Get text from the focused control in another window

[nc3b]

Hello. I have the hwnd of another window and I am trying to get the text. I know how to get text from another window (WM_GETTEXT) but I don't know hot to get the text from the currently focused control in that window. Unfortunately GetFocus() won't work so I am out of ideas.. I would even try using EnumChildWindows, but I don't know how to find out if a particular control is focused. Can anybody help? Thank you in advance.

[David Crow]

nc3b wrote:

Unfortunately GetFocus() won't work...

Is it because the window (containing the control) is in another thread?

"Love people and use things, not love things and use people." - Unknown

"The brick walls are there for a reason...to stop the people who don't want it badly enough." - Randy Pausch

[nc3b]

Yes, it's in a different program.

[David Crow]

Then you may need to use GetGUIThreadInfo() first.

"Love people and use things, not love things and use people." - Unknown

"The brick walls are there for a reason...to stop the people who don't want it badly enough." - Randy Pausch

[Code o mat]

I am assuming you mean getting who has the focus in a different process, so try this[^] for size.

> The problem with computers is that they do what you tell them to do and not what you want them to do. < > Life: great graphics, but the gameplay sux. <

[nc3b]

Can you please give an example? Suppose I have a HWND of a window (GetForegroundWindow()) and wnat to get it's focused child. How would I do that? Thank you.

[David Crow]

First you need to get the list of processes that are running to find the one you are interested in. This can be done by calling CreateToolhelpSnapshot(), and then looping through each one with the ProcessFirst()/ProcessNext() pair. Once found, use the PID as the first argument to GetGUIThreadInfo().

"Love people and use things, not love things and use people." - Unknown

"The brick walls are there for a reason...to stop the people who don't want it badly enough." - Randy Pausch

[nc3b]

And then "hwndFocus" will contain the hwnd of the curently focused control? Thanks!

[Rajkumar R]

consider [GetWindowThreadProcessId^] also for getting the processid of the foreground window and thread id needed for GetGUIThreadInfo

[nc3b]

Thank you!