Uploaded February 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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How I automate Windows desktop apps with VB.NET using Sendkeys and Win32 functions. It covers waiting until a specific window is active, explicit wait, simulating keyboard input with Sendkeys and simulating left click and right click.

#vbdotnet

Win32
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Private Declare Function GetForegroundWindow Lib "user32" () As IntPtr

Private Declare Auto Function GetWindowText Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As System.IntPtr, ByVal lpString As System.Text.StringBuilder,
ByVal cch As Integer) As Integer

Public Declare Sub mouse_event Lib "user32" (ByVal dwFlags As UInteger, ByVal dx As UInteger, ByVal dy As UInteger, ByVal dwData As UInteger,
ByVal dwExtraInfo As Integer)

Const MOUSEEVENTF_LEFTDOWN As UInteger = &H2
Const MOUSEEVENTF_LEFTUP As UInteger = &H4
Const MOUSEEVENTF_RIGHTDOWN As UInteger = &H8
Const MOUSEEVENTF_RIGHTUP As UInteger = &H10


Regex function
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Regex.Replace(str, "[+^%~(){}]", "{$0}")


Sendkeys Codes
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docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.windows.forms.sendkeys


0:00 Summary of automation tasks
0:20 Wait for active window
1:22 Sendkeys functions
2:45 Mouseclicks
3:32 Demo UI to run scripts