win32com get the list of available applications

Question

there is a good construct, allows to control win32com objects, like

win32com.client.Dispatch('Word.Application')
win32com.client.Dispatch('Excel.Application')

... etc. Is there a way to get full list of available applications (*.Application) ?

UPD. Possible solution to get list via scanning registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT for CLSID entries.

import winreg
from collections import OrderedDict
def myScan():
    
    result = OrderedDict(); i = 0
    while True:
        try:
            a1 = winreg.OpenKey(aReg, winreg.EnumKey(winreg.HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, i))
            if i%1000==0:
                print(i,'processing')
            j = 0
            while True:
                try:
                    #print(j)
                    a2 = winreg.EnumKey(a1,j)
                    if a2=='CLSID':
                        kkkey = winreg.EnumKey(winreg.HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,i)
                        vvvalue = winreg.EnumValue(winreg.OpenKey(a1,a2),0)
                        result[kkkey] = vvvalue
                        break
                    j+=1
                except OSError:
                    break
            i+=1
        except OSError:
            break
    return result

result = myScan() #candidates
print(len(res)) # 3363
keys_ = list(result.keys())
#retrieving part of result
for i in keys_[:10]:
    print(i,'=>',result[i])
"""
AccClientDocMgr.AccClientDocMgr => ('', '{FC48CC30-4F3E-4fa1-803B-AD0E196A83B1}', 1)
AccClientDocMgr.AccClientDocMgr.1 => ('', '{FC48CC30-4F3E-4fa1-803B-AD0E196A83B1}', 1)
AccDictionary.AccDictionary => ('', '{6572EE16-5FE5-4331-BB6D-76A49C56E423}', 1)
AccDictionary.AccDictionary.1 => ('', '{6572EE16-5FE5-4331-BB6D-76A49C56E423}', 1)
Access.ACCDAExtension => ('', '{73A4C9C1-D68D-11D0-98BF-00A0C90DC8D9}', 1)
Access.ACCDCFile => ('', '{73A4C9C1-D68D-11D0-98BF-00A0C90DC8D9}', 1)
Access.ACCDCFile.14 => ('', '{73A4C9C1-D68D-11D0-98BF-00A0C90DC8D9}', 1)
Access.ACCDEFile => ('', '{73A4C9C1-D68D-11D0-98BF-00A0C90DC8D9}', 1)
Access.ACCDEFile.14 => ('', '{73A4C9C1-D68D-11D0-98BF-00A0C90DC8D9}', 1)
Access.ACCDRFile.14 => ('', '{73A4C9C1-D68D-11D0-98BF-00A0C90DC8D9}', 1)
"""

filtering list by code below (long and possibly unsafe operation), list can be got:

import pywintypes
for i in range(len(keys_)):
    try:
        if i%100==0: print(i,'processing')
        app = win32com.client.Dispatch(keys_[i]) #possibly unsafe; for example, word.Quit() is necessary to do
        finalList.append(keys_[i])
    except pywintypes.com_error:
        pass

in your updated code, what is aReg variable? – Fnord Jun 29 '22 at 03:57 — Fnord, Jun 29 '22 at 03:57
areg=winreg.HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT – cdummy Nov 19 '22 at 13:05 — cdummy, Nov 19 '22 at 13:05

fuglede · Answer 1 · 2018-08-12T17:36:57.617

11

You might find it helpful to use a dedicated COM browser. For instance, you can use the COM browser bundled with win32com to investigate available type libraries and their interfaces:

from win32com.client import combrowse
combrowse.main()

For information on how to go from the type library CLSID to the ProgID needed when dispatching, see this question.

edited Aug 12 '18 at 17:36

answered Aug 12 '18 at 15:46

fuglede

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But not all 'classnames' can be opened with dispatch, please explain why. Should it have subfolder "CLSID" to be dispatched? – Vova Aug 12 '18 at 16:59
Hm, yeah, I was going to point you towards `HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node`, but that actually also contains unregistered keys. The COM browsers such as the one mentioned and `oleview` are probably better bets. Let me edit the answer accordingly. – fuglede Aug 12 '18 at 17:36
1

Note: calling `combrowse.main(modal=True)` did work for me (without the `modal=True` it'd not really be interactive). – Fabio Zadrozny Aug 19 '22 at 11:56

win32com get the list of available applications

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