Hide window of other app?

[KempCGDR]

Hi, just wondering if there is a way to hide a window created by a different application? I don't want to close it (unless there is a way to without it doing all the stuff it normally does on shutdown), just hide it. I know what the name of the window will be.

 

[DeerBear]

Hi KempCGDR,

Just Post it a WM_HIDE Message( PostMessage API ) or
kill it( under Nt/2000/XP ).

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[KempCGDR]

Obvious now that I think about it (I played around with this sort of stuff for a while at one point, never got it to work properly but meh). Unfortunately, I'm stuck with D3 right now and the help files don't help, they have nothing on that, so could you give me an example? Assume the window title is 'A Program'. Thanks

 

[DeerBear]

Hi KempCGDR,

FindWindow to find the Window handle based on title and/or
class name.

Use then PostMessage like this:

PostMessage( Handle,WM_Hide,0,0 );

Should work.

Cheers,

Andrew

P.S. Remember to include the "Windows" unit, if it's not
already present!

 

[KempCGDR]

I think I've done it right now, but unfortunately WM_HIDE is an undeclared identifier apparently, do you know the actual value of the constant so I can put that in instead? I did include the Windows unit, I can only assume it's because of my seriously out-of-date version of Delphi (must upgrade, must upgrade).

Btw, if you want a ' in a string you just double it up right? So you would get (for example) 'Kemp''s string'.

 

[KempCGDR]

And while I think about it:

1) What value is returned from FindWindow when the window doesn't exist?
2) Would FindWindow work as:

Handle := FindWindow('','Window name here');

?

At the moment I have

   Handle := FindWindow('','Window name here');
   PostMessage( Handle,WM_Hide,0,0 );

 

[DeerBear]

Hi KempCGDR,

Sorry, my bad. Look at the help about WM_SHOWWINDOW.

HTH,

Andrew

 

[KempCGDR]

I have no help on WM_SHOWWINDOW

 

[bbegley]

In delphi 6, you can find it the help menu under "Windows SDK"

Brian
"There are 2 kinds of people in the world, those that divide people into two groups and those that don't. I belong to the second group." - tag line I stole

 

[KempCGDR]

Unfortunately, I'm stuck with D3 right now and the help files don't help

From previous post

 

[bbegley]

Sorry, I didn't read the whole thread very carefully (which I guess is obvious).

Can you try something like this?:

procedure Hidewindow(AWindowName:string);
begin
h := Findwindow(nil,AWindowName);
ShowWindow(h,sw_Hide);
end;


sw_Hide = 0, according to the delphi debugger.

Brian
"There are 2 kinds of people in the world, those that divide people into two groups and those that don't. I belong to the second group." - tag line I stole

 

[KempCGDR]

Ok, so I have

   Handle := FindWindow(nil,'Window name');
   ShowMessage(inttostr(Handle));
   PostMessage( Handle,0,0,0 );

And it doesn't do anything. It reports

Handle

as being somewhere in the hundreds of thousands range, it can't be right can it? Other than that, no effect, no error messages, no window vanishing, nothing.

 

[DeerBear]

Hi KempCGDR,

This time's your bad! ^_^

ShowWindow is different from PostMessage!

Use ShowWindow with a 0 argument, after FindWindow.

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[KempCGDR]

Doh, must have missed the point where you changed advice. I'll try it and get back.