C# Signature:

[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError=true, CharSet=CharSet.Auto)]
static extern int GetWindowText(IntPtr hWnd, [Out] StringBuilder lpString, int nMaxCount);

VB Signature:

<DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError:=True, CharSet:=CharSet.Auto)> _
Private Shared Function GetWindowText(ByVal hwnd As IntPtr, _
                       ByVal lpString As StringBuilder, _
                       ByVal cch As Integer) As Integer
End Function

User-Defined Types:

None.

Notes:

See also GetWindowTextLength

Tips & Tricks:

Please add some!

Sample Code:

public string GetText(IntPtr hWnd)
{
    // Allocate correct string length first
    int length       = GetWindowTextLength(hWnd);
    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(length + 1);
    GetWindowText(hWnd, sb, sb.Capacity);
    return sb.ToString();
}

vb.net sample

Public Function GetText(ByVal hWnd As IntPtr) As String
    Dim length As Integer
    If hWnd.ToInt32 <= 0 Then
        Return Nothing
    End If
    length = GetWindowTextLength(hWnd)
    If length = 0 Then
        Return Nothing
    End If
    Dim sb As New System.Text.StringBuilder("", length + 1)

    GetWindowText(hWnd, sb, sb.Capacity)
    Return sb.ToString()
End Function

Alternative Managed API:

The ManagedWindowsApi project (http://mwinapi.sourceforge.net) provides a

class ManagedWinapi.SystemWindow that has a Title property.

Please edit this page!

Do you have...

• helpful tips or sample code to share for using this API in managed code?
• corrections to the existing content?
• variations of the signature you want to share?
• additional languages you want to include?

Select "Edit This Page" on the right hand toolbar and edit it! Or add new pages containing supporting types needed for this API (structures, delegates, and more).