How to get a list of all open NSWindow from all running application?

Question

Is there a way to get list of open or visible NSWindow from mac desktop?

Here is how to get running window informations in macOS https://github.com/onmyway133/blog/issues/243 — onmyway133, May 16 '19 at 13:46

score 26 · Accepted Answer · edited May 14 '13 at 12:02

26

Note that not all windows are necessarily NSWindows, and that NSWindow only provides an interface to windows in your own address space.

The supported way to access every window is the CGWindow API. Take a look at the Son of Grab sample code to see how it's done.

edited May 14 '13 at 12:02

Anoop Vaidya

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answered Oct 27 '10 at 18:36

Chuck

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Thanks for the Son of Grab link, most helpful. – Teo Choong Ping Oct 28 '10 at 00:33
I searched like 2 hours for this! – Hlung Aug 15 '15 at 07:40
Why not all windows are necessarily NSWindows? Then what are those cgwindows super class? Could you give me a reference to look it up? – allenlinli Aug 04 '16 at 13:00

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

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You can use the accessibility API (accessibility must be enabled under System Preferences for it to work) to get information on windows (and other UI elements) from other processes. This question might be just what you're looking for.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

Community

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answered Oct 27 '10 at 18:52

bosmacs

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score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 27 '10 at 18:32

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ALL running applications? No. You can only get the NSWindows of your own app. You may be able to use Universal Access or Core Graphics APIs to get some information about windows of other apps, but not full access.

answered Oct 27 '10 at 18:32

JWWalker

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To get the `NSWindow`s of your own app, you can use `[[NSApplication sharedApplication] windows]` (in case anyone is looking for such a thing, and stumbled on this question) – aleclarson Jan 24 '19 at 16:18

How to get a list of all open NSWindow from all running application?

3 Answers3

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