SendMessage to Excel

Hi, all

Is it possible to send 'CTRL+A' and 'CTRL+C' to MS Excel using SendMessage?

I have tried WM_KEYDOWN and WM_KEYUP Messages for 'CTRL+A' with following code but no success.

Code:

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SendMessage(m_fEC2,WM_KEYDOWN, (WPARAM)VK_CONTROL,(LPARAM)1);
SendMessage(m_fEC2,WM_KEYDOWN, (WPARAM)65,(LPARAM)1);
SendMessage(m_fEC2,WM_KEYUP, (WPARAM)VK_CONTROL,(LPARAM)1);
SendMessage(m_fEC2,WM_KEYUP, (WPARAM)65,(LPARAM)1);

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m_fEC2 is the handle to the Child window as detected in SPY++.

Difference from SPY++ is only the LPARAM Parameter. How to construct LPARAM parameter for the same? or is there any thing wrong or missing.

Thanx for any kind of help.

Regards,
Shail2k4

Regards,

Try SendInput instead.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VictorN

Try SendInput instead.

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Thanx for the reply..

Will it be useful when the windows is not having focus?

In my case the window may not be having focus.

Regards,
Shail2k4

Nope... SendInput inserts your commands into the keyboard chain, so it is the same as you pressing the keys yourself. I guess the only thing you can do is set the focus to excel before you send the keys, but I don't think that you want that :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Skizmo

Nope... SendInput inserts your commands into the keyboard chain, so it is the same as you pressing the keys yourself. I guess the only thing you can do is set the focus to excel before you send the keys, but I don't think that you want that :)

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Absolutely i cant do that..

What is wrong with the SendMessage?

Again i made a test with the notepad still no success...

Thanx for any kind of help..
Regards,
Shail2k4

SendMessage isn't a good choice because it's synchronous so if the target app is hung, your app will hang. SendMessageTimeout would be a better choice.

Unfortunately, it still won't work in this case where you are doing a select all/copy to the clipboard.

If you want to do this, you'll need to set focus on the target application (SetForegroundWindow) and then use SendInput as Victor suggested.

An alternative to this is to use Excell's automation model to connect to the active Excell instance and access the work book from there.

If you can give more specifics on what you are actually trying to do, then we might be able to offer additional alternatives.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Arjay

SendMessage isn't a good choice because it's synchronous so if the target app is hung, your app will hang. SendMessageTimeout would be a better choice.

Unfortunately, it still won't work in this case where you are doing a select all/copy to the clipboard.

If you want to do this, you'll need to set focus on the target application (SetForegroundWindow) and then use SendInput as Victor suggested.

An alternative to this is to use Excell's automation model to connect to the active Excell instance and access the work book from there.

If you can give more specifics on what you are actually trying to do, then we might be able to offer additional alternatives.

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Thanx for the reply
Here is the specification of the work that i want to do.

I am having an external application from which i need to capture the data.

There are two possible source of the data.
One is the window with TStringGrid and another is a window containing embedded excel object.

Thanx for any kind of help.

Regards,
Shail2k4

SetForegroundWindow and SendInput will get the job done as long as setting focus on the application isn't a problem.

SendMessage works perfectly by attaching the remote thread

Quote:

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Originally Posted by carl666

SendMessage works perfectly by attaching the remote thread

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Not recommended. If you use SendMessage to send a message to an application that is hung, you will hang your app. Try it - just create a simple dialog app, add a button and in the button handler, add a Sleep( 100000 ) command to simulate a hung app. Open the test app, press the button and then use SendMessage from another app to send it a message. The 'sending' app will hang.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Arjay

Not recommended. If you use SendMessage to send a message to an application that is hung, you will hang your app. Try it - just create a simple dialog app, add a button and in the button handler, add a Sleep( 100000 ) command to simulate a hung app. Open the test app, press the button and then use SendMessage from another app to send it a message. The 'sending' app will hang.

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In this condition can i make use of PostMessage instead of SendMessage?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by carl666

SendMessage works perfectly by attaching the remote thread

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I have tried doing the same but no success.

Can u pls provide me some working example?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shail2k4

I have tried doing the same but no success.

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Have you tried using SetForegroundWindow and SendInput?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Arjay

Have you tried using SetForegroundWindow and SendInput?

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I have tried and its working fine but if the target window is minimized then it is not working.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shail2k4

I have tried and its working fine but if the target window is minimized then it is not working.

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Would you expect to be able to type into an app that has focus but is minimized?