FindWindowEx

The FindWindowEx function retrieves a handle to a window whose class name and window name match the specified strings. The function searches child windows, beginning with the one following the given child window. This function does not perform a case-sensitive search.

HWND FindWindowEx(
  HWND hwndParent,      // handle to parent window
  HWND hwndChildAfter,  // handle to a child window
  LPCTSTR lpszClass,    // pointer to class name
  LPCTSTR lpszWindow    // pointer to window name
);
 

Parameters

hwndParent

Handle to the parent window whose child windows are to be searched.

If hwndParent is NULL, the function uses the desktop window as the parent window. The function searches among windows that are child windows of the desktop.

Windows NT 5.0 and later: If hwndParent is HWND_MESSAGE, the function searches all message-only windows.

hwndChildAfter

Handle to a child window. The search begins with the next child window in the Z order. The child window must be a direct child window of hwndParent, not just a descendant window.

If hwndChildAfter is NULL, the search begins with the first child window of hwndParent.

Note that if both hwndParent and hwndChildAfter are NULL, the function searches all top-level and message-only windows.

lpszClass

Pointer to a null-terminated string that specifies the class name or is an atom that identifies the class-name string. If this parameter is an atom, it must be a global atom created by a previous call to the GlobalAddAtom function. The atom, a 16-bit value, must be placed in the low-order word of lpszClass; the high-order word must be zero.

lpszWindow

Pointer to a null-terminated string that specifies the window name (the window's title). If this parameter is NULL, all window names match.

Return Values

If the function succeeds, the return value is a handle to the window that has the specified class and window names.

If the function fails, the return value is NULL. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

QuickInfo

  Windows NT: Requires version 4.0 or later.
  Windows: Requires Windows 95 or later.
  Windows CE: Unsupported.
  Header: Declared in winuser.h.
  Import Library: Use user32.lib.
  Unicode: Implemented as Unicode and ANSI versions on Windows NT.

See Also

Windows Overview, Window Functions, EnumWindows, FindWindow, GetClassName, GlobalAddAtom