Using VB.net to Complete Forms in Another Application

[ChrisJensen]

Hello!

I'm currently trying to fill in a dialogue box (from an external program) using a VB.Net app. I've succeeded in finding the window handle for the external program (using the FindWindowByCap tion function), but am having some difficulty finding the handles for the child windows (which, in this case, would be text boxes). Most tutorials that I've found online suggest using Spy ++ (or other programs) that I don't have access to on this computer. Is there a programmatic way to step through the child windows until I find one with a certain class or name?

Once I have window handles for the child windows, I should be ready to go, as I'm planning on using the SendMessage function.

Does anyone have any ideas about how best to accomplish my task?

Thanks,
-cj

[tlhintoq]

Spy ++ (or other programs) that I don't have access to on this computer.

How do you *not* have access to Spy++ ? It is installed with Visual Studio. Are you working on your own machine or trying to hack someone else's?

[ChrisJensen]

My office doesn't tend to do a lot of coding (I'm essentially writing this utility as a one-off), so I'm using the Express edition of VB 2008, which means that I do not have access to Spy++. Also, our administrator has locked down our ability to download and execute utilities. For both of these reasons, I'm attempting to solve the problem programmaticall y.

[tlhintoq]

I hate to seem uncooperative but... If you don't have the cooperation of your administrative team, then it sounds like you aren't part of the corporate (read "authorized ") development team that is *supposed* to have these resources or trying to hack a way into this other program.

[ChrisJensen]

Here is the explicit description of what I've been asked to do: my company works uses a web-based Exchange server, which means that it does not authenticate automatically.. . My task is to push the user's name / password into the Outlook dialog box so that the users are not irritated by having to enter this information twice (once at logon and again when they first access their email accounts).

In terms of "support" or "cooperatio n," it is not that I'm doing anything below the board, but rather than I am part of an under-staffed and under-funded IT team for a small business. No one in my office has a full copy of Visual Studio, and I was only authorized to download it in order to complete this one task. It is quite possible that I will not have to do any other programming during the course of my tenure here.

Not that any of this matters (as I've mostly solved this problem on my own by this point), but I must admit that I respond negatively to being insulted (i.e., called a liar or a hacker), even in the anonymous forum provided by the internet. No offense is meant to tlhintoq, who I'm sure is attempting to make sure that his technical expertise is used for good instead of evil, but I do take exception to these accusations.

[Frinavale]

Hi Chris,

I have no experience at all with managing exchange servers so I took a quick look on MSDN to see if there is a way to configure a web-based exchange server to use windows logins....

Apparently there is a way but it requires you to use Active Directory...whi ch may require you to re-design your entire network for your business....

Anyways, you can configure your exchange server to use Digest Authentication. This type of authentication uses the user's windows logon to authenticate against the exchange server.

If your interested, check out this article:Digest Authentication

PS: the MSDN Library is the best resource to use when developing in .NET :) I recommend bookmarking it and checking there first if you get stuck on anything .NET (or even Microsoft) related.

-Frinny

[tlhintoq]

PS: the MSDN Library is the best resource to use when developing in .NET :) I recommend bookmarking it and checking there first if you get stuck on anything .NET (or even Microsoft) related.

I find another good system is to use Google to find what you want on MSDN. If you google with "MSDN" plus what you are trying to find out more about, like for "MSDN Active Directory" you tend to get a better set of matches than the search on MSDN itself.

[Frinavale]

I do the same thing when I the MSDN library doesn't show what I'm looking for...
Google just seems to do a better job than Bing