Getting icon of "modern" Windows app from a desktop application?

Question

I have developed a function which returns the icon of the window for a given window handle. It looks like this.

private static BitmapSource GetWindowIcon(IntPtr windowHandle)
{
    var hIcon = default(IntPtr);
    hIcon = SendMessage(windowHandle, WM_GETICON, ICON_BIG, IntPtr.Zero);

    if (hIcon == IntPtr.Zero)
        hIcon = GetClassLongPtr(windowHandle, GCL_HICON);

    if (hIcon == IntPtr.Zero)
    {
        hIcon = LoadIcon(IntPtr.Zero, (IntPtr)0x7F00/*IDI_APPLICATION*/);
    }

    if (hIcon != IntPtr.Zero)
    {
        return Imaging.CreateBitmapSourceFromHIcon(hIcon, Int32Rect.Empty, BitmapSizeOptions.FromEmptyOptions());
    } else {
        throw new InvalidOperationException("Could not load window icon.");
    }
}

I use this function in combination with GetForegroundWindow to get the icon of the active window.

However, it seems to produce the same dull looking icon for universal apps.

Is it possible to somehow fetch the tile image or icon from a universal app that is running?

Answer 1

Here is some sample code demonstrating how this could be done. Note that:

1. You should run this evelated, otherwise you won't be able to access folder with application resources (I think, didn't really check myself, because to investigate things I granted myself access to that folder).
2. Modern apps are running under ApplicationFrameHost host process. You will need some tricks to get to the actual executable (like Calculator.exe), those tricks are commented in code.
3. Modern app manifest contains path to logo, but there might be several logos (black, white, constract white as an example). You will need some logic to choose one. Didn't investigate this myself in details.
4. I tested this on Calculator app in Windows 10 and it worked fine. However of course more tests with more apps are required to ensure all is fine.

Here is the code:

public static class IconHelper {
    public static BitmapSource GetForegroundWindowIcon() {
        var hwnd = GetForegroundWindow();
        uint pid;
        GetWindowThreadProcessId(hwnd, out pid);
        Process proc = Process.GetProcessById((int) pid);
        // modern apps run under ApplicationFrameHost host process in windows 10
        // don't forget to check if that is true for windows 8 - maybe they use another host there
        if (proc.MainModule.ModuleName == "ApplicationFrameHost.exe") {
            // this should be modern app
            return GetModernAppLogo(hwnd);
        }
        return GetWindowIcon(hwnd);
    }

    public static BitmapSource GetModernAppLogo(IntPtr hwnd) {
        // get folder where actual app resides
        var exePath = GetModernAppProcessPath(hwnd); 
        var dir = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(exePath);
        var manifestPath = System.IO.Path.Combine(dir, "AppxManifest.xml");            
        if (File.Exists(manifestPath)) {
            // this is manifest file
            string pathToLogo;
            using (var fs = File.OpenRead(manifestPath)) {
                var manifest = XDocument.Load(fs);
                const string ns = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/appx/manifest/foundation/windows10";
                // rude parsing - take more care here
                pathToLogo = manifest.Root.Element(XName.Get("Properties", ns)).Element(XName.Get("Logo", ns)).Value;
            }
            // now here it is tricky again - there are several files that match logo, for example
            // black, white, contrast white. Here we choose first, but you might do differently
            string finalLogo = null;
            // serach for all files that match file name in Logo element but with any suffix (like "Logo.black.png, Logo.white.png etc)
            foreach (var logoFile in Directory.GetFiles(System.IO.Path.Combine(dir, System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(pathToLogo)),
                System.IO.Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(pathToLogo) + "*" + System.IO.Path.GetExtension(pathToLogo))) {
                finalLogo = logoFile;
                break;
            }

            if (System.IO.File.Exists(finalLogo)) {
                using (var fs = File.OpenRead(finalLogo)) {
                    var img = new BitmapImage() {
                    };
                    img.BeginInit();
                    img.StreamSource = fs;
                    img.CacheOption = BitmapCacheOption.OnLoad;
                    img.EndInit();
                    return img;
                }
            }
        }
        return null;
    }

    private static string GetModernAppProcessPath(IntPtr hwnd) {
        uint pid = 0;
        GetWindowThreadProcessId(hwnd, out pid);            
        // now this is a bit tricky. Modern apps are hosted inside ApplicationFrameHost process, so we need to find
        // child window which does NOT belong to this process. This should be the process we need
        var children = GetChildWindows(hwnd);
        foreach (var childHwnd in children) {
            uint childPid = 0;
            GetWindowThreadProcessId(childHwnd, out childPid);
            if (childPid != pid) {
                // here we are
                Process childProc = Process.GetProcessById((int) childPid);
                return childProc.MainModule.FileName;
            }
        }

        throw new Exception("Cannot find a path to Modern App executable file");
    }

    public static BitmapSource GetWindowIcon(IntPtr windowHandle) {
        var hIcon = default(IntPtr);
        hIcon = SendMessage(windowHandle, WM_GETICON, (IntPtr) ICON_BIG, IntPtr.Zero);

        if (hIcon == IntPtr.Zero)
            hIcon = GetClassLongPtr(windowHandle, GCL_HICON);

        if (hIcon == IntPtr.Zero) {
            hIcon = LoadIcon(IntPtr.Zero, (IntPtr) 0x7F00 /*IDI_APPLICATION*/);
        }

        if (hIcon != IntPtr.Zero) {
            return Imaging.CreateBitmapSourceFromHIcon(hIcon, Int32Rect.Empty, BitmapSizeOptions.FromEmptyOptions());
        }
        else {
            throw new InvalidOperationException("Could not load window icon.");
        }
    }

    #region Helper methods
    const UInt32 WM_GETICON = 0x007F;
    const int ICON_BIG = 1;
    const int GCL_HICON = -14;

    private static List<IntPtr> GetChildWindows(IntPtr parent)
    {
        List<IntPtr> result = new List<IntPtr>();
        GCHandle listHandle = GCHandle.Alloc(result);
        try
        {
            EnumWindowProc childProc = new EnumWindowProc(EnumWindow);
            EnumChildWindows(parent, childProc, GCHandle.ToIntPtr(listHandle));
        }
        finally
        {
            if (listHandle.IsAllocated)
                listHandle.Free();
        }
        return result;
    }

    private static bool EnumWindow(IntPtr handle, IntPtr pointer)
    {
        GCHandle gch = GCHandle.FromIntPtr(pointer);
        List<IntPtr> list = gch.Target as List<IntPtr>;
        if (list == null)
        {
            throw new InvalidCastException("GCHandle Target could not be cast as List<IntPtr>");
        }
        list.Add(handle);
        //  You can modify this to check to see if you want to cancel the operation, then return a null here
        return true;
    }

    public delegate bool EnumWindowProc(IntPtr hwnd, IntPtr lParam);
    [DllImport("user32.Dll")]
    [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
    public static extern bool EnumChildWindows(IntPtr parentHandle, EnumWindowProc callback, IntPtr lParam);

    [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern int GetWindowThreadProcessId(IntPtr handle, out uint processId);

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    private static extern IntPtr GetForegroundWindow();

    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    static extern IntPtr LoadIcon(IntPtr hInstance, IntPtr lpIconName);

    [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    static extern IntPtr SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, UInt32 Msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam);

    private static IntPtr GetClassLongPtr(IntPtr hWnd, int nIndex)
    {
        if (IntPtr.Size > 4)
            return GetClassLongPtr64(hWnd, nIndex);
        else
            return new IntPtr(GetClassLongPtr32(hWnd, nIndex));
    }

    [DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "GetClassLong")]
    public static extern uint GetClassLongPtr32(IntPtr hWnd, int nIndex);

    [DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint = "GetClassLongPtr")]
    public static extern IntPtr GetClassLongPtr64(IntPtr hWnd, int nIndex);
    #endregion

}

Usage is just:

var icon = IconHelper.GetForegroundWindowIcon();