alt-tab alternative

Question

Let's consider the following scenario: In my desktop machine i have two applications opened side by side, a browser and a text editor(half size of the display for each application).

How can I switch between those two applications, but without using alt-tab or win-tab or mouse clicks?

If is nothing default built on windows xp/vista or 7 how can I do that programmatically using c++? For example to press alt+l(or alt+1), to activate the left window and the alt+r(alt+2) to activate the right window.

thanks

Answer 1

Create an AutoHotKey script to grab those keyboard shortcuts and activate the program you want.

Answer 2

If you have the handles to those windows, you can use SetForegroundWindow.

You can get a windows handle if you know the title with FindWindow. This article explains how to get a window handle if you partially know the title (non-exact match), though I've never tried.

For your hot-keys, look at SetWindowsHookEx with WH_KEYBOARD as the hook type. You'll make a KeyboardProc, which Windows will call on key-presses. Here, you can capture your specific key-combinations and activate certain windows.

That said, Windows provides hot-keys for you, as outlined in other answers.

Answer 3

On Windows 7, you can switch to any of the first ten items on the taskbar (whether running or not) by pressing Windows+(1..0). You can drag taskbar items around to change the order.

Answer 4

Use this AutoHotKey script:

~LAlt & Tab::Send ^#{Tab}