What does @error = 11 mean after _WinAPI_EnumProcessWindows()?

[Mbee]

I've searched for explanations of various error returns as a result of calling _WinAPI_EnumProcessWindows() with a valid PID, but I haven't been able to find the relevant info on MSDN or elsewhere.  I get an @error = 11.  When I call _WinAPI_GetLastErrorMessage() when I get that value, it returns: "The parameter is incorrect."

But the parameter (the only one) is just an ordinary binary PID, which is definitely valid.  So I can't help wondering if 11 actually means something else, since that error code doesn't make any sense in this situation.  I'd appreciate your help in figuring what's up with this.

Thanks!

Edited March 21, 2019 by Mbee

[BrewManNH]

38 minutes ago, Mbee said:

ordinary binary PID

What do you mean by a binary PID, PIDs are numeric?

[Mbee]

4 minutes ago, BrewManNH said:

What do you mean by a binary PID, PIDs are numeric?

I always assumed so, but the examples just pass 0 so I guess I'm not sure, Let me check at MSDN...

[Mbee]

"Each process running in Microsoft Windows is assigned a unique decimal number called the process ID, or PID. This number is used to specify the process when attaching a debugger to it"

Forget the debug ref

Edited March 21, 2019 by Mbee

[BrewManNH]

Post your script, we can't help without more information, and you script will provide that.

[Mbee]

4 hours ago, BrewManNH said:

Post your script, we can't help without more information, and you script will provide that.

Will do, thanks. It's too long to post it all, but I'll post enough surrounding code to see what I'm doing.  Please wait a bit...

[water]

System error codes are described here.

[Mbee]

Some news: In preparing the requested code for posting, I discovered that a likely reason I was getting 11/"The parameter is incorrect" from _WinAPI_EnumProcessWindows() was that the process associated with the definitely correct PID simply has no windows at all, which is the case (i.e., one of the children has no windows). While designing my algorithms, my expectation was that if that was the case, I'd simply get a zero value as the array element count.  But instead, it appears that I get the @error = 11 result instead.

I'll pause now and read what @water has just posted..

[Mbee]

4 minutes ago, water said:

System error codes are described here.

Thanks, but "ERROR_BAD_FORMAT" is at least as confusing in this situation! 

[Mbee]

To continue from post # 8, my current hunch is that one simply should not call _WinAPI_EnumProcessWindows() is the PID doesn't have any windows. So then the question becomes, how can I test to see how many windows a given process (by PID) has without calling _WinAPI_EnumProcessWindows() ?

One thing I can do is to check if the process represented by the PID has a particular class associated with it: "shadow-layered-window".  I could call WinGetClassList(), but since that window has no title or handle or pre-known class (as required as input for that function) -and- it is not necessarily the active window, what on earth can I specify as that parameter?

Is there some other technique I can use to determine if the process in question has no windows, please? 

Thanks!

 

PS: I think I just found a way to do what I need that should work: _WinAPI_GetProcessCommandLine()..  I'll post back one way or the other...

Edited March 21, 2019 by Mbee
Added comment

[Mbee]

Well, it turned out that I just pushed the problem elsewhere. I get an @error = 40 (dec) return when I try to obtain the command line, which I thought would solve the problem above.

It's too long to post inline, so I've attached my current, preliminary code to this post, if anyone would like to take a look.  NOTE that I'm still trying to discover how to manipulate the highly non-standard GUI of Comodo Free Firewall v11, so there are far fewer comments than will be in the finished product. Even if I'm the only one who will ever use it, I always take the time to comment my code well enough for an old man like myself to modify someday...

Since my script won't work without the firewall installed (sorry), and they don't offer an offline installer for just the free firewall, you'll have to run the web installer from the following download page (not a direct download): Comodo Free Firewall 2019  Press the Green button on the left.

The location of the core error is surrounded by a comment block with a lot of exclamation points in the code. The second file is imported by the first.

 

Thanks!

 

 

!!! MyComodoPurge_v0.3.au3 _ModStatusMessages2.au3

Edited March 22, 2019 by Mbee

[Nine]

12 hours ago, Mbee said:

Is there some other technique I can use to determine if the process in question has no windows, please? 

One way to face your problem is to think the opposite direction.  Instead of trying to find the windows of a pid, you could try to find the pid of the windows.  To do that :

Use WinList to get all windows

Use WinGetProcess for each handle you have to get the pids

Compare the pids with the one you are looking for. 

 

[Deye]

Simply put..

#include <WinAPIEx.au3>
MsgBox(0, "Windowed ?", _isWindowed("SciTE.exe"))

Func _isWindowed($sTitle)
    Local $iPid = ProcessExists($sTitle)
    If Not $iPid Then Return False
    Local $bRet = Not _WinAPI_EnumProcessWindows($iPid)
    Return ($bRet ? $bRet : False)
EndFunc

Deye

Edited March 22, 2019 by Deye
if not pid condition added

[Mbee]

2 hours ago, Nine said:

One way to face your problem is to think the opposite direction.  Instead of trying to find the windows of a pid, you could try to find the pid of the windows.  To do that :

Use WinList to get all windows

Use WinGetProcess for each handle you have to get the pids

Compare the pids with the one you are looking for. 

 

Thanks again, oh wise and kind guide!  It turns out that since I followed your advice and started using WinList(), I no longer actually need the PIDs at all. What I was after in the first place was to determine if a window of a specific size or size & position existed somewhere on the screen (I couldn't rely on titles or classes, since they weren't always present). For that I needed a win handle, and I was trying to get that using the PID via _WinAPI_EnumProcessWindows() or whatever. But since WinList also gives you window handles, I can now directly obtain each window's size and position without all the complex WinAPI calls!

Once again, I am especially grateful for your knowledge and patience! 

 

PS: The Comodo Firewall system is part of a larger set of applications known as Comodo Internet Security, or CIS.  So the only downside of no longer using _WinAPI_EnumProcessWindows and the like is that now I no longer have any use for variable names such as: $Lf_ThisCisKidPid 

Edited March 22, 2019 by Mbee

[Nine]