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getWindowlist() returns titles only, no PIDs or handles

 
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xxhehe
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 26, 2026 6:25 am    Post subject: getWindowlist() returns titles only, no PIDs or handles Reply with quote
The celua.txt documentation says getWindowlist() returns a table formatted as {pid, {id, caption}}. But my actual output is a list of window titles, without process IDs or handles. Is this a bug?
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Dark Byte
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 26, 2026 7:03 am    Post subject: This post has 1 review(s) Reply with quote
it returns a list of PID's and each pid contains an indexed list of windowtitles.

no handles no, just a pid and an id you can use to traverse the list

e.g: pid 22656 has a list of 8 windownames, pid 25220 has a list of 25 windownames, etc...

this may make it more clear:
Code:

for pid,list in pairs(getWindowList()) do
  printf("processid %x has the following windows:", pid)
  for i=1,#list do
    printf("  %d = %s", i, list[i])
  end
  print("")
end

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xxhehe
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 26, 2026 11:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Dark Byte wrote:
it returns a list of PID's and each pid contains an indexed list of windowtitles.

no handles no, just a pid and an id you can use to traverse the list

e.g: pid 22656 has a list of 8 windownames, pid 25220 has a list of 25 windownames, etc...

this may make it more clear:
Code:

for pid,list in pairs(getWindowList()) do
  printf("processid %x has the following windows:", pid)
  for i=1,#list do
    printf("  %d = %s", i, list[i])
  end
  print("")
end


The celua.txt documentation says getWindowlist() returns a table in the format { PID, { ID, Caption } }. But my actual output is a dictionary keyed by PID, with each value being an array of window title strings.

Test this with:

for pid, list in pairs(getWindowList()) do
printf("processid %x has the following windows:", pid)
for i = 1, #list do
printf(" %d = %s", i, list[i])
end
print("")
end

The result shows only title strings. No ID field is present.

Three questions:

Is this a doc bug, or did the API change?

What does the spec's "id" actually refer to—index position, window handle (HWND), or something else? If it's an index, is it stable across CE versions, and can I use it to retrieve the handle or other properties?

Since I currently can't get handles, class names, or visibility from this API, I maintain a blacklist in my script to filter out irrelevant windows (IME, tray icons, etc.):


local blacklist = {
"Default IME", "MSCTFIME UI", "GDI+ Window", "DDE Window", "MCI","MSCTFIME",
"__wglDummyWindowFodder", "wglDummy", "DummyWindow",
"CTrayNotifyIcon Helper Window",
"TrayNotifyIcon",
"BluetoothNotificationAreaIconWindowClass",
"NvContainerWindowClass",
".NET-BroadcastEventWindow","MediaContextNotificationWindow",
"SystemResourceNotifyWindow","AppBarDetectFullScreen",
"TRAYAGENTWINDOW",
"UDiskVirtualWindow", "Window_tsvulfw_man_window_0","BroadcastListenerWindow","UxdService",
"CalcMsgPumpWnd",
"MS_WebcheckMonitor","DDE Server Window",
"NVOGLDC invisible",
"CiceroUIWndFrame",
"QTrayIconMessageWindow",
"WinEventWindow",
"_WINDOWTOP_INTERNAL_UI_",
"BroadcastListenerWindow",
"com.pot-app.desktop-siw",
"ms_sqlce_se_notify_wndproc",
"次级窗口","Secondary Window",
}



This works, but it's fragile. I have to maintain the blacklist manually and can't distinguish windows with identical titles.

Will you consider extending getWindowlist() to return {title, hwnd} per entry, or adding a separate API like getWindowInfo() for fuller window data?
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Dark Byte
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 27, 2026 6:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
It's according to document. It returns a table containing pid's and each pid entry contains a. indexed list of titles. The id is the index

Use getWindow to enumerate all windows
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AylinCE
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 27, 2026 7:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I think you can find what you're looking for in the module code linked below:

https://forum.cheatengine.org/viewtopic.php?t=623937

Examine it and test it by adding "print()" inside some for loops to see what it does.

EDIT:
Or you can try this code and modify it as needed:

Code:
-- Scans all running processes and returns a PID -> Executable mapping table
function getProcessMap()
    local sl = createStringList()
    getProcesslist(sl)
    local processMap = {}
    for i = 0, sl.count - 1 do
        local text = sl[i]
        local pidHex = string.sub(text, 1, 8)
        local name = string.sub(text, 10)
        local pid = tonumber(pidHex, 16)
        if pid then
            processMap[pid] = name
        end
    end
    sl.Destroy()
    return processMap
end

function getWindowInfo(targetExe, onlyMainWindows)
    -- Default to true if parameter is not provided
    if onlyMainWindows == nil then onlyMainWindows = true end

    local procMap = getProcessMap()
    local windowList = {}

    -- 1. Map PIDs and first found HWND/Title information based on the target EXE filter
    local pidWindowMap = {}
    local hwnd = executeCodeLocalEx("user32.GetTopWindow", 0)

    while hwnd and hwnd ~= 0 do
        local pid = getWindowProcessID(hwnd)
        local caption = getWindowCaption(hwnd)
        local className = getWindowClassName(hwnd)

        -- System IME and invalid title filters
        local isValidCaption = caption and caption ~= "" and caption ~= "Default IME" and className ~= "IME" and className ~= "MSCTFIME UI"

        if onlyMainWindows then
            -- Collect only windows with valid captions
            if isValidCaption then
                local exeName = procMap[pid]
                local isMatch = (not targetExe or targetExe == "") or (exeName and exeName:lower() == targetExe:lower())

                if isMatch then
                    table.insert(windowList, {
                        pid   = pid,
                        exe   = exeName or "Unknown",
                        hwnd  = hwnd,
                        title = caption
                    })
                end
            end
        else
            -- Store only the first encountered valid HWND and Title for that PID
            if not pidWindowMap[pid] and isValidCaption then
                pidWindowMap[pid] = {
                    hwnd  = hwnd,
                    title = caption
                }
            end
        end

        hwnd = executeCodeLocalEx("user32.GetWindow", hwnd, 2) -- GW_HWNDNEXT
    end

    -- 2. If onlyMainWindows = false, iterate through ALL PIDs to construct the list
    if not onlyMainWindows then
        for pid, exeName in pairs(procMap) do
            local isMatch = (not targetExe or targetExe == "") or (exeName:lower() == targetExe:lower())

            if isMatch then
                local winData = pidWindowMap[pid]
                table.insert(windowList, {
                    pid   = pid,
                    exe   = exeName or "Unknown",
                    hwnd  = winData and winData.hwnd or 0,
                    title = winData and winData.title or "Unknown"
                })
            end
        end
    end

    return windowList
end
--====================================--

-- Use:

-- Parameters: getWindowInfo(targetExe, onlyMainWindows)
-- targetExe: "chrome.exe", "appname.exe" or "" (For all processes)
-- onlyMainWindows:
--   true  -> Returns only main windows/tabs with a valid caption/title.
--   false -> Scans all PIDs, assigns 0 and "Unknown" to processes without a window/title.

local results = getWindowInfo("chrome.exe", true)  -- false or true ..
-- or getWindowInfo("", false) -- false or true ..

for i, win in ipairs(results) do
    print(string.format("[%d] PID: %d | EXE: %s | HWND: 0x%X | Title: %s",
        i, win.pid, win.exe, win.hwnd, win.title))
end

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xxhehe
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 31, 2026 9:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
AylinCE wrote:
I think you can find what you're looking for in the module code linked below:

https://forum.cheatengine.org/viewtopic.php?t=623937

Examine it and test it by adding "print()" inside some for loops to see what it does.

EDIT:
Or you can try this code and modify it as needed:

Code:
-- Scans all running processes and returns a PID -> Executable mapping table
function getProcessMap()
    local sl = createStringList()
    getProcesslist(sl)
    local processMap = {}
    for i = 0, sl.count - 1 do
        local text = sl[i]
        local pidHex = string.sub(text, 1, 8)
        local name = string.sub(text, 10)
        local pid = tonumber(pidHex, 16)
        if pid then
            processMap[pid] = name
        end
    end
    sl.Destroy()
    return processMap
end

function getWindowInfo(targetExe, onlyMainWindows)
    -- Default to true if parameter is not provided
    if onlyMainWindows == nil then onlyMainWindows = true end

    local procMap = getProcessMap()
    local windowList = {}

    -- 1. Map PIDs and first found HWND/Title information based on the target EXE filter
    local pidWindowMap = {}
    local hwnd = executeCodeLocalEx("user32.GetTopWindow", 0)

    while hwnd and hwnd ~= 0 do
        local pid = getWindowProcessID(hwnd)
        local caption = getWindowCaption(hwnd)
        local className = getWindowClassName(hwnd)

        -- System IME and invalid title filters
        local isValidCaption = caption and caption ~= "" and caption ~= "Default IME" and className ~= "IME" and className ~= "MSCTFIME UI"

        if onlyMainWindows then
            -- Collect only windows with valid captions
            if isValidCaption then
                local exeName = procMap[pid]
                local isMatch = (not targetExe or targetExe == "") or (exeName and exeName:lower() == targetExe:lower())

                if isMatch then
                    table.insert(windowList, {
                        pid   = pid,
                        exe   = exeName or "Unknown",
                        hwnd  = hwnd,
                        title = caption
                    })
                end
            end
        else
            -- Store only the first encountered valid HWND and Title for that PID
            if not pidWindowMap[pid] and isValidCaption then
                pidWindowMap[pid] = {
                    hwnd  = hwnd,
                    title = caption
                }
            end
        end

        hwnd = executeCodeLocalEx("user32.GetWindow", hwnd, 2) -- GW_HWNDNEXT
    end

    -- 2. If onlyMainWindows = false, iterate through ALL PIDs to construct the list
    if not onlyMainWindows then
        for pid, exeName in pairs(procMap) do
            local isMatch = (not targetExe or targetExe == "") or (exeName:lower() == targetExe:lower())

            if isMatch then
                local winData = pidWindowMap[pid]
                table.insert(windowList, {
                    pid   = pid,
                    exe   = exeName or "Unknown",
                    hwnd  = winData and winData.hwnd or 0,
                    title = winData and winData.title or "Unknown"
                })
            end
        end
    end

    return windowList
end
--====================================--

-- Use:

-- Parameters: getWindowInfo(targetExe, onlyMainWindows)
-- targetExe: "chrome.exe", "appname.exe" or "" (For all processes)
-- onlyMainWindows:
--   true  -> Returns only main windows/tabs with a valid caption/title.
--   false -> Scans all PIDs, assigns 0 and "Unknown" to processes without a window/title.

local results = getWindowInfo("chrome.exe", true)  -- false or true ..
-- or getWindowInfo("", false) -- false or true ..

for i, win in ipairs(results) do
    print(string.format("[%d] PID: %d | EXE: %s | HWND: 0x%X | Title: %s",
        i, win.pid, win.exe, win.hwnd, win.title))
end


Thank you very much!! The window recognition in recentFiles.lua now uses user32 enumeration, so the blacklist is no longer needed.
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