[Vb.net] how to swap between external applications

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Hello! I'm trying to write an app which can swap between Internet Explorer windows which are already open in the background. The problem is, these Internet Explorer windows will have the exact same name (Just different PIDs)

What I have tried:

I have tried working with

AppActivate

however, this seems to only accept Window Handles by name.

VB

Function GetObjInts()
        If Process.GetProcessesByName("iexplore").Length >= 1 Then
            For Each ObjProcess As Process In Process.GetProcessesByName("iexplore")
                'Get the list of IDs for us to cycle.
                ObjInts.Add(ObjProcess.Id)
            Next
        End If
End Function


Function Swap()
        For Each Id As Integer In ObjInts
                AppActivate(Id)
                SendKeys.SendWait("~")
            End If
        Next
End Function

Any alternative ideas on how to swap windows with the same name (by PID?) would be appreciated!

Posted 14-Feb-18 14:50pm

Member 9389588

Updated 15-Feb-18 13:19pm

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Felsfurt · Answer 1 · 2018-02-15T13:19:00

You're going to want to use a user32.dll function.

Declare the function like so:

VB

Declare Function SetForegroundWindow Lib "user32.dll" (ByVal hwnd As Integer) As Integer

Using the API is easy. Here's an example snippet.

VB

<System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("user32.dll")>
<System.Runtime.InteropServices.MarshalAs(System.Runtime.InteropServices.UnmanagedType.Bool)>
Private Shared Function ShowWindow(ByVal hWnd As IntPtr, ByVal flags As ShowWindowEnum) As Boolean
End Function

<System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("user32.dll")>
Private Shared Function SetForegroundWindow(ByVal hwnd As IntPtr) As Integer
End Function

Private Enum ShowWindowEnum
    Hide = 0
    ShowNormal = 1
    ShowMinimized = 2
    ShowMaximized = 3
    Maximize = 3
    ShowNormalNoActivate = 4
    Show = 5
    Minimize = 6
    ShowMinNoActivate = 7
    ShowNoActivate = 8
    Restore = 9
    ShowDefault = 10
    ForceMinimized = 11
End Enum

Public Sub BringMainWindowToFront(ByVal processName As String)
    Dim bProcess As Process = Process.GetProcessesByName(processName).FirstOrDefault()
    If bProcess IsNot Nothing Then
        If bProcess.MainWindowHandle = IntPtr.Zero Then
            ShowWindow(bProcess.Handle, ShowWindowEnum.Restore)
        End If

        SetForegroundWindow(bProcess.MainWindowHandle)
    Else
        Process.Start(processName)
    End If
End Sub

You can modify BringMainWindowToFront to your own needs (like using PID).

Hope this helps!