Insert Menu Item into another process and retrieve selection Without Subclassing

[Bilgus]

I was curious about adding menus to other programs

I found Melbas Excellent Answer and realized maybe there was another way besides subclassing with a separate dll

or checking every item and forgoing accelerator keys

Here is my try at it

expandcollapse popup

#Region ;**** Directives created by AutoIt3Wrapper_GUI ****
#AutoIt3Wrapper_Res_HiDpi=Y
#EndRegion ;**** Directives created by AutoIt3Wrapper_GUI ****
#include <WinAPI.au3>
#include <GuiMenu.au3>
#include <GUIConstants.au3>
;;#include <SendMessage.au3>

Global $aCmdID[4][2] = [ _
        ["&Insert", 0x0], _ ;Top Level
        ["&Date", 0x2000], _
        ["&Time", 0x2100], _
        ["&Os", 0x2200]]

Global $hWnd, $hMenu, $hItem, $iItemIndex ;Need to be accessible from _Exit

OnAutoItExitRegister("_Exit")
HotKeySet("{F1}", "_Exit")

MsgBox(0, "Menu Insert", "Activate a Notepad window or Press [F1] to quit")

Notepad_Menu_Handler()

Func _Exit()
    _MenuRemove($hWnd, $hMenu, $hItem, $iItemIndex)
    Exit
EndFunc   ;==>_Exit

Func _MenuInsert($hWnd, ByRef $hMenu, ByRef $hItem, ByRef $iItemIndex) ;Melba23
    $hMenu = 0
    $hItem = 0
    $hMenu = 0
    $iItemIndex = -1
    $sTopLevel = StringReplace($aCmdID[0][0], "&", "") ;need to remove accelerator
    If Not IsHWnd($hWnd) Then Return SetError(1, 0, False)

    $hMenu = _GUICtrlMenu_GetMenu($hWnd)
    $iItemIndex = _GUICtrlMenu_FindItem($hMenu, $sTopLevel)
    If $iItemIndex <> -1 Then ;Already Exists
        $hItem = _GUICtrlMenu_GetItemSubMenu($hMenu, $iItemIndex)
        Return SetError(2, 0, True)
    EndIf

    $hItem = _GUICtrlMenu_CreatePopup($MNS_AUTODISMISS) ;_GUICtrlMenu_CreateMenu()
    For $i = 1 To UBound($aCmdID) - 1
        _GUICtrlMenu_InsertMenuItem($hItem, 0, $aCmdID[$i][0], $aCmdID[$i][1])
    Next
    ; Insert new menu
    _GUICtrlMenu_AppendMenu($hMenu, $MF_POPUP, $hItem, $aCmdID[0][0])
    _GUICtrlMenu_DrawMenuBar($hWnd)

    $iItemIndex = _GUICtrlMenu_FindItem($hMenu, $sTopLevel)
    If $iItemIndex < 0 Then
        _GUICtrlMenu_DestroyMenu($hItem)
        Return SetError(3, 0, False)
    EndIf

    Return True
EndFunc   ;==>_MenuInsert

Func _MenuWaitForSelection()
    Local Const $M_ITEM_FOCUSED = 0x7
    Local Const $M_LEFTALIGN = 0x1
    Local Const $M_TOPALIGN = 0x1
    Local Const $M_RETURNCMD = 0x2
    Local Const $WM_NCACTIVATE = 0x86

    Local $aInfo
    Local $hGui
    Local $iSelected = -1
    While $iSelected < 0 And WinActive($hWnd)
        ; Check status of menubar
        $aInfo = _GUICtrlMenu_GetMenuBarInfo($hWnd, $iItemIndex + 1, 1)
        ; If menu is active
        If $aInfo[$M_ITEM_FOCUSED] = True Then
            $hGui = GUICreate("", 0, 0, $aInfo[0], $aInfo[1], 0, -1, $hWnd)
            WinActivate($hGui)
            _WinAPI_PostMessage($hWnd, $WM_NCACTIVATE, 1, 0)
            _WinAPI_PostMessage($hWnd, $WM_CANCELMODE, 0, 0) ;Close the real menu
            $iSelected = _GUICtrlMenu_TrackPopupMenu($hItem, $hGui, $aInfo[0], $aInfo[3], $M_LEFTALIGN, $M_TOPALIGN, $M_RETURNCMD)
            If WinActive($hGui) Then
                WinActivate($hWnd)
            Else
                _WinAPI_PostMessage($hWnd, $WM_NCACTIVATE, 0, 0)
                _MenuRemove($hWnd, $hMenu, $hItem, $iItemIndex)
            EndIf
            GUIDelete($hGui)
        EndIf
    WEnd
    If Not WinActive($hWnd) Then _MenuRemove($hWnd, $hMenu, $hItem, $iItemIndex)
    Return $iSelected
EndFunc   ;==>_MenuWaitForSelection

Func _MenuRemove($hWnd, $hMenu, $hItem, $iItemIndex)
    If IsHWnd($hWnd) Then
        ConsoleWrite("REMOVING " & $hWnd & " " & $hMenu & ":" & $hItem & ":" & $iItemIndex & @CRLF)
        _GUICtrlMenu_RemoveMenu($hMenu, $iItemIndex)
        _GUICtrlMenu_DestroyMenu($hItem)
        _GUICtrlMenu_DrawMenuBar($hWnd)
    EndIf
EndFunc   ;==>_MenuRemove

Func Edit_Send_Selected($hWnd, $iSelected)
    ConsoleWrite("Item: 0x" & Hex($iSelected) & " Selected" & @CRLF)
    Switch $iSelected
        Case 0x2000
            ConsoleWrite("Sending Date" & @CRLF)
            ControlSend($hWnd, "", "Edit1", @MDAY & "/" & @MON & "/" & @YEAR)
        Case 0x2100
            ConsoleWrite("Sending Time" & @CRLF)
            ControlSend($hWnd, "", "Edit1", @HOUR & ":" & @MIN & "." & @SEC)
        Case 0x2200
            ConsoleWrite("Sending Os" & @CRLF)
            ControlSend($hWnd, "", "Edit1", @OSVersion & " " & @OSArch)
    EndSwitch
EndFunc   ;==>Edit_Send_Selected

Func Notepad_Menu_Handler()
    While (1)
        $hWnd = WinWaitActive("[Class:Notepad]")

        If IsHWnd($hWnd) Then
            _MenuInsert($hWnd, $hMenu, $hItem, $iItemIndex)

            ConsoleWrite("New Item is Index: " & $iItemIndex & " Error:" & @error & @CRLF)

            Edit_Send_Selected($hWnd, _MenuWaitForSelection())
            Sleep(100)

        Else
            ConsoleWrite("Invalid hWnd" & @CRLF)
        EndIf
    WEnd
EndFunc   ;==>Notepad_Menu_Handler

 

Its not perfect it is a hack after all and yes I know F5 returns time and date in notepad its just an example

 

How does it work?

We start off adding a menu to a notepad window only when it becomes active

(We remove this menu item if the window is no longer active since we are no longer watching it)

When a user selects our top level menu item we cancel the original menu with a $WM_CANCELMODE message

We then popup the same menu only this time from our process

This does cause a deactivation of the notepad window but we fake it with a $WM_NCACTIVATE message

Unfortunately when I instead made the new gui window a child of the notepad window it works better but then I can't get the accelerator keys to work

It also makes this menu item deviate from the behavior of the normal menus in that you can't arrow to the others without closing it 

but hey, you can't get everything

 

Edited March 11, 2018 by Bilgus