Window list from AXUIElementRef always null on High Sierra

Asked Apr 23 '18 at 01:23

Active Apr 23 '18 at 01:23

Viewed 196 times

After "upgrading" to macOS High Sierra it seems that some code that used to work does no longer. My goal here is just to list out the windows owned by an application. Here is an example:

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#import <CoreFoundation/CoreFoundation.h>
#import <ApplicationServices/ApplicationServices.h>

int main(int argc, const char * argv[]) {
    @autoreleasepool {
        pid_t myPID = 311;
        AXUIElementRef appRef = AXUIElementCreateApplication(myPID);
        CFArrayRef windowList;
        AXUIElementCopyAttributeValue(appRef, kAXWindowsAttribute, (CFTypeRef *)&windowList);
    }
    return 0;
}

The issue here specifically is that windowList does not get contain anything no matter what I do. I have tried multiple PIDs, building/running both debug and release builds, and running them with sudo as well.

Any ideas?

asked Apr 23 '18 at 01:23

Jlegend

1

Is your app allowed to get the windows? Did you add Xcode to the Privacy System Prefs? – Willeke Apr 23 '18 at 09:18
This was the answer. For some reason Xcode was "unchecked" in the accessibility preferences. Thank you! – Jlegend Apr 23 '18 at 13:20
@Willeke Please post a reply so I can mark as answered – Jlegend Apr 23 '18 at 16:05

Window list from AXUIElementRef always null on High Sierra

0 Answers0