Handle from Window Title

[acantor]

I am trying to use Handle variables to positively identify a window when there are two (or more) windows with the same title.

 

This test script does the following

 

1. Sets a handle variable based on the current window title

 

2. Activates Microsoft Word.

 

3. Types some text.

 

4. Activates the original window (from Step 1.)

 

5. Types out the title and handle.

// Get title and handle for the current window. There may be two or three windows with exactly the same title
Variable Set String %WindowTitle% to topmost window title
Variable Set Handle %WindowHandle% from a window with the title, "%WindowTitle%"
 
// Jump to a different window, and do something, e.g., type into Microsoft Word
Window Activate: Microsoft Word
Delay: 500 milliseconds
Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): This is Microsoft Word
Delay: 500 milliseconds
 
// Activate the original window, and output the title and handle 
Window Activate: %WindowHandle%
Delay: 500 milliseconds
Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): This is the original window.

Title = %WindowTitle%

Handle = %WindowHandle%

 

It seems to work, but I am not understanding something. Assuming the original window is an unsaved Notepad document, this is what the final text type command outputs:

 

This is the original window.

Title = Untitled - Notepad

Handle = Untitled - Notepad

Huh? Why is %WindowTitle% the same as %WindowHandle%?

 

My understanding is that each window has a unique handle. Therefore, I expect the value of %WindowHandle% to be different than %WindowTitle%. If there are two windows titled "Untitled - Notepad," how can MEP determine which one I want if the value of the handle variable has the same value as the window title?

 

Maybe I am displaying handle variable values in the wrong way. If this is the case, how do I monitor the true values of handle variables?

[Samrae]

A Window Handle should be a numberic value. Are you saying that Macro Express Pro is not displaying the handle (a number) but instead is displaying the title of the window containing the handle?

[Cory]

This is just the way the variable is being cast I think. Open your variables window and run a debug test. F5 to open the window. This will show you the actual variable handle value. But when you display it where it expects text it will show you the window title. I'm pretty sure this is something to do with the casting. Casting is an very important topic in programming and MEP does a very good job of dealing with this for you. And in most cases this helps but in a few it will confuse.

 

The best example of casting I can tell you is that a date is actually stored as an decimal variable. So although you might ask MEP to display a date in the message box and it will appear as 12/5/2013 7:52 AM it's actually 41613.328192963 to the computer. You see it CAST the decimal to a string variable. I think the same is happening here with MEP. In the larger programming world you can control how things are cast. In MEP we don't often have that flexibility. And in this case I don't see a way to convert a handle to string. And BTW handles are actually binary so even the integer representation is a cast ;-)

[acantor]

Cory, I think you are on to something. Here are the results when I ran the script with the "Variables" window open.

 

The value of %WindowHandle% displayed as "1181220" not "Document - WordPad."

 

I closed WordPad, opened it, and ran the macro again.The value of %WindowHandle% was completely different.

 

It would appear that MEP does not provide a way to manipulate Handle variables. But the Handles are there, working in the background. There probably is no way to convert them to String or Integer variables.

 

Thanks for the good lead, Cory. I understand Handle variables much better now.

 

Alan

[Cory]

I'm glad you now have a 'handle' on handles. And they are in constant flux.

[acantor]

But now I see a problem. Without the ability to convert a handle variable to a string or integer variable, there is no way to check whether there are two windows or one. You cannot rely on window titles, as it's possible to open several windows with identical titles. Here is an example, partially in pseudo code...

// Click somewhere....
Wait for Left Mouse Click

// Get title and handle for the current window [1]
Variable Set String %WindowTitle1% to topmost window title
Variable Set Handle %WindowHandle1% from a window with the title, "%WindowTitle1%"
 
// Click somewhere else...
Wait for Left Mouse Click

// Get title and handle for the current window [2]
Variable Set String %WindowTitle2% to topmost window title
Variable Set Handle %WindowHandle2% from a window with the title, "%WindowTitle2%"

// Did the two clicks occur in the same window, or in different windows? 
// Note, pseudo code follows, because testing Handle variables, or converting them to strings or integers, is not (yet) supported...

If %WindowHandle1% = %WindowHandle2%
// Clicks were in the same window
Else
// Clicks were in two different window
End If

// Alternatively....

Convert %WindowHandle1% to Integer Variable %WindowHandle1Integer%
Convert %WindowHandle2% to Integer Variable %WindowHandle2Integer%

If %WindowHandle1Integer% Equals %WindowHandle2Integer%
// Clicks were in the same window
Else
// Clicks were in two different window
End If

[Cory]

I'm not sure what your after but I'm pretty sure if you Repeat With Windows you will see very window title, even duplicates. That being the case it would be a simple matter to determine if two of the same title exist.

 

In general it seems to me that in order to use handles one needs to help the macro out initially to determine which is which. Something like %WindowsSource% and %WindowDestination% if you were moving text from one to the other. Perhaps the user starts in one and it finds the other. In any case I think you need to do something to help the program understand which is which.

[Look_Up]

Do you talking about window or a Tab ?

Quote from the help (F1): Method to Set Handle(s)

Window with a Specific Title

Window with a Specific Title saves the name of a single window to a handle variable. If more than one running window contains the same Title, the first window found by Macro Express is saved to the variable.

You can try to identify the window with "Get Control" / "Cature Control", and compare it with "if variable" %control1% equal %control2% then, else.

 

But ME Pro is not very accurate to identify window title.

 

Look_Up