UI Automation Library for Windows in Go

Overview

This Go library provides a powerful and high-performance interface for automating UI tasks on Windows using the UI Automation framework. It allows you to interact with and manipulate UI elements in applications through Windows COM interfaces.

Core Enhancements

• High Performance: Optimized with IUIAutomationCacheRequest to batch fetch properties and patterns, reducing IPC (Inter-Process Communication) overhead significantly.
• Reflection-Free: Removed reflection-based property population for improved runtime efficiency and better type safety.
• Improved Pattern Support: Ready-to-use wrappers for common Automation Patterns: Value, Invoke, Toggle, ExpandCollapse, and SelectionItem.
• Resource Safety: Strict COM object lifecycle management with explicit Release() calls to prevent memory leaks and handle exhaustion.
• Better Search API: Convenient methods like FindByName and FindByAutomationId integrated into the Element structure.

Installation

go get -u github.com/auuunya/go-element

Compilation Instructions

To ensure proper operation on various Windows architectures (such as 32-bit or 64-bit versions of XP/7/10/11), please refer to the following build commands:

• 64-bit System (Default):

  GOOS=windows GOARCH=amd64 go build .

• 32-bit System (High Compatibility):

  GOOS=windows GOARCH=386 go build .

Note: If you receive an is not valid win32 application error when running a 64-bit compiled program, please try rebuilding with the 386 architecture.

Quick Start:

1. Output UI Tree (Browser Example)

import uia "github.com/auuunya/go-element"

func main() {
	uia.CoInitialize()
	defer uia.CoUninitialize()
	
	hwnd, _ := uia.GetWindowForString("Chrome_WidgetWin_1", "")
	instance, _ := uia.CreateInstance(uia.CLSID_CUIAutomation, uia.IID_IUIAutomation, uia.CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER)
	ppv := uia.NewIUIAutomation(uia.NewIUnKnown(instance))
	defer ppv.Release()

	root, _ := uia.ElementFromHandle(ppv, hwnd)
	defer root.Release()

	// High-performance traversal using Cache Request
	elems := uia.TraverseUIElementTree(ppv, root)
	uia.TreeString(elems, 0)
}

2. Automobile Notepad (Pattern Usage)

func main() {
	uia.CoInitialize()
	defer uia.CoUninitialize()
	
	hwnd, _ := uia.GetWindowForString("Notepad", "")
	instance, _ := uia.CreateInstance(uia.CLSID_CUIAutomation, uia.IID_IUIAutomation, uia.CLSCTX_ALL)
	ppv := uia.NewIUIAutomation(uia.NewIUnKnown(instance))
	defer ppv.Release()

	root, _ := uia.ElementFromHandle(ppv, hwnd)
	tree := uia.TraverseUIElementTree(ppv, root)

	// Find element by name and set value via Pattern
	if editor := tree.FindByName("文本编辑器"); editor != nil {
		if vp, err := editor.GetValuePattern(); err == nil {
			defer vp.Release()
			vp.SetValue("Hello from go-element!")
		}
	}
}

Features Status

• High-performance property caching
• JSON serialization of UI structure
• Common Pattern wrappers (Invoke, Value, Toggle, etc.)
• UI Event listener support
• More specialized UI operations

Contribution

Contributions are welcome! If you find a bug or want to enhance the library, feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.

License

This library is distributed under the MIT License