WinCheat / WinSpy-like tool for C ++ Builder exes

Question

I just returned to C ++ Builder after 5 or more years. I seem to remember a good tool where I could drag the pointer to the graphical interface of my launching application and get a lot of information about what was indicated: descriptor, size, text, parent, children, etc.

IIRC, if the exe includes debugging information, I could also get the actual variable name used in the source.

Does anyone know which program I'm talking about? Thanks

Answer 1

There are several options:

Winspector

This is a program in which I used most of these Spy ++-like programs, it has all the functions that I needed, and it worked flawlessly on my developer's machine, although it has been quite a while since I used it. And the official site for some reason does not work ( http://www.windows-spy.com/ ), but, fortunately, you can get the version from softpedia: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Security about related / winspector.shtml

Winpy

I used this program for debugging, and finding out what messages were sent to different windows, it worked pretty well and was a good alternative to Spy ++, in addition, it is free. You can download it here: http://www.catch22.net/software/winspy

SpyStudio from Nectra

I have never tried this program, but it seems to do what you ask for, and it is free. It can be found here: http://www.nektra.com/products/spystudio-api-monitor/

_{(source: nektra.com )}

Winid

From what I heard, WinID should be able to do almost the same thing, but I never tried the program myself. You can download it here: http://www.dennisbabkin.com/php/download.php?what=WinID this program is not compatible with Windows Vista though (and probably not Windows 7 either).

Difficult option

If you have something innovative, you may want to create your own utility, although this is most likely not what you need, but if it is, you can check these pages of the project code:

• http://www.codeproject.com/KB/graphics/screen_capturing.aspx
• http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dialog/windowfinder.aspx

All this is much like the Spy ++ program that comes with Visual Studio. And last but not least, you can find other programs in this thread: I want Spy ++, but I don't have Visual Studio

Answer 2

A very worthy attempt to revive the beloved but nonexistent winspector is a window detective: http://windowdetective.sourceforge.net/

Answer 3

What you describe in the question sounds like TestComplete. http://www.automatedqa.com/products/testcomplete

If you compile the application as an "open application" (you add several .pas from TestComplete to the project), it will use debugging information and you can see the private members of these classes and their meaning.