Window Enumeration Tool

I've been playing with the idea of removing the desktop and taskbar windows from WinCE and replacing them with nicer ones

Obviously this would take some time and if I manage to get anywhere with this project, I'll keep people updated in this thread. As of now I've just made a small tool to run through the list of each top-level window under Windows CE and list them (by caption).

I also added functionality to show/hide the windows if you know their caption. This is the first step in the overall project. Now we know the default top-level windows

Something useful was gotten from this test also; when you instruct the tool to begin window enumeration, it lists the windows. In this list is a window "Desktop" ... you can have 3 guesses which window this is

And if you see where I'm going with this: I wanted to see if I could hide it (with the future intentions of replacing it) ... and to my suprise it's that easy. Now all we need to do is figure out how to hide the taskbar too, and work can begin on fully functional replacements

I'll attach the tool (sh-3 build) for others to play with too.

/\/\art





Attachments
----------------
Enum.jpg (29KB - 35 downloads)
Enum.zip (2KB - 46 downloads)

Nice Job.

Windows CE was designed to allow the entire shell to be replaced. You don't need to hide the existing one, you can just replace it if you are capable or writing it.

You just need to substiture the shell startup for the CE default shell, with your own one. I even had JM write it into STweak ( http://snoogie.free.fr/ )

cool is it really true?!

i'd REALLY like an ARM build too....

Ah, I didn't know about the possibility of a shell replacement without a hack to hide the current one... do you have more information C:Amie regarding how to actually replace it?

I took a look at the tweak too, very nice , but the shell replacement part of the tool doesn't seem to be complete, or at least that's what it says.

/\/\artin

(Other builds of Enum.exe ...)




Attachments
----------------
ARM.zip (2KB - 36 downloads)
MIPS.zip (2KB - 33 downloads)
SH4.zip (2KB - 30 downloads)

I just took a look at the code for the area of the tweak program which says it can replace the shell (despite it also saying it's incomplete)...

ShellSwaper.cpp
ShellSwaper.h

Are the two files from the app, after looking at both of them... there is only one complete bit of code in ShellSwapper.cpp:

BOOL ShellSwaper:nInitDialog()
{
HKEY hkey;
char name[255];
DWORD dwType;
DWORD dwLength;
CDialog:nInitDialog();

RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,TEXT("init",0,
KEY_ALL_ACCESS,&hkey);
RegQueryValueEx(hkey, TEXT("Launch10", NULL, &dwType,(LPBYTE)&name, &dwLength);
RegCloseKey(hkey);
this->SetDlgItemText(IDC_Shellname,LPCTSTR(name));

return TRUE;
}

Evidently, it queries the registry key HKLM\init\Lanuch10, and here it finds the value of "shell.exe" for the value of that key. I guess a shell replacement would have to override this value with the name of another executable acting as the shell.

But I'm still not sure of details regarding what the new shell exe must do in order to work, entry points etc... perhaps is just literally a normal executable.

I also don't seem to be able to find shell.exe on my hpc

/\/\art

shell.exe is a super hidden file

start > run > cmd
dir /s /a shell.exe

I'm afraid I cannot help you with that, but JM (Snoogie) may be able to point you in the right direction. Drop him a mail, say I sent you.

okay, thanks for the info

One last thing, I still don't seem to be able to find shell.exe even when typing dir /s /a shell.exe

It just flies through a list of "The system could not find files matching ..."

[I'm confused]

Super Hiden File... right! ... lol

/\/\art

it is in \windows, I assure you.

try adding cd\ and hit enter before you type dir /s /a shell.exe

C:Amie, I got a response from Snoogie this morning, he told me he didn't have any luck loading a new shell... he just found the registry entry for it. Shame, I hoped he had some clue about it.

Oh and by the way, I must be a moron or something, because I still can't find shell.exe ... lol

cd\
[\] dir /a /s shell.exe
(now it goes through each sub dir telling me it's not found)

I tried finding it via browsing the device from my laptop, I tried executing shell.exe from the command line too ... everything fails

*sigh* ... I dunno

I'll get that security certificate file today too, and email you in a few hours ... just thought I'd keep you updated.

/\/\artin

Strange, it is there though, trust me.

Sorry JM was unable to help.