Vista - Win32 API's in Powershell - FindWindow and SendMessage

Hello everyone.

I'm fairly new to Powershell (as is nearly everyone, I imagine) and I'm just
starting to get my feet wet. And, what better way to learn a new language
than to attempt to tackle an insanely complicated process!

I'm a PC Tech at a college who is trying to make my life easier by
automating software installs (rather than keeping several ghost images for
each computer type, my ultimate goal is to keep clean images of basic
computer models, and use automation to install the software required on the
computers. I also want to schedule the script to perform regular updates as
well, but that's some ways off yet - I'd be happy with it running through
once). Quite a bit of the educational software out there is, to be blunt,
poorly written - at least regarding their installers. Typically, there are
no command line options for installed software, just keystrokes and mouse
clicks in the gui provided. I'm trying to automate this, without using
sendkeys - Ideally the script should be able to run whether someone is logged
on or not - an option I don't have with sendkeys. (Not to mention the basic
problems of applications loosing focus even if someone is logged in.)

However, all is not lost - it looks like FindWindow and SendMessage could be
the answer to my prayers, if I could only get them to work. (from what I
gather, I can send messages to the window, even if no one is currently logged
on - exactly what I'm looking for) Actually, I have FindWindow working, but I
can't get SendMessage to run properly. Right now, I can find the window I'm
looking for (Window type '#32770' - an Install Shield window, with a name
of"Welcome"). All, I'm trying to do currently is hit Alt+N to move on to the
next window. Once I get that working, it should be downhill from there. The
code will likely look familiar to people out there - it's been the result of
my searching the Internet for just how to do this.

I'll follow with my code and error message below.
#####
Code
#####

$domain = [AppDomain]::CurrentDomain

$name = New-Object Reflection.AssemblyName 'PInvokeFindWindowAssembly'
$assembly = $domain.DefineDynamicAssembly($name, 'Run')
$FindWindowmodule = $assembly.DefineDynamicModule('PInvokeFindWindowModule')
$FindWindowtype = $FindWindowmodule.DefineType('PInvokeType')
[Type[]]$FindWindowparameterTypes = [string], [string]
$FindWindowmethod = $FindWindowtype.DefineMethod('FindWindow',
'Public,Static,PinvokeImpl', [int], $FindWindowparameterTypes)
$Constructor =
[Runtime.InteropServices.DllImportAttribute].GetConstructor([string])
$FindWindowattr = New-Object Reflection.Emit.CustomAttributeBuilder
$Constructor, 'user32'
$FindWindowmethod.SetCustomAttribute($FindWindowattr)
$realFindWindowType = $FindWindowtype.CreateType()

[object[]]$FindWindowargs = [string] '#32770', [string] "Welcome"


[IntPtr]$FoundWindow = $realFindWindowType.InvokeMember('FindWindow',
'Public,Static,InvokeMethod', $null, $null, $FindWindowargs)


$name = New-Object Reflection.AssemblyName 'PInvokeSendMessageAssembly'
$assembly = $domain.DefineDynamicAssembly($name, 'Run')
$SendMessagemodule = $assembly.DefineDynamicModule('PInvokeSendMsgeModule')
$SendMessagetype = $SendMessagemodule.DefineType('PInvokeType')
[Type[]]$SendMessageparameterType = [IntPtr], [Int32], [Int32], [Int32]
$SendMessagemethod = $SendMessagetype.DefineMethod("SendMessage",
'Public,Static,PinvokeImpl', [int], $SendMessageparameterTypes)
$Constructor =
[Runtime.InteropServices.DllImportAttribute].GetConstructor([string])
$SendMessageattr = New-Object Reflection.Emit.CustomAttributeBuilder
$Constructor, 'user32'
$SendMessagemethod.SetCustomAttribute($SendMessageattr)
$realSendMessageType = $SendMessagetype.CreateType()







[object[]]$SendMessageargs = [IntPtr]$FoundWindow, [Int32]100,
[Int32]0x00000012, [Int32]0x20380001

$realSendMessageType.InvokeMember('SendMessage',
'Public,Static,InvokeMethod', $null, $null, $SendMessageargs)

[object[]]$SendMessageargs = [IntPtr]$FoundWindow, [Int32]104,
[Int32]0x00000009, [Int32]0xa00f0001

$realSendMessageType.InvokeMember('SendMessage',
'Public,Static,InvokeMethod', $null, $null, $SendMessageargs)


#####
Errors
#####
PS F:\PowerShell Scripts\Automated Installs - Install Pearson CourseCompass>
..\
endMessage.ps1
Exception calling "InvokeMember" with "5" argument(s): "Method
'PInvokeSendMess
ageType.SendMessage' not found."
At F:\PowerShell Scripts\Automated Installs - Install Pearson
CourseCompass\Sen
dMessage.ps1:38 char:34
+ $realSendMessageType.InvokeMember( <<<< 'SendMessage',
'Public,Static,InvokeM
ethod', $null, $null, $SendMessageargs)
Exception calling "InvokeMember" with "5" argument(s): "Method
'PInvokeSendMess
ageType.SendMessage' not found."
At F:\PowerShell Scripts\Automated Installs - Install Pearson
CourseCompass\Sen
dMessage.ps1:42 char:34
+ $realSendMessageType.InvokeMember( <<<< 'SendMessage',
'Public,Static,InvokeM
ethod', $null, $null, $SendMessageargs)


#####
Parting Message
#####

I'm more of a scripter than a programmer (I can't claim to know .Net by any
means) so I'm hoping the answer is failry obvious. Hopefully a second pair
of eyes is all it will take.

Thanks!

Bill

IMO, AutoIt is your friend. Writing this kind of automations in PowerShell
can be quiet a challenge.
Few days ago I blogged on a new set of Cmdlets, byDr. James McCaffrey, designed
to perform Windows UI automation tasks
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/is...n/default.aspx

Anyway, for now, AutoIt can perform a wide range of GUI automations, and
based on my own expreince, its the
best GUI automation tool I've know. You can get more info on http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3.


-----
Shay Levi
$cript Fanatic
http://scriptolog.blogspot.com
Hebrew weblog: http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/scriptfanatic

I would suggest reading this article in the latest issue of MSDN magazine:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/12/TestRun/

"Bill V." wrote:

I'll have to look into System.Management.Automation.dll and see if it has
what I need. Have you used it any? Can it send keystrokes even to out of
focus windows?

Thanks!

-Bill
"ebgreen" wrote:

You're the second person to mention that article (in nearly as many minutes).
I'm planning on looking the cmd-lets over (when I get home) and I'll see if
it helps me any. It certainly would be a cleaner way to get things working.

Ironically, I checked out AutoIt earlier this month (I've been working on
this problem off an on for a while - I've just finally gotten the chance to
pick it back up again). It looked like it suffered from the same problem I
had with sendkeys - you had to be logged in for things to function properly.
I asked around in the genral forum if it could send messages to out of focus
apps, but I never got a response (and i got back to work and hadn't gotten
back to things since then).


Thanks
-Bill

"Shay Levi" wrote:

Bill V. wrote:As far as I know, you won't be able to use that DLL to any keystroke
automation.

Marco

I don't see a way that AutoItX can send keys to an out-of-focus window,
but can't you just bring that window into focus first before sending
keystrokes to it?

"WinActivate
------------------------
Activates (gives focus to) a window.

WinActivate "title" [, "text"]

Parameters
title The title of the window to activate.
text [optional] The text of the window to activate. "

Marco


--
Microsoft MVP - Windows PowerShell
http://www.microsoft.com/mvp

PowerGadgets MVP
http://www.powergadgets.com/mvp

Blog:
http://marcoshaw.blogspot.com

From my exprience, clicking on unfocused window control shouldn't be a problem,
use the ControlClick function

ControlClick ( "title", "text", controlID [, button] [, clicks]] )


Here's a test:

Open a few explorer windows, then execute this in AutoIt:

Run("control desk.cpl")
WinWait("Display Properties")
Sleep(3000)
; now manually, click another window to make it the active window
ControlClick ( "Display Properties", "", "Button1")
; you should see the "Save As" dialog


HTH

-----
Shay Levi
$cript Fanatic
http://scriptolog.blogspot.com
Hebrew weblog: http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/scriptfanatic

Part of the problem is that I can't bring a window into focus. One of the
goals is to be able to run the script regardless of if someone is logged in
or not. To have a window in focus, I have to have someone logged in. Since
I ultimately want to have the script as a weekly scheduled task (it will
ultimately be able to perform weekly scheduled tasks, or updates if they come
along), it would be much cleaner to have it be able to run completely in the
background than to have to have the computers logged in as someone.

That's why I've been so stubborn . I actually already have vbscripts that
will perform the install (at least for this particular application - part of
why I was messing with this one early on in the process. It was the messiest
install I commonly make. But using sendkeys is always messy, and doesn't
always work well, even if I try to continually bring the window back into
focus). But, if I can send messages directly to the window, then it shoudn't
even matter if I can never bring the window into focus.

Thanks

-Bill

"Shay Levi" wrote:

Bill,

I can't tell for sure what happens when no one is logged on. What I do know
is that you can send any mouse click
or keystrock to any windows whether it's active (in focus) or not (using
AutoIt).

Can you point me to your post in AutoIt forums?


-----
Shay Levi
$cript Fanatic
http://scriptolog.blogspot.com
Hebrew weblog: http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/scriptfanatic