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I am just learning python and I am relativity new to it. I created the following script that will get the current active windows title and print it to the window. 

import win32gui
windowTile = ""; 
while ( True ) :
    newWindowTile = win32gui.GetWindowText (win32gui.GetForegroundWindow());        
    if( newWindowTile != windowTile ) :
        windowTile = newWindowTile ; 
        print( windowTile );

The above code snippet works. I am now trying to get the application name for the active window (Foreground Window)

My question is:

  • How do you get the foreground active windows application name in python?

Edit

For example: If a user switches from a Calculator (calc.exe) to Google Chrome (chrome.exe) I want to see what the application that they switched to is called. The problem with the title is that not all applications prefix the title with the application name. For example google chrome puts the page title as the window title. I want to know what the application that the user switched to is called. 

calc.exe
chrome.exe
Steven Smethurst
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  • You need to define what you mean by "application name" – David Heffernan Jan 18 '13 at 08:06
  • That's still not totally clear. Are you looking for the name contained in the VERSIONINFO resource of the executable file that owns the Window? – David Heffernan Jan 18 '13 at 11:49
  • If you want to find the name of the executable file running, try using the psutil library. I have successfully listed through processes and got the executable names in this technique. The only problem is that it may be difficult to get the foreground process, or correspond the process with the header of the foreground window you found. – trevorKirkby Jan 02 '14 at 19:57
  • Similar question: [Obtain Active window using Python - Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10266281/obtain-active-window-using-python) – user202729 Jun 03 '23 at 03:04

2 Answers2

8

Install WMI package first (and pywin32 of cause):

pip install wmi

Then:

import win32process
import wmi


c = wmi.WMI()


def get_app_path(hwnd):
    """Get applicatin path given hwnd."""
    try:
        _, pid = win32process.GetWindowThreadProcessId(hwnd)
        for p in c.query('SELECT ExecutablePath FROM Win32_Process WHERE ProcessId = %s' % str(pid)):
            exe = p.ExecutablePath
            break
    except:
        return None
    else:
        return exe


def get_app_name(hwnd):
    """Get applicatin filename given hwnd."""
    try:
        _, pid = win32process.GetWindowThreadProcessId(hwnd)
        for p in c.query('SELECT Name FROM Win32_Process WHERE ProcessId = %s' % str(pid)):
            exe = p.Name
            break
    except:
        return None
    else:
        return exe
Answeror
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5

Think this will do the trick

import psutil, win32process, win32gui, time
def active_window_process_name():
    pid = win32process.GetWindowThreadProcessId(win32gui.GetForegroundWindow()) #This produces a list of PIDs active window relates to
    print(psutil.Process(pid[-1]).name()) #pid[-1] is the most likely to survive last longer


time.sleep(3) #click on a window you like and wait 3 seconds 
active_window_process_name()

assuming you have installed psutil and win32 modules

Run this program to get a better understanding

import threading, win32gui, win32process, psutil
from tkinter import *
root = Tk()
s = StringVar()
def active_window_process_name():
    try:
        pid = win32process.GetWindowThreadProcessId(win32gui.GetForegroundWindow())
        return(psutil.Process(pid[-1]).name())
    except:
        pass
def to_label():
    global s
    while True:
        s.set(active_window_process_name())
    return

Label(root,textvariable=s).pack()
if __name__ == "__main__":
    t = threading.Thread(target = to_label)
    t.start()
    root.mainloop()
Mike Shane
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