Hidden windows?

Thanks Tim, that makes things a lot clearer. And I agree about
windlist - I won't be using that again.

Best wishes,

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

====================

"Tim Meddick" wrote:


Terry,
concerning you question about multiple explorer windows and Process
Explorer - PE only shows the shell process [explorer.exe] and the browser process
[explorer.exe /n /e,].

When you open other instances of explorer.exe the thread count goes up by one and a
new thread beginning BROWSEUI.dll!Ordinal1 38+ appears under the "threads" tab in
that processes properties page.

Granted, you can only summon the last explorer window opened by right-clicking on the
browser process and selecting "Window bring to front".

You can "kill" Windows Explorer windows by going to the browser process and selecting
properties. Going to the "Threads" tab and pressing the "kill" button while a
[BROWSEUI.dll!Ordinal1 38+] is selected.

Where [windlist] is concerned, I still don't think very much of it. I believe what
is happening is that it scans the process list (as in PE or Task Manager) and scans
the image (the program's code) for the presence of dialog boxes and other 'controls',
and prints them in a list whether that box is currently open or not!

Every process on your system has to be assigned a PID [Process ID] number. Threads
are assigned a TID [Thread ID] these are different from programs and cannot exist
without parent processes. What [windlist] displays are not true processes or threads
(why does it list "Start Button" as a Window?) but are 'controls' programmed into the
true process but not necessarily active (called) and certainly they are not all
"Windows" - hidden or otherwise.

'Controls' are things like dialog boxes and command buttons that are drawn by Windows
according to what is written in a program (or parent process).

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)




"Terry Pinnell" wrote in message
.. .


clipped

And don't forget that this 'windows' data comes direct to MEP from the
Windows XP Pro OS. MEP or wndlst or whatever may well be selecting
different SUBSETS of it (and that poses the question of *defining* a
'window'), but its MS Windows that's the source, not those third-party
apps.

--------------------

Any thoughts on my question about PE's behaviour with Explorer.exe
when multiple folders are open?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Thanks Tim, that makes things a lot clearer. And I agree about
windlist - I won't be using that again.

Best wishes,

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

====================

"Tim Meddick" wrote:


Terry,
concerning you question about multiple explorer windows and Process
Explorer - PE only shows the shell process [explorer.exe] and the browser process
[explorer.exe /n /e,].

When you open other instances of explorer.exe the thread count goes up by one and a
new thread beginning BROWSEUI.dll!Ordinal1 38+ appears under the "threads" tab in
that processes properties page.

Granted, you can only summon the last explorer window opened by right-clicking on the
browser process and selecting "Window bring to front".

You can "kill" Windows Explorer windows by going to the browser process and selecting
properties. Going to the "Threads" tab and pressing the "kill" button while a
[BROWSEUI.dll!Ordinal1 38+] is selected.

Where [windlist] is concerned, I still don't think very much of it. I believe what
is happening is that it scans the process list (as in PE or Task Manager) and scans
the image (the program's code) for the presence of dialog boxes and other 'controls',
and prints them in a list whether that box is currently open or not!

Every process on your system has to be assigned a PID [Process ID] number. Threads
are assigned a TID [Thread ID] these are different from programs and cannot exist
without parent processes. What [windlist] displays are not true processes or threads
(why does it list "Start Button" as a Window?) but are 'controls' programmed into the
true process but not necessarily active (called) and certainly they are not all
"Windows" - hidden or otherwise.

'Controls' are things like dialog boxes and command buttons that are drawn by Windows
according to what is written in a program (or parent process).

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)




"Terry Pinnell" wrote in message
.. .


clipped

And don't forget that this 'windows' data comes direct to MEP from the
Windows XP Pro OS. MEP or wndlst or whatever may well be selecting
different SUBSETS of it (and that poses the question of *defining* a
'window'), but its MS Windows that's the source, not those third-party
apps.

--------------------

Any thoughts on my question about PE's behaviour with Explorer.exe
when multiple folders are open?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK