Of course! "Window Control" in Python can mean several things, from controlling your own application's window to automating and managing other applications' windows.

I'll cover the most common and powerful methods, categorized by use case.

Controlling Your Own GUI Application's Window

This is the most straightforward use case. You're building a GUI (Tkinter, PyQt, etc.) and want to control its behavior: minimize, maximize, close, set its position, etc.

For Tkinter

Tkinter is Python's built-in GUI library. It has simple and direct methods for window control.

import tkinter as tk
import time
def minimize_window():
    """Minimizes the main window."""
    root.iconify() # This is the method to minimize
def maximize_window():
    """Maximizes the main window."""
    root.state('zoomed') # For Windows. For macOS, use 'zoomed'
def restore_window():
    """Restores the window to its normal size."""
    root.state('normal')
def move_window():
    """Moves the window to a new position."""
    # The geometry string is: "widthxheight+x_offset+y_offset"
    root.geometry("400x300+500+200") # 500px from left, 200px from top
def close_window():
    """Closes the application window."""
    root.destroy()
# --- Create the main window ---
root = tk.Tk()"Tkinter Window Control")
root.geometry("600x400+100+100") # Initial size and position
# --- Create buttons to trigger actions ---
btn_minimize = tk.Button(root, text="Minimize", command=minimize_window)
btn_minimize.pack(pady=5)
btn_maximize = tk.Button(root, text="Maximize", command=maximize_window)
btn_maximize.pack(pady=5)
btn_restore = tk.Button(root, text="Restore", command=restore_window)
btn_restore.pack(pady=5)
btn_move = tk.Button(root, text="Move Window", command=move_window)
btn_move.pack(pady=5)
btn_close = tk.Button(root, text="Close Window", command=close_window, bg="red", fg="white")
btn_close.pack(pady=5)
root.mainloop()

Key Tkinter Methods:

• root.iconify(): Minimizes the window.
• root.state('zoomed'): Maximizes the window (Windows).
• root.state('normal'): Restores the window.
• root.geometry("WxH+X+Y"): Sets the size (Width x Height) and position (X offset from left, Y offset from top).
• root.attributes('-topmost', True): Brings the window to the front and keeps it there.
• root.attributes('-alpha', 0.5): Makes the window semi-transparent (0.0 to 1.0).

For PyQt / PySide

PyQt and PySide are more feature-rich toolkits. They use a QMainWindow as the central widget.

import sys
from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QApplication, QMainWindow, QPushButton, QVBoxLayout, QWidget
class MyWindow(QMainWindow):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.setWindowTitle("PyQt Window Control")
        self.setGeometry(100, 100, 600, 400) # x, y, width, height
        # Create a central widget and layout
        central_widget = QWidget()
        self.setCentralWidget(central_widget)
        layout = QVBoxLayout(central_widget)
        # --- Create buttons ---
        btn_minimize = QPushButton("Minimize")
        btn_minimize.clicked.connect(self.showMinimized)
        btn_maximize = QPushButton("Maximize")
        btn_maximize.clicked.connect(self.showMaximized)
        btn_restore = QPushButton("Restore")
        btn_restore.clicked.connect(self.showNormal)
        btn_close = QPushButton("Close")
        btn_close.clicked.connect(self.close)
        layout.addWidget(btn_minimize)
        layout.addWidget(btn_maximize)
        layout.addWidget(btn_restore)
        layout.addWidget(btn_close)
if __name__ == '__main__':
    app = QApplication(sys.argv)
    window = MyWindow()
    window.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec_())

Key QMainWindow Methods:

• self.showMinimized(): Minimizes the window.
• self.showMaximized(): Maximizes the window.
• self.showNormal(): Restores the window.
• self.close(): Closes the window.
• self.setGeometry(x, y, width, height): Sets size and position.
• self.move(x, y): Only sets position.
• self.resize(width, height): Only sets size.

Automating and Controlling External Windows (GUI Automation)

This is a more advanced and powerful technique, often used for testing, automation, or scripting interactions with other applications (like a web browser, a game, or a legacy desktop app).

The best library for this is pygetwindow. It's a simple, cross-platform wrapper around more complex underlying libraries (pywin32 on Windows, AppKit on macOS, wnck on Linux).

Installation

pip install pygetwindow

Example: Controlling Notepad or Another App

Let's say you have Notepad open. You can control it from your Python script.

import pygetwindow as gw
import time
# --- Find the window you want to control ---
# You can use the window's title.
# To see all open window titles, run: gw.getAllTitles()
try:
    notepad_window = gw.getWindowsWithTitle('Notepad')[0]
    print(f"Found window: '{notepad_window.title}'")
except IndexError:
    print("Notepad window not found. Please open Notepad and run again.")
    exit()
# --- Control the window ---
# 1. Maximize the window
print("Maximizing window...")
notepad_window.maximize()
time.sleep(1)
# 2. Minimize the window
print("Minimizing window...")
notepad_window.minimize()
time.sleep(1)
# 3. Restore (un-minimize/maximize) the window
print("Restoring window...")
notepad_window.restore()
time.sleep(1)
# 4. Resize and Move the window
print("Resizing and moving window...")
notepad_window.resizeTo(600, 400)
notepad_window.moveTo(800, 300)
time.sleep(1)
# 5. Activate the window (bring it to the foreground)
print("Activating window...")
notepad_window.activate()
# 6. Close the window
# print("Closing window...")
# notepad_window.close() # Be careful with this!
print("Script finished.")

Key pygetwindow Methods:

• gw.getWindowsWithTitle('title'): Returns a list of window objects matching the title. [0] gets the first one.
• gw.getActiveWindow(): Gets the currently active/focused window.
• window.activate(): Brings the window to the foreground and gives it focus.
• window.maximize(), window.minimize(), window.restore(): Standard window states.
• window.resizeTo(width, height): Sets the window's size.
• window.moveTo(x, y): Sets the window's position.
• window.close(): Closes the window.
• window.size: A tuple (width, height) of the current size.
• window.left, window.top: The current x and y coordinates of the top-left corner.

Advanced: Low-Level Window Hooking (For Games & Complex Apps)

For applications that actively resist being controlled (like many games or apps with custom rendering), pygetwindow might not be enough. You need a lower-level approach.

The pywin32 library on Windows gives you direct access to the Windows API.

Installation (Windows only)

pip install pywin32

Example: Getting a Window's Handle (HWND) and Title

This example shows how to find a window by its class name (like "Notepad" or "Chrome_WidgetWin_1") and get its handle, which is the unique ID for the window in the Windows OS.

import win32gui
import time
def find_window_by_class(class_name, window_title=None):
    """Finds a window by its class name and optional title."""
    hwnd = win32gui.FindWindow(class_name, window_title)
    if hwnd:
        print(f"Found window handle (HWND): {hwnd}")
        return hwnd
    else:
        print(f"Window with class '{class_name}' not found.")
        return None
# --- Find Notepad using its class name ---
# You can find class names using tools like AutoIt's "Window Info" tool or Spy++.
notepad_class = "Notepad"
notepad_hwnd = find_window_by_class(notepad_class)
if notepad_hwnd:
    # You can now use this HWND with other win32gui functions= win32gui.GetWindowText(notepad_hwnd)
    print(f"Window Title is: '{title}'")
    # To control it, you'd send messages directly to the window
    # For example, to close it:
    # win32gui.PostMessage(notepad_hwnd, win32con.WM