Select item from popup menu win32 api Python

Question

I'm using python 2.7 (32-bit) on a windows 7 64-bit machine. I'm using the win32 Api to automate some windows tasks, also I'm new to python and win32 api. I saw similar questions but not in python and I had trouble understanding the code and sadly I'm new on here so I can't comment and ask questions because my rep is under 50, so I had to make my own question.

Lately I've been working with the system tray (notification area) . I've gotten as far as clicking (left or right) on any icon in the tray by name.

Now the thing I need help with is accessing the context menu items after a right click.

So when I perform a right click there's a popup menu that comes up. I try to get a handle to it so I can click on its items or content and I get an error saying it's an invalid menu handle. If I try win32gui.GetSubMenu it fails, win32gui.GetMenu fails, something as simple as win32gui.GetMenuItemCount is returning -1, I need help on how to access such menu, navigate threw it and click an item.

A snippet of the code I've been trying:

# retrieves a handle to the notification area toolbar
tb = getNotificationAreaToolbar()

# clicks on an icon in the system tray say I'm right clicking the sound icon 
#(in my case AMD HDMI Output)
clickSystemTrayIcon('right', 'AMD HDMI Output', tb)

#now the context popup menu comes up.
# According to MSDN the class name for such menu is #32768
hPopupmenu = win32gui.FindWindow("#32768", "")

# An example of a try to access the menu items
# Getting the count: this is returning -1 saying the handle is not a menu handle
count = win32gui.GetMenuItemCount(hPopupMenu)

#send a command, doesn't do anything
win32gui.PostMessage(tb, win32con.WM_COMMAND, win32gui.GetMenuItemId(hPopupmenu,1) , 0)

# the thing that makes me sure that I'm getting the right window of the popup is 
# win32gui.GetWindowRect(hPopmenu) it's returning the right position of the menu

Any help is greatly appreciated thank you!

Answer 1

First, you can't assume that the FindWindow call will get the pop-up menu window. If your code runs too quickly, it may be that the window is not yet created. You should play with Sleep in a not infinite loop.

Second, FindWindow returns a HWND, not a HMENU. Try to use the MN_GETHMENU Windows message (Sending it to the HWND, receiving a HMENU as result).