How do I get the title of the current active window using c#?

d4nt picture d4nt · Sep 22, 2008 · Viewed 127.3k times · Source

I'd like to know how to grab the Window title of the current active window (i.e. the one that has focus) using C#.

Answer

Jorge Ferreira picture Jorge Ferreira · Sep 22, 2008

See example on how you can do this with full source code here:

http://www.csharphelp.com/2006/08/get-current-window-handle-and-caption-with-windows-api-in-c/

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

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static extern int GetWindowText(IntPtr hWnd, StringBuilder text, int count);

private string GetActiveWindowTitle()
{
    const int nChars = 256;
    StringBuilder Buff = new StringBuilder(nChars);
    IntPtr handle = GetForegroundWindow();

    if (GetWindowText(handle, Buff, nChars) > 0)
    {
        return Buff.ToString();
    }
    return null;
}

Edited with @Doug McClean comments for better correctness.