Is there a way to minimize a window in Windows 7 via Python 3?
Question: I am running a program with a built-in Python interpreter. Periodically I want
that program to be able to go "full screen" or be minimized.

This will be running on Windows 7.

I am wondering if there is a way to do this in Python (so that I could call
the function from my program). Using only standard libraries would be ideal
but if there is a way to do this with an external module, that would be fine
too.

Thanks.


Answer: To minimize a window you need to know either the title of the window, or its
window class. The window class is useful when the exact window title is not
known. For example the following script shows two different ways to minimize
the Microsoft Windows Notepad application assuming:

    
    
    import ctypes
    
    notepad_handle = ctypes.windll.user32.FindWindowW(None, "Untitled - Notepad")
    ctypes.windll.user32.ShowWindow(notepad_handle, 6)
    
    notepad_handle = ctypes.windll.user32.FindWindowW(u"Notepad", None) 
    ctypes.windll.user32.ShowWindow(notepad_handle, 6)  
    

To determine the class name to use, you would need to use an tool such as
Microsoft's Spy++. Obviously if Notepad was opened with a file, it would have
a different title such as `test.txt - Notepad`. If this was the case, the
first example would now fail to find the window, but the second example would
still work.

If two copies of notepad were running, then only one would be closed. If all
copies needed to be closed, you would need to enumerate all windows which
requires more code.

The [ShowWindow](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/desktop/ms633548%28v=vs.85%29.aspx) command can also be
used to restore the Window.

