How can i find the order of the taskbar items in Windows 7?

Question

I would like to establish what is the order of the taskbar items in Windows 7. The reason is that I would like to create an script (written in AutoHotkey or C#) that restore a set of icons to a previous determined order. I wan't to do this because any Virtual Desktop solutions for Windows forget the great and important point of keeping the taskbar item's order, i.e between desktop changes the order of the taskbar items are completely ignored and lost. The reason of why they ignore that fact is maybe because all of them rely in the HIDE/UNHIDE approach, they save what windows are active in any desktop and then between switches they Hide or UnHide the corresponding windows.

I already found a semi solution writted in QT/C++ (Location of app on the Windows 7 Taskbar) that base his function in find the left-upper pixel position of an item based in his color. I don't like that approach because the use of different themes or visual styles would break his functioning. I hope someone has another suggestion. This question differs from that in the link that I'm only interested in the order not in the exact pixel position of any button.

Answer 1

You may want to start with the Windows® API Code Pack for Microsoft® .NET Framework. This API allows you access to several Windows APIs (including certain taskbar functions) from managed code.

However, I'm not certain yet that it allows for functionality regarding the task bar in general vs. a specific application's taskbar entry. I will continue researching this and update if/when I find more information.