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Control Spy - A tool for newbie programmers (And for Experts too)


kcvinu
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Hi all,
For last few weeks, i am in search of some good articles about windows messages and notifications. I am reading Charles Petzold's Windows Programming 5th edition in google books. Since the prize of that book costs nearly my two day's wages, i am depending google books. Then i wandered a lot of websites for gathering articles. Atlast i found a tool on MSDN site. Name is Control Spy. At first i thought that it is like the WindowInfo tool in AutoIt. But no, it is an incredible tool for a develepor. We can learn more about the behaviour of window controls and their messages and notifications. 
This is the link
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=4635

After installation, go to the directory and there is a word document. Read and learn more about how a windows control behaves. 
 

 000173.jpg

Spoiler

My Contributions

Glance GUI Library - A gui library based on Windows api functions. Written in Nim programming language.

UDF Link Viewer   --- A tool to visit the links of some most important UDFs 

 Includer_2  ----- A tool to type the #include statement automatically 

 Digits To Date  ----- date from 3 integer values

PrintList ----- prints arrays into console for testing.

 Alert  ------ An alternative for MsgBox 

 MousePosition ------- A simple tooltip display of mouse position

GRM Helper -------- A littile tool to help writing code with GUIRegisterMsg function

Access_UDF  -------- An UDF for working with access database files. (.*accdb only)

 

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Thanks for the link! :thumbsup:

 

P.S You posted this in the Help & Support forum, I already reported your thread to be moved to the appropriate forum :)

EasyCodeIt - A cross-platform AutoIt implementation - Fund the development! (GitHub will double your donations for a limited time)

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@TheRealDcoder You are welcome. 

Oops ! i didn't think about that. When i found this, i am in glory mood. So i posted here in the next second.

Spoiler

My Contributions

Glance GUI Library - A gui library based on Windows api functions. Written in Nim programming language.

UDF Link Viewer   --- A tool to visit the links of some most important UDFs 

 Includer_2  ----- A tool to type the #include statement automatically 

 Digits To Date  ----- date from 3 integer values

PrintList ----- prints arrays into console for testing.

 Alert  ------ An alternative for MsgBox 

 MousePosition ------- A simple tooltip display of mouse position

GRM Helper -------- A littile tool to help writing code with GUIRegisterMsg function

Access_UDF  -------- An UDF for working with access database files. (.*accdb only)

 

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Just now, kcvinu said:

Oops ! i didn't think about that. When i found this, i am in glory mood. So i posted here in the next second.

It happens ^_^

EasyCodeIt - A cross-platform AutoIt implementation - Fund the development! (GitHub will double your donations for a limited time)

DcodingTheWeb Forum - Follow for updates and Join for discussion

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These type of programs are really helpful for learners. It helps us to understand the under the hood things of windows. Now i remember the python visualizer website. It was a great help for me when i started learning programming. I have started with python. When it comes to "For" loop, i was totally strucked. My study method was self study. Since i am not very well in English, i got struck. After a few days, i was happen to visit python visualizer site. The site will visualize each line or python code and displays the result of each line. After 5 minutes, i got very clear picture about loop.  That's the benefit of these kind of programs. 

Spoiler

My Contributions

Glance GUI Library - A gui library based on Windows api functions. Written in Nim programming language.

UDF Link Viewer   --- A tool to visit the links of some most important UDFs 

 Includer_2  ----- A tool to type the #include statement automatically 

 Digits To Date  ----- date from 3 integer values

PrintList ----- prints arrays into console for testing.

 Alert  ------ An alternative for MsgBox 

 MousePosition ------- A simple tooltip display of mouse position

GRM Helper -------- A littile tool to help writing code with GUIRegisterMsg function

Access_UDF  -------- An UDF for working with access database files. (.*accdb only)

 

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Yeah @TheRealDcoder . Last day, i was playing with a treeview control. I need to get the item text when i click the item. So i have used $TVN_SELCHANGEDW notification message. After a few tweekings, i got the result but the code is working twice. Atlast the help of Danyfirex, i found a solution, but when i got this tool, i got more clearer picture about what happens when user clicks on the treeview. So now i am using the $NM_CLICK and my code works perfect. 

Spoiler

My Contributions

Glance GUI Library - A gui library based on Windows api functions. Written in Nim programming language.

UDF Link Viewer   --- A tool to visit the links of some most important UDFs 

 Includer_2  ----- A tool to type the #include statement automatically 

 Digits To Date  ----- date from 3 integer values

PrintList ----- prints arrays into console for testing.

 Alert  ------ An alternative for MsgBox 

 MousePosition ------- A simple tooltip display of mouse position

GRM Helper -------- A littile tool to help writing code with GUIRegisterMsg function

Access_UDF  -------- An UDF for working with access database files. (.*accdb only)

 

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@kcvinu Maybe we should compile a list of useful programs for AutoIt Programmers/Scripters? What do you think? :)

EasyCodeIt - A cross-platform AutoIt implementation - Fund the development! (GitHub will double your donations for a limited time)

DcodingTheWeb Forum - Follow for updates and Join for discussion

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Good Idea.. First we need to make a list. 

Edit - And we need to search about a good window info tool. 

Edited by kcvinu
Spoiler

My Contributions

Glance GUI Library - A gui library based on Windows api functions. Written in Nim programming language.

UDF Link Viewer   --- A tool to visit the links of some most important UDFs 

 Includer_2  ----- A tool to type the #include statement automatically 

 Digits To Date  ----- date from 3 integer values

PrintList ----- prints arrays into console for testing.

 Alert  ------ An alternative for MsgBox 

 MousePosition ------- A simple tooltip display of mouse position

GRM Helper -------- A littile tool to help writing code with GUIRegisterMsg function

Access_UDF  -------- An UDF for working with access database files. (.*accdb only)

 

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OK :) 

Spoiler

My Contributions

Glance GUI Library - A gui library based on Windows api functions. Written in Nim programming language.

UDF Link Viewer   --- A tool to visit the links of some most important UDFs 

 Includer_2  ----- A tool to type the #include statement automatically 

 Digits To Date  ----- date from 3 integer values

PrintList ----- prints arrays into console for testing.

 Alert  ------ An alternative for MsgBox 

 MousePosition ------- A simple tooltip display of mouse position

GRM Helper -------- A littile tool to help writing code with GUIRegisterMsg function

Access_UDF  -------- An UDF for working with access database files. (.*accdb only)

 

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controlspy is almost 10 years old and not sure how you can use this for all .NET stuff

See some references here I collected till about 2012

http://ewildsch.home.xs4all.nl/testautomation.htm

Nowadays on windows I would use  the IUIAutomation stuff (see examples section) as that covers most things you do with control spy

To complete your post

Control spy
Spy Exposes the Clandestine Life of Windows Common Controls, Part I http://www.microsoft.com/msj/0798/controlspy.aspx
Control Spy Exposes the Clandestine Life of Windows Common Controls, PartII http://www.microsoft.com/msj/0998/control/control.aspx
Spy Exposes the Clandestine Life of Windows Common Controls, Part III  http://www.microsoft.com/msj/1298/controlspy3/controlspy3.aspx

API Hooking

http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/2082/API-hooking-revealed

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@junkew , Wow... Great. That page looks like a treasure for me. Thank you for the link. Let me read it. Anyways, i am completely ignorant about IUIAutomation. Now i am reading Petzold's book for understanding how windows controls work. Some guys in Stack Overflow says that it is the cannonical reference of Win32 API. 

Spoiler

My Contributions

Glance GUI Library - A gui library based on Windows api functions. Written in Nim programming language.

UDF Link Viewer   --- A tool to visit the links of some most important UDFs 

 Includer_2  ----- A tool to type the #include statement automatically 

 Digits To Date  ----- date from 3 integer values

PrintList ----- prints arrays into console for testing.

 Alert  ------ An alternative for MsgBox 

 MousePosition ------- A simple tooltip display of mouse position

GRM Helper -------- A littile tool to help writing code with GUIRegisterMsg function

Access_UDF  -------- An UDF for working with access database files. (.*accdb only)

 

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@junkew , Among those links, these links are not working

Check the type library wrapper

A VB API reference with easy declare sub/functions of the win32 api

Edited by kcvinu
Spoiler

My Contributions

Glance GUI Library - A gui library based on Windows api functions. Written in Nim programming language.

UDF Link Viewer   --- A tool to visit the links of some most important UDFs 

 Includer_2  ----- A tool to type the #include statement automatically 

 Digits To Date  ----- date from 3 integer values

PrintList ----- prints arrays into console for testing.

 Alert  ------ An alternative for MsgBox 

 MousePosition ------- A simple tooltip display of mouse position

GRM Helper -------- A littile tool to help writing code with GUIRegisterMsg function

Access_UDF  -------- An UDF for working with access database files. (.*accdb only)

 

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