How to Kill or Minimized Window Explorer

Try this:


var
  h : HWND;
begin
  h := FindWindow('ExploreWClass',nil);
  if h <> 0 then
    SendMessage(h, WM_CLOSE, 0, 0);
end;

Hi,
explorer wont usually listen to sendmessage ,better to use postmessage:


first example is to kill the process which is a bit blatent ,something you should really only use if for instance explorer has hung.

procedure CloseIExplorer(h : HWND);
Var pID,hProcess:DWord;
Begin
GetWindowThreadProcessId(h,@pID);
hProcess:=OpenProcess(PROCESS_TERMINATE,TRUE,pID);
TerminateProcess(hProcess,1);
End;

//TO kill process IMEDIATLY
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
Var
 IExplorer : Thandle;
begin
 IExplorer := FindWindow('IEFrame',nil);
 If IExplorer <> 0 Then
CloseIExplorer(IExplorer);
 end;



but these would be better to use for close and minimize:

 //TO CLOSE  nicely
 procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
Var
 IExplorer : Thandle;
begin
 IExplorer := FindWindow('IEFrame',nil);
 If IExplorer <> 0 Then
  PostMessage(IExplorer, WM_CLOSE,0,0);
//or PostMessage(IExplorer, WM_QUIT,0,0);
 end;

//TO MINIMIZE
procedure TForm1.Button2Click(Sender: TObject);
Var
 IExplorer : Thandle;
begin
 IExplorer := FindWindow('IEFrame',nil);
 If IExplorer <> 0 Then
 PostMessage(IExplorer,WM_SYSCOMMAND, SC_MINIMIZE,0);
 end;


note WM_CLOSE is better for like notepad so it can ask you to save any changes etc while WM_QUIT just ignores any changes and quits ,cant think of a situation where that would matter for explorer but still wm_close is probably better.

to get the proper classnames to use with findwindow() you should have a program installed with delphi called winsight.if not get a free program from here called sinfo:

http://lcpx07.lc.ehu.es/JMA/win95.html

it will tell you the classnames etc ..

Or alternativelt, use findwindow with the window title and then use GetClassName with the handle.

(Saves downloading other software, but isn't as easy.)

John.

Are you sure you want to close Explorer? 99% of all windows users use it as Shell. If you close the shell it will be very dificult for the user to work. In fact, if Explorer is the shell, after kiling it it starts up again.
If you are trying to write some kind of Shell, then it should be starterd _as_ a shell. In win 9x it is done by putting "SHELL=c:\my_shell\my_shell.exe" in system.ini. In NT you need to write a string value named "Shell" with value "c:\my_shell\my_shell.exe" in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon"

The following code was tested on Windows2000:

VAR
   ProcessId,                  // Used to store Windows Explorer Process ID number
   hwnd:  longint;             // Used to store WIndows Explorer Window handle
   ProcessHandle: cardinal;    // Used to store WIndows Explorer process handle


begin
//.... your code here....

       hwnd := FindWindow('ExploreWClass',NIL);
       if (hwnd <> 0) then
          ShowMessage('Got Window handle of EXPLORER.EXE: '+IntToStr(hwnd));

       ProcessHandle:=0;
       rCode:= GetWindowThreadProcessId(hwnd,@ProcessId);
       if ProcessId<>0 then
          ShowMessage('Got Process ID of EXPLORER.EXE: '+IntToStr(ProcessId)); //ProcessID is the number (PID) that would show up in Task Manager next to Explorer.exe process

       ProcessHandle := OpenProcess(PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, TRUE, ProcessId);
       IF ProcessHandle <> 0 THEN
           ShowMessage('Got process handle of EXPLORER.EXE: '+IntToStr(ProcessHandle));
      TerminateProcess(ProcessHandle,0);  // Kills Windows Explorer and restart a program specified by "DefaultShell" parameter in System.INI or Registry (see the above comment by FrodoBeggins)
//.... more of your code.....
end;

Please keep in mind, using TerminateProcess is not recommended. There is a better (and harder) way of achieving the same task properly, however I did not do more research becuase this solution suited my needs.
This trick would allow you to almost completely overtake the system while your app runs.

Hope this helps.
Vlad