AutoHotKey: WingGetText Not Retrieving Text in MSEdge

Introduction

AutoHotkey is a powerful scripting language for automating tasks in Windows. One common use case is automating web browsing tasks in Microsoft Edge. However, some users have reported issues with retrieving text from Edge using the WinGetText function. In this article, we will explore this issue and provide some solutions.

Understanding the Issue

The WinGetText function in AutoHotkey is used to retrieve the text of a window. However, when used with Microsoft Edge, it may not always retrieve the desired text. This is because Edge uses a different rendering engine than other applications, which can cause issues with text retrieval.

Potential Causes

There are a few potential causes for this issue:

• Edge is running in a sandboxed environment, which can prevent WinGetText from accessing the window text.
• The text is not yet rendered when WinGetText is called.
• The text is contained within an iframe or other nested element, which can prevent WinGetText from accessing it.

Solutions

Here are some potential solutions for retrieving text from Microsoft Edge using AutoHotkey:

Use the ControlGetText Function

Instead of using WinGetText, you can use the ControlGetText function to retrieve the text of a specific control within the Edge window. This function allows you to specify the class name or other identifier of the control, which can help ensure that you are retrieving the correct text.

Use a Web Scraping Library

If ControlGetText is not an option, you can use a web scraping library such as PyAutoGUI or Selenium to retrieve the text from the Edge window. These libraries allow you to interact with the web page directly, which can be more reliable than using WinGetText.

Use a Delay

If the text is not yet rendered when WinGetText is called, you can use a delay to give the page time to load. This can be done using the Sleep function in AutoHotkey.

Use a Loop

If the text is contained within an iframe or other nested element, you can use a loop to iterate through the elements and retrieve the text. This can be done using the WinActivate and ControlGetText functions in AutoHotkey.

Retrieving text from Microsoft Edge using AutoHotkey can be challenging due to the different rendering engine used by the browser. However, by using the ControlGetText function, a web scraping library, a delay, or a loop, you can retrieve the text reliably.

References

• WinGetText Function
• ControlGetText Function
• PyAutoGUI Documentation
• Selenium with Python Documentation