up later).
There 3rdP tools around for PowerShell UI automation. Be aware some are no longer updated, though they still work.
Still, you'd have to get these on every system you need to hit.
Here is a list:
WASP
UiAutomation
selenium
FlaUI
BitCollectors.UIAutomationLib
AutoIt Scripting Language
https://www.autoitconsulting.com/site/scripting/autoit-cmdlets-for-windows-powershell
Otherwise, you end up digging at this.
Inspect
UI Automation Overview
As per the author, with FlaUI, you would do something like this.
Add-Type -Path "\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\FlaUI\src\FlaUI.UIA3\bin\Debug\FlaUI.Core.dll"
Add-Type -Path "\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\FlaUI\src\FlaUI.UIA3\bin\Debug\FlaUI.UIA3.dll"
$app = [FlaUI.Core.Application]::AttachOrLaunch('notepad')
$uia = New-Object FlaUI.UIA3.UIA3Automation
$mw = $app.GetMainWindow($uia)
$Document = $mw.FindFirstChild($uia.ConditionFactory.ByControlType([FlaUI.Core.Definitions.ControlType]::Document))
$mw.Title
$Document.Patterns.Value.Pattern.Value.Value
Sure, SendKeys can be finicky (but easy to use), and the list are more polished, but use similar approaches.

DllNotFoundException when importing "winmm.dll" in WP8.1

I'm trying to import winmm.dll on a WP8.1 app to try and control device volume. Based on research from Google, I have created a Windows Runtime Component to wrap the actual function call, and then I call this from the main app. Since the issue is clearly in the wrapper, here's the code:
public sealed class VolumeControl
{
[DllImport("winmm.dll", SetLastError = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Winapi, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
internal static extern int waveOutSetVolume(IntPtr uDeviceID, int dwVolume);
public static void Set(int volume)
{
// get volume as proportion of maximum
double newVolume = ushort.MaxValue * volume / 10.0;
// convert this into volume for two channels
uint v = ((uint)newVolume) & 0xffff;
uint vAll = v | (v << 16);
// set volume
waveOutSetVolume(IntPtr.Zero, (int)vAll);
}
I have also enabled unsafe code in the wrapper's project properties. DllImport is possible for native libraries in WP8.1, as far as I understand. I don't expect this app to pass certification on the Windows Store, but still I can't see why this code wouldn't work on a developer unlocked device.
Any idea if I've missed something here?

On Windows Mobile, all waveform audio function are implemented in 'coredll.dll'. Use this DLL instead of 'winmm.dll'.

The documentation has the answer:
Requirements
Minimum supported client
Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only]
In other words this function is not available from Windows Store app.

Turns out that WP8.1 has a WinMMBase.dll rather than plain old winmm.dll.
I found this by running a web server hack to browse the System32 folder (see xda-developers). After downloading the dll and inspecting it with DLL Export (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/dll_export_viewer.html), I found that it does have the waveSetOutVolume function. The function itself doesn't seem to affect the volume though, but that wasn't the point of the question I guess :)

How to set system environment variable in C#?

I'm trying to set a system environment variable in my application, but get an SecurityException. I tested everything I found in google - without success.
Here is my code (note, that I'm administrator of my pc and run VS2012 as admin):
Attempt 1
new EnvironmentPermission(EnvironmentPermissionAccess.Write, "TEST1").Demand();
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("TEST1", "MyTest", EnvironmentVariableTarget.Machine);
Attempt 2
new EnvironmentPermission(EnvironmentPermissionAccess.Write, "TEST1").Demand();
using (var envKey = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(#"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment", true))
{
Contract.Assert(envKey != null, #"HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment is missing!");
envKey.SetValue("TEST1", "TestValue");
}
Attempt 3
Also I tried to fit out my app with administrator priviliges.
Do you have any other suggestions?

The documentation tells you how to do this.
Calling SetEnvironmentVariable has no effect on the system environment variables. To programmatically add or modify system environment variables, add them to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment registry key, then broadcast a WM_SETTINGCHANGE message with lParam set to the string "Environment". This allows applications, such as the shell, to pick up your updates.
So, you need to write to the registry setting that you are already attempting to write to. And then broadcast a WM_SETTINGCHANGE message as detailed above. You will need to be running with elevated rights in order for this to succeed.
Some example code:
using Microsoft.Win32;
using System;
using System.Diagnostics.Contracts;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
class Program
{
const int HWND_BROADCAST = 0xffff;
const uint WM_SETTINGCHANGE = 0x001a;
[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
static extern bool SendNotifyMessage(IntPtr hWnd, uint Msg,
UIntPtr wParam, string lParam);
static void Main(string[] args)
{
using (var envKey = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(
#"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment",
true))
{
Contract.Assert(envKey != null, #"registry key is missing!");
envKey.SetValue("TEST1", "TestValue");
SendNotifyMessage((IntPtr)HWND_BROADCAST, WM_SETTINGCHANGE,
(UIntPtr)0, "Environment");
}
}
}
}
However, whilst this code does work, the .net framework provides functionality to perform the same task much more simply.
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("TEST1", "TestValue",
EnvironmentVariableTarget.Machine);
The documentation for the three argument Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable overload says:
If target is EnvironmentVariableTarget.Machine, the environment variable is stored in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\Environment key of the local computer's registry. It is also copied to all instances of File Explorer. The environment variable is then inherited by any new processes that are launched from File Explorer.
If target is User or Machine, other applications are notified of the set operation by a Windows WM_SETTINGCHANGE message.

C#/.NET app doesn't recognize Environment Var Change (PATH)

In my C# app, I am programmatically installing an Oracle client if one is not present, which requires adding a dir to the PATH system environment variable. This all works fine, but it doesn't take effect until the user logs out/in to windows, or reboots. How can I get my app to recognize and use the new PATH var without this step? Even restarting my app would be better than requiring the user to log out/in.
Supposedly, broadcasting this change to other processes should work. Here's what I've tried, with no success:
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
private const int HWND_BROADCAST = 0xffff;
private const int WM_WININICHANGE = 0x001a, WM_SETTINGCHANGE = WM_WININICHANGE, INI_INTL = 1;
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
private static extern int SendMessageTimeoutA(int hWnd, uint wMsg, uint wParam, string lParam, int fuFlags, int uTimeout, int lpdwResult);
int rtnVal = 0;
SendMessageTimeoutA(HWND_BROADCAST, WM_SETTINGCHANGE, 0, "Environment", 2, 5000, rtnVal);
I've been told if you stop and restart the process in question, it should pick up these kinds of changes, but restarting my app doesn't do it. I suppose it could be an Oracle issue, that something about Oracle requires the login to recognize the change, I'm not sure. Thanks in advance.

Does Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("MYVAR", EnvironmentVariableTarget.Machine) not work?
If my app is running elevated then I can
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("MYVAR", "cool", EnvironmentVariableTarget.Machine);
//do some other stuff...
Console.WriteLine(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("MYVAR", EnvironmentVariableTarget.Machine));
C:\TestApp>>TestApp.exe
cool
I don't know if this will work for other running processes but it should for your app doing the getting/setting

Your problem is only certain apps listen for that message (such as explorer) so it will not be used by your application at all. As the environment is generally inherited then restarting your app from within itself isn't going to help as it will get your current Environment block. If the user restarts from the start menu it will work (assuming the WM_SETTINGCHANGE has been broadcast).
You are best using Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable to read out the current value from the registry and merge it back into you current environment. Basically doing Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", EnvironmentVariableTarget.Machine) + ";" + (Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", EnvironmentVariableTarget.User)));

In our project we setup Oracle Instant Client with use of "install.bat" from Instant Client archive. For example:
install.bat odp.net1x %1 name