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delete everything and keep only this Send("^!a")

Here is a method for running a windows application (that may create any number of windows) completely hidden while still being able to interact with it with autoit (controlsend(), controlclick(), etc...) and get a screencap of any of the windows. Basically this is accomplished by running the application on a hidden desktop (credit to Decipher) and then running a separate instance of autoit also on the hidden desktop to interact with the application. This is kind of a goofy hack, but it seems to work. hiddenDesktopInteract.au3: #Region ;**** Directives created by AutoIt3Wrapper_GUI **** #AutoIt3Wrapper_UseUpx=y #EndRegion ;**** Directives created by AutoIt3Wrapper_GUI **** #include <WinAPI.au3> #include <WinAPIEx.au3> #include <GDIPlus.au3> ;1st command line param that will launch seperate instance Const $hdiParam = 'hiddenDesktopInteract' ;######DO NOT PUT ANY OTHER CODE ABOVE THIS THAT CALLS A 2ND INSTANCE OF THE SCRIPT OR ELSE YOU MAY END UP CALLING INFINITE INSTANCES AND CRASHING WINDOWS!!!!!! ;seperate process for hidden desktop interaction ;1st param should be 'hiddenDesktopInteract' and 2nd param is name of func to call for interaction code ;ex: "autoit.exe script.au3 hiddenDesktopInteract interactionfunc" or "compiledscript.exe hiddenDesktopInteract interactionfunc" if $CmdLine[0] = 2 AND $CmdLine[1] = $hdiParam Then EXIT Call($CmdLine[2]) ;credit to Decipher in thread https://www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/152515-start-a-process-hidden/#comment-1095173 for code for running process on a hidden desktop Func _hiddenDesktopInteract_run($sProgram, $sInteractionFunc, $sCommand = '') ;if the interaction function does not exist then don't do anything If Not IsFunc(Execute($sInteractionFunc)) Then ConsoleWrite('error: interaction function "' & $sInteractionFunc & '" for "' & $sProgram & '" does not exist' & @CRLF) Return EndIf ;create structs Local $tStartupInfo = DllStructCreate($tagStartupInfo) DllStructSetData($tStartupInfo, "Size", DllStructGetSize($tStartupInfo)) Local $tProcessInfo_targetApp = DllStructCreate($tagPROCESS_INFORMATION) Local $tProcessInfo_interactionScript = DllStructCreate($tagPROCESS_INFORMATION) ; Create Desktop Local $hDesktop = _WinAPI_CreateDesktop('AutoItHidden', BitOR($DESKTOP_CREATEWINDOW, $DESKTOP_SWITCHDESKTOP)) If Not $hDesktop Then MsgBox(0, 'Error', 'Unable to create desktop.') Exit EndIf ; Prep Process Info Local $nSuccess = DllStructSetData($tStartupInfo, "Desktop", _WinAPI_CreateString("AutoItHidden")) ;run target program on hidden desktop and get PID _WinAPI_CreateProcess('', '"' & $sProgram & '"' & ($sCommand ? ' ' & $sCommand : ''), 0, 0, 0, 0x00000200, 0, 0, DllStructGetPtr($tStartupInfo), DllStructGetPtr($tProcessInfo_targetApp)) Local $aPID_targetApp = DllStructGetData($tProcessInfo_targetApp, 'ProcessID') ConsoleWrite('!>target app PID:' & $aPID_targetApp & @CRLF) ;run instance of this script on hidden desktop to interact with target program Local $sParams = '"' & @ScriptFullPath & '" ' & $hdiParam & ' ' & $sInteractionFunc Switch @Compiled case True Local $sAppName = @ScriptFullPath Local $sCommandLine = $sParams case False Local $sAppName = @AutoItExe Local $sCommandLine = '"' & @AutoItExe & '" ' & $sParams EndSwitch _WinAPI_CreateProcess('', $sCommandLine, 0, 0, 0, 0x00000200, 0, 0, DllStructGetPtr($tStartupInfo), DllStructGetPtr($tProcessInfo_interactionScript)) ;and get PID of interaction instance so we can wait until it is finished Local $iPID_interactionScript = DllStructGetData($tProcessInfo_interactionScript, 'ProcessID') ConsoleWrite('!>Interaction Script PID: ' & $iPID_interactionScript & @CRLF) ;wait until interaction script instance is finished and get exit code (which is return value from interaction function) ProcessWaitClose($iPID_interactionScript) Local $exitcode_interactionScript = @extended ConsoleWrite("!>Interaction Script Exit Code: " & $exitcode_interactionScript & @CRLF) Local $sOutput = StdoutRead($iPID_interactionScript) ConsoleWrite("!>Interaction Script Stdout: " & $sOutput & @CRLF) ;close hidden desktop Local $aRet = DllCall("User32.dll", "int", "CloseDesktop", "handle", $hDesktop) ConsoleWrite("!>Close Desktop: " & $aRet[0] & @CRLF) ; Non-Zero is successfull! Return $exitcode_interactionScript EndFunc Func _hiddenDesktopInteract_cap($title, $imgfile, $Left = 0, $Top = 0, $Right = -1, $Bottom = -1) _GDIPlus_Startup() $hWnd = WinGetHandle($title) $iWidth = _WinAPI_GetWindowWidth($hWnd) $iHeight = _WinAPI_GetWindowHeight($hWnd) $hDDC = _WinAPI_GetDC($hWnd) $hCDC = _WinAPI_CreateCompatibleDC($hDDC) $hBMP = _WinAPI_CreateCompatibleBitmap($hDDC, $iWidth, $iHeight) _WinAPI_SelectObject($hCDC, $hBMP) DllCall("User32.dll", "int", "PrintWindow", "hwnd", $hWnd, "hwnd", $hCDC, "int", 0) _WinAPI_ReleaseDC($hWnd, $hDDC) _WinAPI_DeleteDC($hCDC) $hBMPclone = _GDIPlus_BitmapCreateFromHBITMAP($hBMP) if $Right = -1 then $iX = _GDIPlus_ImageGetWidth($hBMPclone) - $Left Else $iX = $Right - $Left EndIf if $Bottom = -1 then $iY = _GDIPlus_ImageGetHeight($hBMPclone) - $Top Else $iY = $Bottom - $Top EndIf ;convert from 32bit bitmap to 24bit bitmap b/c 32bit bitmap cannot display correctly in autoit GUI for some reason $hClone = _GDIPlus_BitmapCloneArea($hBMPclone, $Left, $Top, $iX, $iY, $GDIP_PXF24RGB) _GDIPlus_ImageSaveToFile($hClone, $imgfile) _WinAPI_DeleteObject($hBMP) _WinAPI_DeleteObject($hBMPclone) _WinAPI_DeleteObject($hClone) _GDIPlus_Shutdown() EndFunc hiddenDesktopInteract_EXAMPLES.au3: #include "hiddenDesktopInteract.au3" ;test function for interacting with notepad app on hidden desktop func notepadtest() opt('winwaitdelay', 0) ;to make it run a little bit faster WinWait('[CLASS:Notepad]') $hwin = WinGetHandle('[CLASS:Notepad]') ControlSend($hwin, '', '[CLASS:Edit; INSTANCE:1]', 'hello{ENTER}') WinMenuSelectItem($hwin, '', '&Edit', 'Time/&Date') _hiddenDesktopInteract_cap($hwin, @DesktopDir & '\notepad_cap.jpg') ControlSend($hwin, '', '[CLASS:Edit; INSTANCE:1]', '^a') ControlSend($hwin, '', '[CLASS:Edit; INSTANCE:1]', '{DELETE}') WinClose($hwin) EndFunc ;test function for interacting with cmd.exe on hidden desktop func cmdtest() opt('winwaitdelay', 0) ;to make it run a little bit faster WinWait('[CLASS:ConsoleWindowClass]') $hwin = WinGetHandle('[CLASS:ConsoleWindowClass]') ControlSend($hwin, '', '', 'dir{ENTER}') sleep(500) _hiddenDesktopInteract_cap($hwin, @DesktopDir & '\cmd_cap.jpg') ControlSend($hwin, '', '', 'exit{ENTER}') EndFunc _hiddenDesktopInteract_run("notepad.exe", 'notepadtest') _hiddenDesktopInteract_run("cmd.exe", 'cmdtest') The example script demonstrates running a hidden instance of notepad and cmd.exe and interacting with it via controlclick() and controlsend() and then capturing a screencap of the window before closing it. I made this because some applications ignore the @SW_HIDE parameter when launching them and show a window anyways, and also because I wanted to be able to screencap windows while making them hidden so they wouldn't steal focus. To use this you must first write a function that will interact with the target application/window and then call _hiddenDesktopInteract_run() with the name of the application as the first parameter and the name of the function as the second parameter. You can also use _hiddenDesktopInteract_cap() within your function to store an image of the hidden window to a file. Because the way that this works is that ONLY the function that you specify will be run on the hidden desktop, you must make sure that your function does not depend on any variables/code that is outside of the function or it will fail. I was also trying to find some way to transfer information from the autoit instance that runs on the hidden desktop to the main instance of the script using consolewrite() and getting the stdout stream of the other instance but I couldn't figure it out. (I was looking at the code here but I couldn't get it to work) Maybe someone knows how to get it working... Right now the exit code of the hidden desktop autoit instance is used to transfer the return code of the function but this only works with integers and so isn't really a good method. Anyways, I hope this will be useful for someone. Or maybe someone knows a better/less hacky way to achieve the same thing... Tested with autoit 3.3.14.2 on Windows 7 64bit SP1 and Windows 10 64bit 1511 (OS Build 10586.164) hiddenDesktopInteract.au3 hiddenDesktopInteract_EXAMPLES.au3

some control should be reference so controlID is a necessity. AutoIt cannot decide which one. Use send for this purpose