Question

Is there i way to get the HWND ID of a running EXE without knowing the Application Title?

Asked by: tbirkhimer

In visual basic 6, if I have the process exe name (notepad.exe), how can obtain the hwnd number?


For my purposes, it doesn't matter if there are 10 notepad.exe processes running, but I just would like to get the HWND id of at least one of them.

The FindWindow API returns the HWND, but only if you supply the App Title. Since this changes, or could be unknown, I would like to simply pass the running .exe name.

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-01-19 at 16:29:02ID24065572
Topics

Visual Basic Programming

,

Microsoft Visual Basic.Net

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
6

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Hwnd
    Alot of API uses the Hwnd thing, which tell what window to use. Its easy to incluse this into forms, form1.hwnd.... but is there a way i can use it on other window's forms?
  2. hWnd
    I would like my programm to change the url of my browser. I know I have to use: ::ShellExecute(hWnd, NULL, _T("http://www.experts-exchange.com"), NULL, NULL, SW_SHOWNORMAL); but I don't know how to get hWnd for the browser window. What I want is my programm to g...
  3. parent hwnd
    If i have the hwnd of any control on any application, how can i get the parent form's hwnd. With this hwnd how can i get the parent forms Title and exe path?
  4. Run an EXE application and get it's HWND.. please help
    Hello all, I was wondering how can i Shell an EXE aplication and get it's HWND in code.. i tried ShellExecute which runs the application but i don't know how to get it's HWND.... something like : a := ShellExecute(Handle,'open','NotePad.exe',nil,nil); but a comes back as 4...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: FER_GPosted on 2009-01-20 at 03:32:04ID: 23418996

take a look to the next discussions...
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Misc/Q_21883178.html
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-3455900.php

maybe it could help you
FerG
--
Ing. Fernando D. Giletta
San Francisco. Córdoba. Argentina.

 

by: Idle_MindPosted on 2009-01-20 at 08:58:31ID: 23421882

If you ever upgrage to VB.Net you can do this NATIVELY:

        Dim notepads() As Process = System.Diagnostics.Process.GetProcessesByName("notepad")
        If notepads.Length > 0 Then
            Dim noteWnd As IntPtr = notepads(0).MainWindowHandle

            ' ... do something with "noteWnd"...

        End If

 

by: egl1044Posted on 2009-01-20 at 11:17:38ID: 23423214

<<< For my purposes, it doesn't matter if there are 10 notepad.exe processes running, but I just would like to get the HWND id of at least one of them. >>>

In that case you can just use the classname of notepad, which is (Notepad) you don't need the title unless you want to filter to a specific window.

Private Declare Function FindWindowW Lib "user32.dll" (ByVal lpClassName As Long, ByVal lpWindowTitle As Long) As Long
 
Private Sub Form_Load()
  
  Dim hWindow As Long
  
  hWindow = FindWindowW(StrPtr("Notepad"), 0)
  
  Debug.Print hWindow
 
End Sub

                                              
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:

Select allOpen in new window

 

by: VKPosted on 2009-01-21 at 07:18:04ID: 23430443

In theory:

<< I would like to simply pass the running .exe name.>>
The name of an exe can't be used as a key for a window, since there are many applications
having the same exe-name.

<<For my purposes, it doesn't matter if there are 10 notepad.exe processes running, but I just would like to get the HWND id of at least one of them. >>
OK, but nobody can ensure that an other program than notepad owns a window, which has the title
"notepad"

As you see, both "exe-name" and "title" are bad identifiers.

egl1044's suggestion works if you know the classname of the app of interest.
But i think notepad was only an example and you need a general solution.
Therefore i agree egl1044's solution if you meant notepad.

i haven't looked about the matching API's , but what about

1. Loop the the ProcessID's of all running processes.
2. Loop the pathes of each process until you get the matching one
3. Loop the windows of the Process until you get the matching one.

 

by: tbirkhimerPosted on 2009-01-21 at 18:24:12ID: 23436021

VK: If i did loop that all the processes, or did any of your 3 suggestions, how could I then use the process name to find the Hwnd?

 

by: VKPosted on 2009-01-22 at 00:13:16ID: 23437373

Here is a sample with added InstanceToWnd.
Take the parts you need and adapt it:

Private Const GW_HWNDNEXT = 2
Private Const GWL_HWNDPARENT = (-8)

Private Const PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION = 1024
Private Const PROCESS_VM_READ = 16
Private Const MAX_PATH = 260

Private Const GWL_EXSTYLE = (-20)
Private Const WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW = &H80


Private Declare Function GetWindowLong Lib "user32" Alias "GetWindowLongA" ( _
    ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function GetWindow Lib "user32" ( _
    ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wCmd As Long) As Long
   
Private Declare Function IsWindowVisible Lib "user32" ( _
    ByVal hwnd As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function GetWindowThreadProcessId Lib "user32" ( _
    ByVal hwnd As Long, lpdwProcessId As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function GetParent Lib "user32" ( _
    ByVal hwnd As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowA" ( _
    ByVal lpClassName As Long, ByVal lpWindowName As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "Kernel32.dll" _
   (ByVal Handle As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function OpenProcess Lib "Kernel32.dll" _
  (ByVal dwDesiredAccessas As Long, ByVal bInheritHandle As Long, _
      ByVal dwProcId As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function EnumProcesses Lib "psapi.dll" _
   (ByRef lpidProcess As Long, ByVal cb As Long, _
      ByRef cbNeeded As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function GetModuleFileNameExA Lib "psapi.dll" _
   (ByVal hProcess As Long, ByVal hModule As Long, _
      ByVal ModuleName As String, ByVal nSize As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function EnumProcessModules Lib "psapi.dll" _
   (ByVal hProcess As Long, ByRef lphModule As Long, _
      ByVal cb As Long, ByRef cbNeeded As Long) As Long

Private Type PROCESSENTRY32
   dwSize As Long
   cntUsage As Long
   th32ProcessID As Long           ' This process
   th32DefaultHeapID As Long
   th32ModuleID As Long            ' Associated exe
   cntThreads As Long
   th32ParentProcessID As Long     ' This process's parent process
   pcPriClassBase As Long          ' Base priority of process threads
   dwFlags As Long
   szExeFile As String * 260       ' MAX_PATH
End Type

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim cb As Long
    Dim cbNeeded As Long
    Dim NumElements As Long
    Dim ProcessIDs() As Long
    Dim cbNeeded2 As Long
    Dim Modules(1 To 200) As Long
    Dim lRet As Long
    Dim ModuleName As String
    Dim nSize As Long
    Dim hProcess As Long
    Dim i As Long
   
    List1.Clear
    'Get the array containing the process id's for each process object
    cb = 8
    cbNeeded = 96
    Do While cb <= cbNeeded
        cb = cb * 2
        ReDim ProcessIDs(cb / 4) As Long
        lRet = EnumProcesses(ProcessIDs(1), cb, cbNeeded)
    Loop
    NumElements = cbNeeded / 4

    For i = 1 To NumElements
        'Get a handle to the Process
        hProcess = OpenProcess(PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION _
           Or PROCESS_VM_READ, 0, ProcessIDs(i))
        'Got a Process handle
        If hProcess <> 0 Then
            'Get an array of the module handles for the specified
            'process
            lRet = EnumProcessModules(hProcess, Modules(1), 200, _
               cbNeeded2)
            'If the Module Array is retrieved, Get the ModuleFileName
            If lRet <> 0 Then
                ModuleName = Space(MAX_PATH)
                nSize = 500
                lRet = GetModuleFileNameExA(hProcess, Modules(1), _
                   ModuleName, nSize)
                List1.AddItem Left(ModuleName, lRet)
            End If
        End If
        'Close the handle to the process
        lRet = CloseHandle(hProcess)
    Next
End Sub

Private Function InstanceToWnd(ByVal target_pid As Long) As Collection
    Dim test_hwnd As Long
    Dim test_pid As Long
    Dim test_thread_id As Long
    Dim ProcesshWnds As New Collection
    '
    'Get the first window handle.
    '
    test_hwnd = FindWindow(ByVal 0&, ByVal 0&)
    '
    Do While test_hwnd <> 0 'Loop until we find the target or we run out of windows.
        If GetParent(test_hwnd) = 0 Then 'See if this window has a parent. If not, it is a top-level window.
            test_thread_id = GetWindowThreadProcessId(test_hwnd, test_pid)
            If test_pid = target_pid Then 'See if the top-level window has the target instance handle.
                If IsTask(test_hwnd) Then
                    Call ProcesshWnds.Add(test_hwnd) 'This is the target.
                End If
            End If
        End If
        test_hwnd = GetWindow(test_hwnd, GW_HWNDNEXT) 'Examine the next window.
    Loop
    '
    Set InstanceToWnd = ProcesshWnds
    '
End Function

Private Function IsTask(ByVal hwnd As Long) As Boolean
    Dim hWndOwner As Long
    '
    If IsWindowVisible(hwnd) Then
        If GetParent(hwnd) = 0 Then 'Can't have Parent.
            'Can't have Owner *except* in the case where owner has WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW StyleEx bit set.
            'This is how VB apps (and others?) operate.
            hWndOwner = GetWindowLong(hwnd, GWL_HWNDPARENT)
            If (hWndOwner = 0) Or IsToolWindow(hWndOwner) Then
                If Not IsToolWindow(hwnd) Then 'Must not be Toolwindow.
                    IsTask = True 'We have a winner!
                End If
            End If
        End If
    End If
    '
End Function

Private Function IsToolWindow(ByVal hwnd As Long) As Boolean
    IsToolWindow = ((GetWindowLong(hwnd, GWL_EXSTYLE) And WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW) = WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW) 'Check for toolwindow style bit.
End Function

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...