Setting window size and position in PowerShell 5 and 6
Problem: We have a large television we use for presentations, that isn't exactly 1920×1080 px. It's off and I can't control it. What I can control is my windows laptop that I connect to it. I have been looking for ways to get whatever I need displayed, to move over to the projector, set a position that is offset for looking good on the tv, and set the width/height for the same.
What's been done: I can use Boe Prox's Get-Window script (https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/heyscriptingguy/2015/12/26/weekend-scripter-manage-window-placement-by-using-pinvoke/), and that worked fine, to get me the dimensions and offset I need. However, his Set-Window errors on me in both WinPosh 5 and Posh 6 with and without Admin privilege. Other potential solutions produced similar errors, so I decided to stay with Prox's script, as he's an expert by my standards.
I am evaluating solutions mentioned here, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10392620/how-can-a-batch-file-run-a-program-and-set-the-position-and-size-of-the-window/ as possible workarounds. However, a PowerShell solution without dependencies on anything third party would be ideal.
The question is: Has anyone solved how to get either Mr. Prox's Set-Window or anything else to set a windows position and size in straight v5 or v6 PowerShell?
Error Message in Posh 5:
Cannot convert argument "hWnd", with value: "System.Object[]", for "GetWindowRect" to type "System.IntPtr": "Cannot
convert the "System.Object[]" value of type "System.Object[]" to type "System.IntPtr"."
At Z:\scripts\Set-Window.ps1:90 char:9
+ $Return = [Window]::GetWindowRect($Handle,[ref]$Rectangle)
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodArgumentConversionInvalidCastArgument
Error Messages in Posh 6:
PS C:\> Set-Window -ProcessName notepad -X 1911 -Y "-369" -Width 266 -Height 113
Method invocation failed because [Window] does not contain a method named 'MoveWindow'.
At Z:\scripts\Set-Window.ps1:98 char:13
+ $Return = [Window]::MoveWindow($Handle, $x, $y, $Width, $ ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodNotFound
PS C:\> Set-Window -ProcessName firefox -X "-9" -Y "-9" -Width "1938" -Height "1050"
Cannot convert argument "hWnd", with value: "System.Object[]", for "GetWindowRect" to type "System.IntPtr": "Cannot convert the "System.Object[]" value of type "System.Object[]" to type "System.IntPtr"."
At Z:\scripts\Set-Window.ps1:90 char:9
+ $Return = [Window]::GetWindowRect($Handle,[ref]$Rectangle)
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodArgumentConversionInvalidCastArgument
Note: These errors occur in Windows 7 (no access to Win10 for a while).
Update: I had noticed Set (Many) Programs' Window Size/Position, but the UIAutomation module isn't maintained (codeplex is archived, and last blog post by the author for it, was Feb 2014).
Solution 1:
By default, Get-Process cmdlet returns a System.Diagnostics.Process object - or an array of such object if there are more matching processes. Unfortunately, the original Set-Window.ps1 script does not reflect the latter scenario.
Output using improved script:
PS D:\PShell> Get-Process -ProcessName notepad
Handles NPM(K) PM(K) WS(K) CPU(s) Id SI ProcessName
------- ------ ----- ----- ------ -- -- -----------
505 29 12104 41232 2,05 4208 1 notepad
231 14 3068 13212 0,09 6732 1 notepad
PS D:\PShell> . D:\PShell\Downloaded\WindowManipulation\Set-Window.ps1
PS D:\PShell> Set-Window -ProcessName notepad -X 11 -Y 11 -Width 1200 -Height 900 -Passthru
ProcessName Size TopLeft BottomRight
----------- ---- ------- -----------
notepad 1200,900 11,11 1211,911
notepad 1200,900 11,11 1211,911
PS D:\PShell>
Edit.
Improved script (changes commented): see revision history.
Enhanced script, the latest version:
- new input parameter
Id(process Id); - process Id added to output for better insight.
Some minor changes to verbose and warning output.
Function Set-Window {
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Retrieve/Set the window size and coordinates of a process window.
.DESCRIPTION
Retrieve/Set the size (height,width) and coordinates (x,y)
of a process window.
.PARAMETER ProcessName
Name of the process to determine the window characteristics.
(All processes if omitted).
.PARAMETER Id
Id of the process to determine the window characteristics.
.PARAMETER X
Set the position of the window in pixels from the left.
.PARAMETER Y
Set the position of the window in pixels from the top.
.PARAMETER Width
Set the width of the window.
.PARAMETER Height
Set the height of the window.
.PARAMETER Passthru
Returns the output object of the window.
.NOTES
Name: Set-Window
Author: Boe Prox
Version History:
1.0//Boe Prox - 11/24/2015 - Initial build
1.1//JosefZ - 19.05.2018 - Treats more process instances
of supplied process name properly
1.2//JosefZ - 21.02.2019 - Parameter Id
.OUTPUTS
None
System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject
System.Object
.EXAMPLE
Get-Process powershell | Set-Window -X 20 -Y 40 -Passthru -Verbose
VERBOSE: powershell (Id=11140, Handle=132410)
Id : 11140
ProcessName : powershell
Size : 1134,781
TopLeft : 20,40
BottomRight : 1154,821
Description: Set the coordinates on the window for the process PowerShell.exe
.EXAMPLE
$windowArray = Set-Window -Passthru
WARNING: cmd (1096) is minimized! Coordinates will not be accurate.
PS C:\>$windowArray | Format-Table -AutoSize
Id ProcessName Size TopLeft BottomRight
-- ----------- ---- ------- -----------
1096 cmd 199,34 -32000,-32000 -31801,-31966
4088 explorer 1280,50 0,974 1280,1024
6880 powershell 1280,974 0,0 1280,974
Description: Get the coordinates of all visible windows and save them into the
$windowArray variable. Then, display them in a table view.
.EXAMPLE
Set-Window -Id $PID -Passthru | Format-Table
Id ProcessName Size TopLeft BottomRight
-- ----------- ---- ------- -----------
7840 pwsh 1024,638 0,0 1024,638
Description: Display the coordinates of the window for the current
PowerShell session in a table view.
#>
[cmdletbinding(DefaultParameterSetName='Name')]
Param (
[parameter(Mandatory=$False,
ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$True, ParameterSetName='Name')]
[string]$ProcessName='*',
[parameter(Mandatory=$True,
ValueFromPipeline=$False, ParameterSetName='Id')]
[int]$Id,
[int]$X,
[int]$Y,
[int]$Width,
[int]$Height,
[switch]$Passthru
)
Begin {
Try {
[void][Window]
} Catch {
Add-Type @"
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
public class Window {
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
public static extern bool GetWindowRect(
IntPtr hWnd, out RECT lpRect);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
public extern static bool MoveWindow(
IntPtr handle, int x, int y, int width, int height, bool redraw);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
public static extern bool ShowWindow(
IntPtr handle, int state);
}
public struct RECT
{
public int Left; // x position of upper-left corner
public int Top; // y position of upper-left corner
public int Right; // x position of lower-right corner
public int Bottom; // y position of lower-right corner
}
"@
}
}
Process {
$Rectangle = New-Object RECT
If ( $PSBoundParameters.ContainsKey('Id') ) {
$Processes = Get-Process -Id $Id -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
} else {
$Processes = Get-Process -Name "$ProcessName" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}
if ( $null -eq $Processes ) {
If ( $PSBoundParameters['Passthru'] ) {
Write-Warning 'No process match criteria specified'
}
} else {
$Processes | ForEach-Object {
$Handle = $_.MainWindowHandle
Write-Verbose "$($_.ProcessName) `(Id=$($_.Id), Handle=$Handle`)"
if ( $Handle -eq [System.IntPtr]::Zero ) { return }
$Return = [Window]::GetWindowRect($Handle,[ref]$Rectangle)
If (-NOT $PSBoundParameters.ContainsKey('X')) {
$X = $Rectangle.Left
}
If (-NOT $PSBoundParameters.ContainsKey('Y')) {
$Y = $Rectangle.Top
}
If (-NOT $PSBoundParameters.ContainsKey('Width')) {
$Width = $Rectangle.Right - $Rectangle.Left
}
If (-NOT $PSBoundParameters.ContainsKey('Height')) {
$Height = $Rectangle.Bottom - $Rectangle.Top
}
If ( $Return ) {
$Return = [Window]::MoveWindow($Handle, $x, $y, $Width, $Height,$True)
}
If ( $PSBoundParameters['Passthru'] ) {
$Rectangle = New-Object RECT
$Return = [Window]::GetWindowRect($Handle,[ref]$Rectangle)
If ( $Return ) {
$Height = $Rectangle.Bottom - $Rectangle.Top
$Width = $Rectangle.Right - $Rectangle.Left
$Size = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.Size -ArgumentList $Width, $Height
$TopLeft = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.Coordinates -ArgumentList $Rectangle.Left , $Rectangle.Top
$BottomRight = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Host.Coordinates -ArgumentList $Rectangle.Right, $Rectangle.Bottom
If ($Rectangle.Top -lt 0 -AND
$Rectangle.Bottom -lt 0 -AND
$Rectangle.Left -lt 0 -AND
$Rectangle.Right -lt 0) {
Write-Warning "$($_.ProcessName) `($($_.Id)`) is minimized! Coordinates will not be accurate."
}
$Object = [PSCustomObject]@{
Id = $_.Id
ProcessName = $_.ProcessName
Size = $Size
TopLeft = $TopLeft
BottomRight = $BottomRight
}
$Object
}
}
}
}
}
}