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AutomationElement.FromHandle Method

.NET Framework 3.5

Retrieves a new AutomationElement object for the user interface (UI) item referenced by the specified window handle.

Namespace:  System.Windows.Automation
Assembly:  UIAutomationClient (in UIAutomationClient.dll)
C#
C++
JScript
VB
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public static AutomationElement FromHandle(
	IntPtr hwnd
)

Parameters

hwnd
Type: System.IntPtr
The handle of the UI element.

Return Value

Type: System.Windows.Automation.AutomationElement
An AutomationElement for the UI item identified by hwnd.

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0
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How to get the handle in C#
The from handle is a nice way to get the AutomationElement. Using FindFirst can take a long time if you start from the desktop root (i.e. AutomationElement aeDesktop = AutomationElement.RootElement; ) Another advantage of the from handle is that it is very easy to use substring matching on the window title.

Here's some code on how to get the handle:
            bool foundwindow = false;
            IntPtr phdl= new IntPtr();
            Process[] procs = System.Diagnostics.Process.GetProcesses();
            for (int i = 0; i < procs.Length; i++)
            {
                if (procs[i].MainWindowTitle.Contains("notepad"))
                {
                    foundwindow = true;
                    phdl = procs[i].MainWindowHandle;
                    Debug.WriteLine("Found window:"+procs[i].MainWindowTitle);
                    break;
                }
            }
            if (!foundwindow)
            {
                Debug.WriteLine("Could not get a handle for the window");
                return;
            }
            AutomationElement aeForm = AutomationElement.FromHandle(phdl);
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