How can I get a handle to a window of executed process in VBA?

Question

In my VBA application I start IExplore process with:

Shell sIE, vbMaximizedFocus

Now I need to resize created window. For that I can use SetWindowPos function, which takes a handle to the window as one of the arguments. And I don't have that handle...

I would use FindWindowLike function (which goes threw windows, compares caption with pattern and returns array of handles of windows with matching caption), but I cann't rely on window caption. I cann't just resize all of the IE windows also.

So, I was thinking of using SOMETHING that would give me a handle of a window to the process I just ran. Shell does not provide this.

I have some example code, how to do this in C++ using CoCreateInstance function:

    CoCreateInstance(CLSID_InternetExplorer, NULL, CLSCTX_LOCAL_SERVER, IID_IWebBrowser2, (void**)&m_pBrowser);
        if (m_pBrowser)
        {
            pom  = buffer;
            m_pBrowser->put_Visible(VARIANT_TRUE);
            m_pBrowser->Navigate(pom, &(_variant_t(flaga)), &vDummy, &vDummy, &vDummy);
            m_pBrowser->get_HWND((long *)&hWnd);
            if (hWnd != NULL)
            {
             ...
             ...

I would've port this to VBA, but I'm not so sure, what to put for fourth parameter:

riid [in] Reference to the identifier of the interface to be used to communicate with the object.

Well I don't know witch interface I should pass... I'm not even sure if I can use it in VBA.

So. Is there a way to execute process, which would provide me a handle to it's window?

Fink · Accepted Answer

To go along with Tim Williams. You can do it quite easily by using create object to get an IE object vs using a shell call. This makes it easier since you have access to the object, and don't need try to look up the window handle after the fact.

Global Const SW_MAXIMIZE = 3
Global Const SW_SHOWMINIMIZED = 2
Global Const SW_SHOWNORMAL = 1

Declare Function apiShowWindow Lib "user32" Alias "ShowWindow" _
            (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal nCmdShow As Long) As Long

Public Function Test()

    Dim ie As Object

    'reference "Microsoft Internet Controls (ieframe.dll)", and
    'cast ie as "InternetExplorer" if you wish to use intellisense
    Set ie = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")

    ie.Visible = True

    apiShowWindow ie.hwnd, SW_MAXIMIZE
End Function

If you are dealing with multiple monitors or need more control over the window, then it gets a little more tricky. Here is one of my previous answers to address that: Is it possible to launch a browser window in VBA maximized in the current monitor?

EDIT. Set window to certain position:

Public Type RECT
   x1 As Long
   y1 As Long
   x2 As Long
   y2 As Long
End Type

Public Enum SetWindowPosFlags
     SWP_ASYNCWINDOWPOS = &H4000
     SWP_DEFERERASE = &H2000
     SWP_DRAWFRAME = &H20
     SWP_FRAMECHANGED = &H20
     SWP_HIDEWINDOW = &H80
     SWP_NOACTIVATE = &H10
     SWP_NOCOPYBITS = &H100
     SWP_NOMOVE = &H2
     SWP_NOOWNERZORDER = &H200
     SWP_NOREDRAW = &H8
     SWP_NOREPOSITION = SWP_NOOWNERZORDER
     SWP_NOSENDCHANGING = &H400
     SWP_NOSIZE = &H1
     SWP_NOZORDER = &H4
     SWP_SHOWWINDOW = &H40
End Enum

Public Enum SpecialWindowHandles
    HWND_TOP = 0
    HWND_BOTTOM = 1
    HWND_TOPMOST = -1
    HWND_NOTOPMOST = -2
End Enum


'taken from IE's ReadyState MSDN Specs
Enum READYSTATE
    READYSTATE_UNINITIALIZED = 0
    READYSTATE_LOADING = 1
    READYSTATE_LOADED = 2
    READYSTATE_INTERACTIVE = 3
    READYSTATE_COMPLETE = 4
End Enum

Declare Function SetWindowPos Lib "user32.dll" (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal hWndInsertAfter As SpecialWindowHandles, ByVal X As Integer, ByVal Y As Integer, ByVal cx As Integer, ByVal cy As Integer, ByVal uFlags As SetWindowPosFlags) As Boolean

Declare Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long)

Public Sub RunIt()

    Dim ie As Object
    Dim r As RECT

    Set ie = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")

        'draws a 400 pixel x 400 pixel window in position 0 (top left)
    r.x1 = 0
    r.y1 = 0
    r.x2 = r.x1 + 400
    r.y2 = r.y1 + 400

        'HWND_TOP sets the Z Order to our IE Object
        'x2 - x1 ==> Width (In Pixels)
        'y2 - y2 ==> Height (In Pixels)
    SetWindowPos ie.hWnd, HWND_TOP, r.x1, r.y1, (r.x2 - r.x1), (r.y2 - r.y1), SWP_ASYNCWINDOWPOS

    ie.Visible = True
    ie.Navigate "www.google.com"

    'wait until navigated
    Do While ie.Busy Or ie.READYSTATE <> READYSTATE.READYSTATE_COMPLETE
        Sleep 60
    Loop

End Sub

How can I get a handle to a window of executed process in VBA?

Answers (2)

Related Questions