pyWinVirtualDesktop

Windows 10 Virtual Desktop Management

Just Added

• callback notifications

Requirements

• comtypes
• six

Installation

Install

python setup.py install

Build

python setup.py build

Basic Use

This is still a work in progress. But the basic use is as follows.

from __future__ import print_function
import pyWinVirtualDesktop


for desktop in pyWinVirtualDesktop:
    print('DESKTOP ID:', desktop.id)
    print('DESKTOP TO LEFT:', desktop.desktop_to_left.id)
    print('DESKTOP TO RIGHT:', desktop.desktop_to_right.id)
    print('DESKTOP IS ACTIVE:', desktop.is_active)

    print('DESKTOP WINDOWS:')
    for window in desktop:
        print('    HANDLE:', window.id)
        print('    CAPTION:', window.text)
        print('    PROCESS NAME:', window.process_name)
        print('    ON ACTIVE DESKTOP:', window.is_on_active_desktop)
        print('\n')

Properties/Methods

pyWinVirtualDesktop

• Properties

  • desktop_ids: a list of all of the desktop ids

• Functions

  • create_desktop: creates a new desktop and returns a Desktop instance

pyWinVirtualDesktop.Desktop

• Properties

  • id: returns comtypes.GUID instance
  • desktop_to_left: return Desktop instance
  • desktop_to_right: return Desktop instance
  • is_active: return True/False

• Methods

  • add_window(window): adds a window to the desktop, window can be wither a window handle or a Window class instance
  • add_view:(view): under construction
  • delete():: deletes the window

pyWinVirtualDesktop.Window

• Properties

  • id: window handle
  • text: window caption
  • is_ok: if the window is still valid
  • desktop: Desktop instance the window is on
  • process_name: the executable name
  • is_on_active_desktop: if the windows is on the desktop that is being viewed

• Methods

  • move_to_desktop(desktop): move the window to a new desktop. desktop can be either the desktop id or a Desktop instance

Callback Notifications

In order to register for notifications you need to either create a subclass or an instance of pyWinVirtualDesktop.DesktopNotificationCallback and override several methods.

• create(new)
• change(old, new)
• destroy_begin(destroyed, fallback)
• destroy_failed(destroyed, fallback)
• destroy(destroyed, fallback)

There are 2 ways this can be done. It's easier to explain through the use of code.

Way 1

import pyWinVirtualDesktop

class NotificationCallback(pyWinVirtualDesktop.DesktopNotificationCallback):
    def create(self, new):
        pass

    def change(self, old, new):
        pass

    def destroy_begin(self, destroyed, fallback):
        pass

    def destroy_failed(self, destroyed, fallback):
        pass

    def destroy(self, destroyed, fallback):
        pass

cookie = pyWinVirtualDesktop.register_notification_callback(NotificationCallback)

you can also pass an instance of the subclass if you like.

callback = NotificationCallback()
cookie = pyWinVirtualDesktop.register_notification_callback(callback)

Way 2

import pyWinVirtualDesktop

def create(new):
    pass

def change(old, new):
    pass

def destroy_begin(destroyed, fallback):
    pass

def destroy_failed(destroyed, fallback):
    pass

def destroy(destroyed, fallback):
    pass

callback = pyWinVirtualDesktop.DesktopNotificationCallback()

callback.create = create
callback.change = change
callback.destroy_begin = destroy_begin
callback.destroy_failed = destroy_failed
callback.destroy = destroy

cookie = pyWinVirtualDesktop.register_notification_callback(callback)

Either way will work. But make sure you hold a reference to the cookie that is returned from calling register_notification_callback

This cookie is what you use to unregister

pyWinVirtualDesktop.unregister_notification_callback(cookie)

in the methods you override you will place whatever code it i you want to run. The parameters that are passed are Desktop instances.