Disable or hide a control in another application

[wisem2540]

Hi all,

Is it possible to disable a button or control in an app I did not create?  For example, just a random EXIT button in a windows app like office, or adobe?  I just want to prevent a user from clicking it

Edited August 3, 2017 by wisem2540

[spudw2k]

In theory, yes...but it also depends on the application and the control.

To illustrate, here's a crude example that disables the = button on the windows calculator:
 

If Not ProcessExists("calc.exe") Then Run(@SystemDir & "\calc.exe")
ProcessWait("calc.exe")

$hWnd = WinGetHandle("Calculator")
If Not IsHWnd($hWnd) Then Exit

ControlDisable($hWnd, "", "Button28")

 

[Simpel]

Hi.

My "="-Button is "Button30". And code above is only working on english speaking systems because of "calculator". But it works.

But if I try ControlHide($hWnd, "", "Button30") instead of ControlDisable() it's not working (but returns 1 - meaning success). So your right - in theory.

Regards, Conrad

[MattHiggs]

And I am curious

On 8/3/2017 at 11:57 AM, wisem2540 said:

Hi all,

Is it possible to disable a button or control in an app I did not create?  For example, just a random EXIT button in a windows app like office, or adobe?  I just want to prevent a user from clicking it

I am actually curious about this too.

 

On 8/3/2017 at 8:31 PM, spudw2k said:

In theory, yes...but it also depends on the application and the control.

To illustrate, here's a crude example that disables the = button on the windows calculator:
 

If Not ProcessExists("calc.exe") Then Run(@SystemDir & "\calc.exe")
ProcessWait("calc.exe")

$hWnd = WinGetHandle("Calculator")
If Not IsHWnd($hWnd) Then Exit

ControlDisable($hWnd, "", "Button28")

 

@spudw2k, do you think you could go into a bit more detail as what kinds of control items autoit is able to manipulate (change the state of) like you did with the calculator example and which controls autoit is unable to modify.

[spudw2k]

Natively, AutoIt can interact with most "Standard Microsoft Controls".  

This note in on the Controls help file page.
"Note: AutoIt only works with standard Microsoft controls. Some applications write their own custom controls which may look like a standard MS control but may resist automation.  Experiment!"

There are libraries to interact and UDFs to interact with non-standard controls (.Net for example), but I have little to no experience automating/interacting-with those.

[TheDcoder]

On 5/8/2017 at 0:09 AM, Simpel said:

But if I try ControlHide($hWnd, "", "Button30") instead of ControlDisable() it's not working (but returns 1 - meaning success). So your right - in theory.

It works for me:

And here is my code:

If Not ProcessExists("calc.exe") Then Run(@SystemDir & "\calc.exe")
ProcessWait("calc.exe")

$hWnd = WinGetHandle("Calculator")
If Not IsHWnd($hWnd) Then Exit

ControlHide($hWnd, "", "Button28")

 

[Simpel]

Funny. It's not working for me.

I definitely have to use "Button30" to disable "=" (Win 7). But anyway ControlHide() isn't working. Maybe you need admin privilege? I'm a standard user.

Regards, Conrad

[TheDcoder]

Maybe it depends on the version of Windows, what version are you using? and what edition?

18 minutes ago, Simpel said:

Maybe you need admin privilege? I'm a standard user.

I ran the script as a standard user too.

[Simpel]

That is console saying:

ConsoleWrite("Arch: " & @OSArch & @CRLF & "Build: " & @OSBuild & @CRLF & "ServicePack: " & @OSServicePack & @CRLF & "Type: " & @OSType & @CRLF & "Version: " & @OSVersion & @CRLF )

Arch: X64
Build: 7601
ServicePack: Service Pack 1
Type: WIN32_NT
Version: WIN_7

Conrad

[TheDcoder]

I am using Windows 8... something must have been changed in the way the APIs work between Win 7 and Win 8

[Neutro]

It's working for me also on Win10.

Win7, 8 and 10 have the same OS core so it should work for you as well.

 

Edited August 7, 2017 by Neutro