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Functions
 GetWindowText Function
GetWindowText Function

The GetWindowText function copies the text of the specified window's title bar (if it has one) into a buffer. If the specified window is a control, the text of the control is copied. However, GetWindowText cannot retrieve the text of a control in another application.

Syntax

int GetWindowText(      
    HWND hWnd,
    LPTSTR lpString,
    int nMaxCount
);

Parameters

hWnd
[in] Handle to the window or control containing the text.
lpString
[out] Pointer to the buffer that will receive the text. If the string is as long or longer than the buffer, the string is truncated and terminated with a NULL character.
nMaxCount
[in] Specifies the maximum number of characters to copy to the buffer, including the NULL character. If the text exceeds this limit, it is truncated.

Return Value

If the function succeeds, the return value is the length, in characters, of the copied string, not including the terminating NULL character. If the window has no title bar or text, if the title bar is empty, or if the window or control handle is invalid, the return value is zero. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

This function cannot retrieve the text of an edit control in another application.


Remarks

If the target window is owned by the current process, GetWindowText causes a WM_GETTEXT message to be sent to the specified window or control. If the target window is owned by another process and has a caption, GetWindowText retrieves the window caption text. If the window does not have a caption, the return value is a null string. This behavior is by design. It allows applications to call GetWindowText without becoming unresponsive if the process that owns the target window is not responding. However, if the target window is not responding and it belongs to the calling application, GetWindowText will cause the calling application to become unresponsive.

To retrieve the text of a control in another process, send a WM_GETTEXT message directly instead of calling GetWindowText.

Windows 95/98/Me: GetWindowTextW is supported by the Microsoft Layer for Unicode (MSLU). To use this, you must add certain files to your application, as outlined in Microsoft Layer for Unicode on Windows 95/98/Me Systems.

Example

For an example, see Sending a Message.

Function Information

Minimum DLL Versionuser32.dll
HeaderDeclared in Winuser.h, include Windows.h
Import libraryUser32.lib
Minimum operating systems Windows 95, Windows NT 3.1
UnicodeImplemented as ANSI and Unicode versions.

See Also

Windows Overview, GetWindowTextLength, SetWindowText, WM_GETTEXT
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Possible VB9 declaration      Dzonny   |   Edit   |   
Friend Declare Auto Function GetWindowText Lib "user32.dll" (ByVal hwnd As Int32, <Out()> ByVal lpString As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal cch As Int32) As Int32

Example:

                Dim len As Integer = API.GetWindowTextLength(hWnd)
                If len > 0 Then
                    Dim b As New System.Text.StringBuilder(ChrW(0), len + 1)
                    Dim ret = API.GetWindowText(hWnd, b, b.Capacity)
                    If ret <> 0 Then
                        Return b.ToString
                    Else
                        Throw New API.Win32APIException
                    End If
                Else
                    Dim ex As New API.Win32APIException
                    If ex.NativeErrorCode <> 0 Then
                        Throw New API.Win32APIException
                    Else
                        Return ""
                    End If
                End If
Processing
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