Reading text from PowerShell with Win32?

Question

Can anyone please give me a simple example (or a link to it) of how I could read text from a PowerShell window into a buffer in Win32 C++?

Thank you!

Answer 1

A test with IUIAutomation and IUIAutomationTextPattern to get the text =>

#include <windows.h>  
#include <tchar.h>  
  
#pragma comment(linker,"\"/manifestdependency:type='win32' \  
name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' \  
processorArchitecture='*' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*'\"")  
  
#include <UIAutomation.h>  
#include <Richedit.h>  
  
HINSTANCE hInst;  
LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM);  
int nWidth = 600, nHeight = 400;  
#define IDC_RICHEDIT 10  
#define IDC_BUTTON 11  
  
int APIENTRY wWinMain(_In_ HINSTANCE hInstance, _In_opt_ HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, _In_ LPWSTR lpCmdLine, _In_ int nCmdShow)  
{  
	hInst = hInstance;  
	WNDCLASSEX wcex =  
	{  
		sizeof(WNDCLASSEX), CS_HREDRAW | CS_VREDRAW, WndProc, 0, 0, hInst, LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_APPLICATION),  
		LoadCursor(NULL, IDC_ARROW), (HBRUSH)(COLOR_WINDOW + 1), NULL, TEXT("WindowClass"), NULL,  
	};  
	if (!RegisterClassEx(&wcex))  
		return MessageBox(NULL, TEXT("Cannot register class !"), TEXT("Error"), MB_ICONERROR | MB_OK);  
	int nX = (GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXSCREEN) - nWidth) / 2, nY = (GetSystemMetrics(SM_CYSCREEN) - nHeight) / 2;  
	HWND hWnd = CreateWindowEx(0, wcex.lpszClassName, TEXT("Test"), WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, nX, nY, nWidth, nHeight, NULL, NULL, hInst, NULL);  
	if (!hWnd)  
		return MessageBox(NULL, TEXT("Cannot create window !"), TEXT("Error"), MB_ICONERROR | MB_OK);  
	ShowWindow(hWnd, SW_SHOWNORMAL);  
	UpdateWindow(hWnd);  
	MSG msg;  
	while (GetMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0))  
	{  
		TranslateMessage(&msg);  
		DispatchMessage(&msg);  
	}  
	return (int)msg.wParam;  
}  
  
LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hWnd, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)  
{  
	static HWND hWndButton = NULL, hWndRichEdit = NULL;  
	int wmId, wmEvent;  
	switch (message)  
	{  
	case WM_CREATE:  
	{  
		LoadLibrary(L"msftedit.dll");  
		hWndRichEdit = CreateWindowEx(0, MSFTEDIT_CLASS, NULL, WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | ES_MULTILINE | WS_BORDER | WS_VSCROLL, 80, 10, 490, 340, hWnd, (HMENU)IDC_RICHEDIT, hInst, NULL);  
		hWndButton = CreateWindowEx(0, L"Button", L"Click", WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | BS_PUSHLIKE, 10, 10, 60, 32, hWnd, (HMENU)IDC_BUTTON, hInst, NULL);  
		return 0;  
	}  
	break;  
	case WM_COMMAND:  
	{  
		wmId = LOWORD(wParam);  
		wmEvent = HIWORD(wParam);  
		switch (wmId)  
		{  
		case IDC_BUTTON:  
		{  
			if (wmEvent == BN_CLICKED)  
			{  
				IUIAutomation* pUIAutomation = NULL;  
				HRESULT hr = CoInitializeEx(NULL, COINIT_MULTITHREADED);  
				hr = CoCreateInstance(CLSID_CUIAutomation8, NULL, CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER, IID_PPV_ARGS(&pUIAutomation));  
				if (SUCCEEDED(hr))  
				{  
					// Several Consoles can be opened, can be identified by title too  
					HWND hWndConsole = FindWindow(L"ConsoleWindowClass", nullptr);  
					if (hWndConsole)  
					{  
						IUIAutomationElement* pWindowElement = NULL;  
						hr = pUIAutomation->ElementFromHandle(hWndConsole, &pWindowElement);  
						if (pWindowElement != nullptr)  
						{  
							IUIAutomationCacheRequest* pCacheRequest = NULL;  
							VARIANT varProp;  
							varProp.vt = VT_I4;  
							varProp.lVal = UIA_DocumentControlTypeId;  
							IUIAutomationCondition* pCondition = NULL;  
							IUIAutomationTextPattern* pTextPattern = NULL;  
							hr = pUIAutomation->CreatePropertyCondition(UIA_ControlTypePropertyId,varProp, &pCondition);  
							if (SUCCEEDED(hr))  
							{  
								hr = pUIAutomation->CreateCacheRequest(&pCacheRequest);  
								if (SUCCEEDED(hr))  
								{  
									hr = pCacheRequest->AddProperty(UIA_IsTextPatternAvailablePropertyId);  
									if (SUCCEEDED(hr))  
									{  
										hr = pCacheRequest->AddPattern(UIA_TextPatternId);  
									}  
								}  
								IUIAutomationElement* pElement;  
								hr = pWindowElement->FindFirstBuildCache(TreeScope_Children, pCondition, pCacheRequest, &pElement);  
								if (SUCCEEDED(hr) && (pElement != NULL))  
								{  
									VARIANT varBool;  
									hr = pElement->GetCachedPropertyValue(UIA_IsTextPatternAvailablePropertyId,	&varBool);  
									if (SUCCEEDED(hr) && (varBool.vt == VT_BOOL) && (varBool.boolVal))  
									{										  
										hr = pElement->GetCachedPatternAs(UIA_TextPatternId, IID_PPV_ARGS(&pTextPattern));  
									}  
									pElement->Release();  
								}  
								pCondition->Release();  
								if (pCacheRequest != NULL)  
									pCacheRequest->Release();									  
							}  
							IUIAutomationTextRange* pTextRange;  
							if (pTextPattern)  
							{  
								hr = pTextPattern->get_DocumentRange(&pTextRange);  
								if (SUCCEEDED(hr) && (pTextRange != NULL))  
								{  
									BSTR bstrText = NULL;  
									hr = pTextRange->GetText(-1, &bstrText);  
									if (SUCCEEDED(hr) && (bstrText != NULL))  
									{  
										//OutputDebugString(bstrText);  
										SetWindowText(hWndRichEdit, bstrText);  
										SysFreeString(bstrText);  
									}  
									pTextRange->Release();									  
								}  
								pTextPattern->Release();  
							}  
							pWindowElement->Release();  
						}  
					}  
					else  
						MessageBox(hWnd, L"No Console found", L"Information", MB_OK | MB_ICONEXCLAMATION);  
					pUIAutomation->Release();  
				}  
				CoUninitialize();  
			}  
		}  
		break;  
		default:  
			return DefWindowProc(hWnd, message, wParam, lParam);  
		}  
	}  
	break;	  
	case WM_DESTROY:  
	{  
		PostQuitMessage(0);  
		return 0;  
	}  
	break;  
	default:  
		return DefWindowProc(hWnd, message, wParam, lParam);  
	}  
	return 0;  
}