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When i use the window finder of spy++, i only get messages like WM_PAINT. Alot of messages are getting left out. I tried so far to select every window associated with the application and also processes and threads of the application. It is working fine with apps that are not from the store. is there any way to solve it ?

Shivam Parmar
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Oliver Braun
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    Does this answer your question? [Why can't Spy++ see messages sent to UWP apps?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50437413/why-cant-spy-see-messages-sent-to-uwp-apps) – GSerg Feb 15 '20 at 13:25
  • Nope i used both versions, checked every window, process and thread associated with it – Oliver Braun Feb 15 '20 at 13:33
  • You are conflating terms. *Any* app type can be published and distributed through the Microsoft Store. If you have issues with any particular application *type*, please be specific. – IInspectable Feb 15 '20 at 17:14
  • But that is basically the issue. Any microsoft store app produced the problem, that i am having. But for the sake of being specific lets say any Drawing app published by MS Store like MS Whiteboard or InkDraw etc. – Oliver Braun Feb 15 '20 at 18:00
  • That's not being specific at all. It's just another guesstimate, and probably wrong. I'm sure there is at least one drawing application deployed through the Microsoft Store, for which your observation doesn't hold (e.g. Paint.NET). If you want help, you're going to have to be specific. If you are unfamiliar with the problem domain, do some research. – IInspectable Feb 15 '20 at 20:02
  • Ok you are right. But Paint.net looks very different from the apps i tested with and sadly it does not seem to support microsoft ink, which is kinda what i was looking for. – Oliver Braun Feb 15 '20 at 20:48
  • This is starting to sound like what you keep asking for is not actually your problem, but your proposed solution. If you need to use an [InkCanvas](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/uwp/api/windows.ui.xaml.controls.inkcanvas) in your application, then just do so. You can host the `InkCanvas` in pretty much any application type (Windows Forms, UWP, WPF, classic desktop application). At any rate, I wasn't suggesting you use a different drawing tool anyway. I was recommending, that you be specific and clear in your problem description. – IInspectable Feb 15 '20 at 21:57
  • Ye, i guess i am really bad at stating what my problem actually is. I just really need to track input in an already existing drawing tool, which preferably has multitouch. I considered InkCanvas, but it looks like it only works with my own created apps, which i dont really have time for. Its just stupid that i get all the messages i need not on these drawing apps, but on Notepad :D – Oliver Braun Feb 15 '20 at 22:08
  • Hosting an `InkCanvas` in your application takes about 5 minutes. Understanding `WM_POINTERxyz` messages alone is going to take you the better part of a day, if you aren't familiar with native Windows API programming. And it's not even clear whether that is going to result in a workable solution to whatever problem you are trying to solve. – IInspectable Feb 15 '20 at 22:22
  • 20:49||Pen||POINTERDOWN||xcoord||ycoord is ideally a message i wanna get from a real touch/pen/mouse event from Microsoft Whiteboard. If this is not possible i guess i have to use InkCanvas even though i dont know how that works – Oliver Braun Feb 15 '20 at 22:31
  • You continuously keep asking about your proposed solution without ever telling us, what you are *really* trying to accomplish. It's more likely than not that you are going about this the wrong way altogether. – IInspectable Feb 15 '20 at 23:02
  • I would like to get interaction data from a collaborative whiteboard application, which i can use to analyse user behavior. For this every interaction event is important like input from pen, touch and mouse, also keyboard or active/visible windows. Thats about it, POINTER messages seem to be the only way to get to pen and touch input, which is why i am trying to use a hook. – Oliver Braun Feb 15 '20 at 23:13
  • [Raw Input](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/inputdev/raw-input) can monitor pen and touch input. [WinEvents](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/winauto/winevents-infrastructure) can monitor window activation. Combine them and you have your tool. Without using a hook that requires injecting binaries into target applications. – IInspectable Feb 16 '20 at 00:21
  • Raw Input seems promising, thank you. I am just not sure how i can register the touch and pen devices, also i clicked through the documentation and couldnt find how i get coordinates of the inputs, can you maybe provide me with a link – Oliver Braun Feb 16 '20 at 01:21

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