How to make Pywinauto in Python click a button in a different language?

Question

I just can't get Pywinauto to work. Basically I want it to open the system settings ( figured that out already) and then click "Change Settings" but in my language (German) which would be "Einstellungen ändern". I've tried this:

from pywinauto import Desktop, Application, keyboard 
from pywinauto.application import Application 

app = Application().start("control system") 
#so far it works, after that I've tried two options 
#1  
app.window_(title_re="System").window_(title="Einstellungen ändern").click()
#2
app.window_(best_match="System" ).window_(best_match="Einstellungen ändern").click()

I've tried both of these options with the AutomationId, which I got from Inspect.exe, instead of "System" or "Einstellungen ändern" and I've tried ClickInput() instead of click().

Any ideas?

Answer 1

There are few issues:

• Correct backend is "uia" that must be specified for Application object.
• Launcher process spawns a subprocess which requires to reconnect to this child process.

This code works for my English Win10:

from pywinauto.application import Application 

app = Application(backend="uia").start("control system")
app = Application(backend="uia").connect(title="System", timeout=20)

app.window(title="System").child_window(title="Change settings").invoke()
# app.window(title="System").child_window(title="Einstellungen ändern").invoke()

.click_input() should work as well. Backend "uia" defines method .click() as an alias of .invoke() for control_type="Button" only, because InvokePattern can have different meaning for various control types.

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NOTE: After clicking on "Change settings" the appeared "System properties" window is running inside another process which requires method .connect() again and maybe separate Application instance for your convenience.