How to uniquely identify multiple controls in Window other than class/id.

[louislahure]

I'm new to AutoIt but have put in an embarrassingly large amount of time learning some of the very basics.  This one has me stuck and I'm hoping someone's 5 minutes could save me a couple hours, if not more.  I'll try to put this concisely: 

There is a window with multiple controls, anywhere from 3 to 7, and they can be arranged in any order.  My goal is a simple ControlFocus, etc, to focus and navigate menus within them in a specific order but it needs to work if they were arranged.*  Referring to the classnn as "Edit1" and "Edit2", etc, however, doesn't work because the control with Edit1 becomes Edit2 if rearranged and the order is broken.  I tried referring to the ID, as 90% of them are unique within all the optional controls, but even then a couple controls share a similar id.  Since the classnn can change and these controls share the same ID, how can I uniquely (and easily) identify them (in a way that survives them being rearranged).  

My last attempt was to ControlGetPos because the width/height are unique but not only does it return a blank but also I don't know how to only check for those.  The text in the control isn't reliable, also, as that changes here and there. The only last thing I see as unique in the Window Info tool is the style, but how can I tie that in with a ControlFocus, etc?

I appreciate the help!  Looking through most of these forums posts and google results shows me to lack a lot of understanding of AutoIt so maybe there is a simple command I've overlooked in tutorials, etc.  

Thanks again. 

Edited July 17, 2014 by louislahure

[louislahure]

I was tired and it's a little confusing. 

There are multiple controls in a window and they can be rearranged.  When rearranged, different controls receive different Class/Instance, so I can't refer to those without referring to a different control.  If I have A B C D E and they are Edit1, Edit2, Edit3, etc, then when those controls are rearranged (B D A C E) then B becomes Edit1 rather than A, D is Edit2, etc. 

I tried referring to the IDs for each control but two or three of them share the same ID, so for those 2 or 3 I can't refer to either the Class/Instance or the ID and my script does not work if any of them are rearranged.  So I need a new variable that remains constant for each control that Auto It can find that is not a class/instance or ID.  

I tried https://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/docs/intro/controls.htm to find a constant variable but TEXT wont' work, there is no NAME, I haven't understood yet REGEXPCLASS and XYWH could work if I could somehow do a ControlSetFocus for only the width and the height, which is unique, leaving the coordinates -- which change when rearranged -- as unknowns or unimportant data. 

Hm--hope that clarifies things; I'm still tired but mostly thinking aloud. Thanks!