press save button of "File download dialog" of internet explorer via c#

Question

I am working on internet explorer automation and part of it involves downloading files from a site whcih is hosted on asp 2.0 and uses forms based authentication, so to create end to end automation i used browser automation.

I was able to reach to the step where i can get to click on a URL which brings the "File Download" dialog of the browser, then i was trying to make use of SendKeys to click on the save button but to no avail it was not working.

Here is the code where i make use of FindWindow method to get the hWnd pointer of the File Download Dialog, and then using setActiveWindow i make it the active window so that the SendKeys commands works on it and then using SendKeys i tried to send Alt + S but it didnt' work. I observed that, Tab, Escape and Enter works, but then Enter on Save button doesn't work.

[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string lpClassName, string lpWindowName);

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
static extern bool SetForegroundWindow(IntPtr hWnd);

[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
static extern IntPtr SetActiveWindow(IntPtr hWnd);

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    IntPtr hwnd = FindWindow(null, "File Download");
    IntPtr nullptr = (IntPtr)0;
    if (hwnd != nullptr)
    {
        SetActiveWindow(hwnd);
        SendKeys.SendWait("%S");
    }
}

using the same code i was able to access notepad by changing the value in FindWindow to "Untitled - Notepad".

Do i need to do something different as it is a dialog and now a window? I am using IE8.

Thanks

This is the alternate code i tried after the answer.

IntPtr hwnd = FindWindow(null, "File Download");
            IntPtr hokBtn = IntPtr.Zero;
            hokBtn = FindWindowEx(hwnd, hokBtn, "Button", IntPtr.Zero);
            hokBtn = FindWindowEx(hwnd, hokBtn, "Button", IntPtr.Zero);
            uint id = GetDlgCtrlID(hokBtn);
            SetActiveWindow(hwnd);
            IntPtr res = SendMessage(hokBtn, (int)0x00F5, 0, IntPtr.Zero);
            if (res.ToInt32() == 1)
                MessageBox.Show("success");

For clarity i am adding the screen of the dialog

Answer 1

well, you have to find window with title of downloading dialog. and than you have to find window with title of download button/ and then send to that window click message

  BM_CLICK = 0x00F5

  [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    public static extern IntPtr FindWindowEx(IntPtr parent, IntPtr next, string sClassName, IntPtr sWindowTitle);

  [DllImport("user32.dll", ExactSpelling = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    public static extern uint GetDlgCtrlID(IntPtr hWnd); 

  [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    public static extern IntPtr SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, int msg, int wParam, IntPtr lParam); 

    //hDialog  - handle of dialog window. idBtn - Id of button
     public static bool ClickButtonOnDialog(IntPtr hDialog, UInt32 idBtn)
    {
        IntPtr res = IntPtr.Zero;
        uint id;
        IntPtr hOkBtn = IntPtr.Zero;
        int attempt = 0;
        do
        {
            Thread.Sleep(300);
            //searching for button
            hOkBtn = User32.FindWindowEx(hDialog, hOkBtn, "Button", IntPtr.Zero);
            id = User32.GetDlgCtrlID(hOkBtn);
            attempt++;
        } while (id != idBtn && attempt < 20);
        if (!hOkBtn.Equals(IntPtr.Zero))
        {
            //click the button
            res = User32.SendMessage(hOkBtn, (int)WindowsMessages.BM_CLICK, 1,  IntPtr.Zero);
        }
        if (res.ToInt32() == 1)
            return true;
        return false;
    }

and you can use winspector (analog of spy++). it's very useful utility. You can discovery many things about windows;)

Answer 2

Try the following which seemed to work for me:

IntPtr hwnd = FindWindow(null, "File Download");
IntPtr hokBtn = FindWindowEx(hwnd, null, "Button", "Cancel");
uint id = GetDlgCtrlID(hokBtn);
SetActiveWindow(hwnd);
IntPtr res = SendMessage(hokBtn, (int)0x00F5, 0, IntPtr.Zero);
if (res.ToInt32() == 1)
    MessageBox.Show("success");

I would suggest you check the returns from each function though.

Answer 3

IntPtr hwnd = FindWindow(null, "File Download");
IntPtr hokBtn = FindWindowEx(hwnd, null, "Button", "Cancel");
uint id = GetDlgCtrlID(hokBtn);
SetActiveWindow(hwnd);
IntPtr res = SendMessage(hokBtn, (int)0x00F5, 0, IntPtr.Zero);
if (res.ToInt32() == 1)
    MessageBox.Show("success");

That was actually a false positive if I'm not wrong; the default behaviour seemingly as a failsafe appears to be to close the dialog box. Rather, it was a positive that the cancel button can be clicked, but attempting to click Open or Save will generate the same yet in that context unwanted response...

It seems that this is a dialog box we're just going to have to deal with unless someone else could gratefully confirm otherwise?