- 1 year ago
Python Windows Explorer Refresh PostMessage
To refresh the Windows Explorer window programmatically using Python, you can utilize the PostMessage
function from the ctypes
module. This function allows you to send a message to a window, including the Windows Explorer window, to perform a specific action.
Here's an example of how you can use PostMessage
to refresh the Windows Explorer window:
pythonimport ctypes
# Constants for the Windows messages
WM_COMMAND = 0x0111
WM_APPCOMMAND = 0x0319
# Constants for the specific actions
APPCOMMAND_BROWSER_REFRESH = 0x0000F5
WM_COMMAND_REFRESH = 0x7C
def refresh_explorer_window():
# Find the Windows Explorer window
explorer_class = 'CabinetWClass'
explorer_window = ctypes.windll.user32.FindWindowW(explorer_class, None)
if explorer_window != 0:
# Send the refresh command to the window
ctypes.windll.user32.PostMessageW(explorer_window, WM_COMMAND, WM_COMMAND_REFRESH, 0)
ctypes.windll.user32.PostMessageW(explorer_window, WM_APPCOMMAND, 0, APPCOMMAND_BROWSER_REFRESH)
print("Explorer window refreshed successfully.")
else:
print("Windows Explorer window not found.")
# Call the function to refresh the Windows Explorer window
refresh_explorer_window()
The refresh_explorer_window
function searches for the Windows Explorer window using its class name (CabinetWClass
). If the window is found, it sends two different messages (WM_COMMAND
and WM_APPCOMMAND
) to perform the refresh action.
Please note that this method relies on the window class name and might not work if the class name or behavior of Windows Explorer changes in different versions of Windows.