Send keypresses to X-Plane 11(windows 10)
lazarus / 67-Windows

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xardomain · 2020-01-08 03:59

Hi,
trying to send simple keystrokes to X-Plane 11 but it is not working.

I am able to send them to notepad but X-Plane does not work, it just
ignores them.

procedure TForm1.Button5Click(Sender: TObject);
var XplaneWindowHWND : HWND;

begin
  XplaneWindowHWND := findwindow('notepad',nil);  // This works
//XplaneWindowHWND := findwindow('X-System',nil);  // this "works"
  if (XplaneWindowHWND <> 0) then
  begin
    XplaneWindowHWND := FindWindowEx(XplaneWindowHWND,
FindWindow('Edit', nil), nil, nil); // this works
  //XplaneWindowHWND := FindWindowEx(XplaneWindowHWND,
FindWindow('X-System', nil), nil, nil);  // this doesn't, not sure
what to specify for FindWindo
    SendMessage(XplaneWindowHWND, WM_CHAR, word('g'), 0);
    Memo1.Lines.Add('Focused and sent char')
  end
  else
    Memo1.Lines.Add('Failed to find the window')
end;

The example using notepad looks for a window(child window?) named
"Edit", X-plane does not have any child window so I don't know how/if
to use findwindow.

Now, a simple autohotkey is able to send the keypress 'g' without any
problem (using CTRL+J for example):

^j::
Send, g
return

So it is possible. What prevents me to send the keystrokes to the
simulator?

I have tried KeyInput.Press but nothing, it works only for notepad

TIA

Giuseppe Marullo
Lazarus 2.0.6 / FPC 3.0.4

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balazsszekely · 2020-01-08 06:16

According to your screenshot, X-Plane 11 doesn't have any
childwindow.  Your only option is to send the keystroke to the main
window(X-System). Also replace SendMessage to PostMessage, the later
is an asynchronous function, it won't block the message queue:
Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i var 
XplaneWindowHWND : HWND;begin  XplaneWindowHWND :=
FindWindow('X-System', nil);  if (XplaneWindowHWND <> 0) then  begin 
 PostMessage(XplaneWindowHWND, WM_CHAR, Word('g'), 0);   
Memo1.Lines.Add('Focused and sent char')  end  else   
Memo1.Lines.Add('Failed to find the window') 
A slightly improved version would be the following, first find "XPlane
11" process, then find the process main window. Like this:
Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i uses
JwaWindows, jwatlhelp32; function GetProcessMainWindow(const PID:
DWORD; const wFirstHandle: HWND): HWND;var  wHandle: HWND;  ProcID:
DWord;begin  Result := 0;  wHandle := GetWindow(wFirstHandle,
GW_HWNDFIRST);  while wHandle > 0 do  begin   
GetWindowThreadProcessID(wHandle, @ProcID);    if (ProcID = PID) and
(GetParent(wHandle) = 0) and (IsWindowVisible(wHandle)) then    begin 
    Result := wHandle;      Break;    end;    wHandle :=
GetWindow(wHandle, GW_HWNDNEXT);  end;end; function
FindProcessByName(const ProcName:string): DWORD;var  Proc:
TPROCESSENTRY32;  hSnap: HWND;  Looper: BOOL;begin  Result := 0; 
Proc.dwSize := SizeOf(Proc);  hSnap :=
CreateToolhelp32Snapshot(TH32CS_SNAPALL, 0);  Looper :=
Process32First(hSnap, Proc);  while Integer(Looper) <> 0 do  begin   
if UpperCase(ExtractFileName(proc.szExeFile)) = UpperCase(ProcName)
then    begin      Result:=proc.th32ProcessID;      Break;    end;   
Looper := Process32Next(hSnap, Proc);  end; 
CloseHandle(hSnap);end; procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender:
TObject);var  PID: DWord;  XplaneWindow: THandle;begin  PID :=
FindProcessByName('XSystem.exe'); //change this to the appropriate
value(see task manager)  if PID <> 0 then  begin    XplaneWindow :=
GetProcessMainWindow(PID, Form1.Handle);    if XplaneWindow <> 0 then 
    PostMessage(XplaneWindow, WM_CHAR, Word('g'), 0);  end;end;

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xardomain · 2020-01-08 11:18

Hi Getmem,
many thanks for your answer. However, both solutions don't work for
me.
This is the code now:

procedure TForm1.Button5Click(Sender: TObject);
var XplaneWindowHWND : HWND;
     PID : DWORD;
     XplaneWindow: THandle;
begin
  // Wait 3s to allow manual switch if desired
  Form1.Timer4.Enabled := TRUE;
  while Timer4.Enabled do
        Application.Processmessages;

  PID := FindProcessByName('X-Plane.exe');
  if (PID <> 0) then
  begin
    Memo1.Lines.Add('Process found. PID is %d',[PID])  ;

    XplaneWindow := GetProcessMainWindow(PID, Form1.Handle);

    if (XplaneWindow <> 0) then
    begin
      Memo1.Lines.Add('Main Window found. Handle is
%d',[XplaneWindow]);
      PostMessage(XplaneWindow, WM_CHAR, Word('g'), 0)
    end
    else
      Memo1.Lines.Add('Main Window NOT found.')  ;

No effect. BTW this doesn't even work for notepad.

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balazsszekely · 2020-01-08 12:31

Quotemany thanks for your answer.You're welcome.

QuoteHowever, both solutions don't work for me.It works fine at my
side. What is your OS? Windows 10 is the most restrictive windows
version so far. Maybe you should run your program with elevated
privileges.

QuoteNo effect. BTW this doesn't even work for notepad.It wasn't meant
to work with notepad, notepad has a childwindow.

As a last attempt please try this(don't forget to set Timer1.Interval
to 5000, Timer1.Enabled to False by default, and run your program as
administrator):
Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i uses
JwaWindows; procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);begin 
Timer1.Enabled := True; //allow to switch to XPlane 11end; procedure
TForm1.Timer1Timer(Sender: TObject);var  Input: array [0..1] of
TInput;begin  Timer1.Enabled := False;   ZeroMemory(@Input,
SizeOf(Input));  Input[0].type_      := INPUT_KEYBOARD; 
Input[0].ki.dwFlags := KEYEVENTF_UNICODE;  Input[0].ki.wVk     :=
VKKeyScan('g');   Input[1].type_      := INPUT_KEYBOARD; 
Input[1].ki.dwFlags := KEYEVENTF_KEYUP;  Input[1].ki.wScan   :=
VKKeyScan('g');  SendInput(2, @Input[0], SizeOf(TInput));end;