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Trying to iterate through open windows

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Posted on by sholland

Hi - new to PAD, have been searching for an answer to my issue but haven't found anything so far.

I'd like to find the titles of existing open web browser pages, and put that into a list variable. I'd also like to do the same with open Excel documents.

This must be possible to do, right?

thanks for any assistance!

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Power Automate Desktop

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VJR 7,635 on at

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Hi @sholland

There would be several scripts (Vbs, Powershell, VBA macro, etc) available on the web to get window details based on the process name (Chrome/Excel).
Probably it would be easier to have that script write to a Text file or spreadsheet and call the script from PAD and write the details retrieved into a list variable.

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MichaelAnnis 5,727 Moderator on at

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I created a flow that iterates through each open window and uses "Get Window" to pull the window title and handle ID. It iterates through using the {Alt}({Tab}) shortcut key. Inside of a loop determines how many {Tab}s there are. It stops when the current handle matches the previous handle. Copy and paste the below into a subflow, and it should run no problem. Best of Luck!

Variables.CreateNewList List=> AllOpenWindowTitles
Variables.CreateNewList List=> AllOpenAutomationWindows
UIAutomation.Windows.GetForegroundWindow WindowTitle=> WindowTitle WindowInstance=> AutomationWindow
Variables.AddItemToList Item: WindowTitle List: AllOpenWindowTitles NewList=> AllOpenWindowTitles
Variables.AddItemToList Item: AutomationWindow List: AllOpenAutomationWindows NewList=> AllOpenAutomationWindows
LOOP LoopIndex FROM 1 TO 99 STEP 1
MouseAndKeyboard.PressKey Control: False Alt: True Shift: False Win: False
LOOP LoopIndex3 FROM 1 TO LoopIndex STEP 1
MouseAndKeyboard.SendKeys TextToSend: $'''{Tab}''' DelayBetweenKeystrokes: 10 SendTextAsHardwareKeys: False
END
MouseAndKeyboard.ReleaseKey Control: False Alt: True Shift: False Win: False
WAIT 1
UIAutomation.Windows.GetForegroundWindow WindowTitle=> WindowTitleNow WindowInstance=> AutomationWindowNow
IF LoopIndex > 1 THEN
IF AutomationWindowNow.Handle = AutomationWindowPrevious.Handle THEN
EXIT LOOP
END
END
Variables.AddItemToList Item: WindowTitleNow List: AllOpenWindowTitles NewList=> AllOpenWindowTitles
Variables.AddItemToList Item: AutomationWindowNow List: AllOpenAutomationWindows NewList=> AllOpenAutomationWindows
SET AutomationWindowPrevious TO AutomationWindowNow
END

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sholland 3 on at

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Thank you for @MichaelAnnis and @VJR for responding!

I've found a nifty PowerShell method to get the Excel file list here: Find all window titles of application through command line - Super User and that works quite quickly. It doesn't get me a list of Edge tabs, however, so I'm still on the lookout for code that will do that.

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VJR 7,635 on at

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Hi @sholland
You'll get it....Keep looking. Also try looking for Chrome ones and see by replacing it with Edge in the process name.

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