Q102575: INFO: Obtaining Group/Item Info from ProgMan Using DDEML
Article: Q102575
Product(s): Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit
Version(s): WINDOWS:3.0,3.1; winnt:3.5,3.51
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s): kb16bitonly kbOSWinNT350 kbOSWinNT351 kbOSWin310 _IK kbOSWin300
Last Modified: 12-MAY-2001
3.00 3.10
WINDOWS
kbprg
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) versions 3.0, 3.1
- Microsoft Win32 Application Programming Interface (API)
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SUMMARY
=======
Dynamic-data exchange (DDE) can be used to obtain group and/or item information
from Program Manager. Many applications, especially setup applications, need
this information before items or groups are added/deleted from Program Manager.
Information such as group names, group filenames, the number of items in a
group, an item's working directory, title, xpos, ypos, and so forth, can be
obtained very easily from Program Manager through DDE. This article discusses
how to obtain this type of information from Program Manager using DDEML.
MORE INFORMATION
================
Program Manager is a DDEML server that provides DDE client applications with
valuable information regarding group windows and items inside the group
windows.
DDEML client applications have to connect to Program Manager with PROGMAN/PROGMAN
as SERVICE/TOPIC names. (Program Manager also supports SHELL/APPPROPERTIES
service/topic names.) Once connected, the client application needs to REQUEST
group/item information from Program Manager by issuing a request transaction.
Group Information
-----------------
To obtain names of all the groups currently in Program Manager, the client has to
issue a request transaction with the item name set to "GROUPS". The request has
to be made in CF_TEXT format.
The return value from this transaction is a data handle that contains the names
of all the groups in Program Manager. Each group name is separated by a carriage
return (\r\n). The following code sample requests names of all the groups from
Program Manager:
ghszItem = DdeCreateStringHandle(idInst,"GROUPS",
CP_WINANSI);
hProgData = DdeClientTransaction(NULL,
// pointer to data to pass
// to server
0, // length of data
ghszConv, // handle to conversation
ghszItem, // handle to item-name
// string
CF_TEXT, // clipboard format
XTYP_REQUEST, // transaction type
5000, // transaction timeout
NULL); // pointer to result
retVal = DdeGetData(hProgData, (void FAR*)szBuffer,
sizeof(szBuffer), 0) ;
MessageBox(NULL, szBuffer, "TEST", MB_OK) ;
If there are four groups in Program Manager (for example, Main, Accessories, SDK,
and Applications), then the message-box call will display names of all these
groups, one per line.
Item Information
----------------
To obtain information regarding all the items in a group, the client application
has to issue a request transaction to Program Manager, this time with the item
name set to the name of the group. For example, if the client application needs
to find out if an item exists in Program Manager group "Main", or if it needs to
find out all the items that are in group Main, then the call to
DdeCreateStringHandle() above must be changed to
ghszItem = DdeCreateStringHandle(idInst,"MAIN", CP_WINANSI);
to create a string handle for the appropriate item name, Main.
The return value from this transaction is a data handle that contains names of
all the items in the group Main. A typical example of the data inside resembles
the following:
"MAIN",C:\WINDOWS\MAIN.GRP,5,3
"MS-DOS","DOSPRMPT.PIF",,PROGMAN.EXE,166,4,9,0,0
"Mail","MSMAIL.EXE",,C:\WINDOWS\MSMAIL.EXE,258,2,0,0,0
"Write","WRITE.EXE",,C:\WINDOWS\WRITE.EXE,384,48,0,0,0
"File","WINFILE.EXE",,C:\WINDOWS\WINFILE.EXE,6,2,0,0,0
"Brief ","B.PIF",,PROGMAN.EXE,93,49,2,0,0
Program Manager provides the list in CF_TEXT format. The fields of group
information are separated by commas. The first line of the information contains
the group name (in quotation marks), the path of the group file, and the number
of items in the group.
NOTE: The last value on line 1 is not documented in the Windows Software
Development Kit (SDK); it can be any value between 1 and 8. This is the same
value that is passed as the second param to the ShowGroup() command. This value
indicates the state of the group window, whether minimized, active, and so
forth.
In this particular case, the group window Main is currently the active group and
is maximized.
For more information on this value, please refer to the ShowGroup() command
documentation in Section 17.2.2 of the Windows 3.1 SDK "Programmer's Reference,
Volume 1: Overview."
Each subsequent line contains information about an item in the group, including
the command line (in quotation marks), the default directory, the icon path, the
position in the group, the icon index, the shortcut key (in numeric form), and
the minimize flag.
This set of information for each item corresponds to the parameters passed to the
AddItem() function when each item was added to the group. For more information
on each of these parameters, refer to the AddItem() command documentation on
Section 17.2.5 of the Windows 3.1 SDK, "Programmer's Reference, Volume 1:
Overview."
Additional query words: GPF gp-fault
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Keywords : kb16bitonly kbOSWinNT350 kbOSWinNT351 kbOSWin310 _IK kbOSWin300
Technology : kbAudDeveloper kbWin3xSearch kbSDKSearch kbWin32sSearch kbWin32API kbWinSDKSearch kbWinSDK300 kbWinSDK310
Version : WINDOWS:3.0,3.1; winnt:3.5,3.51
Issue type : kbinfo
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