How do I read a text area control in another program?

[daddybigwords]

Is there a relatively simple way to read the contents of a text area control in another application? Ideally I'd like to hook into the event when the text area gets new text, but I'll settle for just being able to poll it every few seconds and figure out for myself when it's updated. Can anyone help? I'm new to windows programming but have a fair amount of C++ and Java experience.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Xipher]

Why? Im having a hard time understanding the problem, since you don't give any real examples.

 

[Lord of Shadows]

I've seen one application do this before, but I have no idea how to do it myself.

A little searching on google lead me to these two functions, FindWindow and GetProcessesByName, you can see how they work on msdn. Anyhow I'll play with these functions and let you know if they do the trick.

/me hopes your not trying to do anything malicious

Edit: Didnt have much success with find window, but GetNextWindow definitely works easily. Look at the functions listed with FindWindow and im sure you will get what you need.

example:
external = GetNextWindow(hwnd, GW_HWNDNEXT);
SetWindowText(external, "Woot!");