[IronPython] Getting window properties

[Jim Hugunin]

Another option would be to use the System.Windows.Automation library - new in .NET 3.0.  It's a lot easier to use than the native APIs when it works for you.  This sample will print the titles of all the top-level windows.

--------------------------------------
import clr
clr.AddReference('UIAutomationClient')
clr.AddReference('UIAutomationTypes')
from System.Windows.Automation import *

tops = AutomationElement.RootElement.FindAll(TreeScope.Children, Condition.TrueCondition)
for elem in tops:
    print elem.GetCurrentPropertyValue(AutomationElement.NameProperty)
----------------------------------------

Thanks - Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: users-bounces at lists.ironpython.com [mailto:users-bounces at lists.ironpython.com] On Behalf Of Fuzzyman
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 2:34 AM
To: Discussion of IronPython
Subject: Re: [IronPython] Getting window properties

Marcus Patino Pan wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I wondered if you could help me. I have IronPython working fine, but
> what I would like to do is use it to test another application. I have
> worked out how to use sendkeys but to do proper testing I need to be
> able to check if the correct window has appeared on screen, so need to
> check some of its properties, like its title. I've been looking on the
> internet for examples but with no luck.
>
> Could someone point me in the right direction?
>

We do a bit of this at Resolver, but mainly do 'in process' testing
where we have access to the forms as .NET objects.

The functions you want live mainly in User32.dll, which is unmanaged
code. There are functions like GetForegroundWindow, which returns a
window handle. From this you can determine the title of the window etc.
You can also send mouse moves and button clicks, so it is possible to
interact with applications in a completely 'black-box' manner.

Unfortunately, although some parts of this are straightforward, we had
real problems when trying to do things like interact with menus
(particularly context menus) using this technique.

The bad news is that because these functions live in unmanaged code, you
need attributes to work with them. We have some stub C# at Resolver that
exposes those functions to IronPython. *However*, I recently discovered
Seo's implementation of ctypes for IronPython (part of FePy but should
work fine with a standard build of IronPython). This allows you to do
'dynamic platform invoke', meaning you can call these functions from
straight IronPython!

There is a minimal example at:
http://www.ironpython.info/index.php/Access_Unmanaged_Code_with_Dynamic_P/Invoke

I hope this is helpful.

Michael Foord
http://www.manning.com/foord


> Many Thanks
>
> Marcus
>
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