Using CMDOW.EXE and
SHELLESC.EXE, I have scripted ALTTAB.BAT to perform the ALT+TAB function.
The syntax for using ALTTAB.BAT is:
1. Create a shortcut on your desktop by right-clicking a blank area and pressing New / Shortcut.
2. Set the 'location of the item' to C:\FolderInPath\cmdow.exe /RUN C:\FolderInParh\ALTTAB.BAT where C:\FolderInPath is the name of a folder in your PATH were you keep your utility programs.
3. Type ALT+TAB into the 'name for this shortcut' and press Finish.
4. Right-click the new shortcut and set the 'Shortcut key'. I set mine to CTRL + ALT + A.
5. Press the Change Icon button and browse %SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll, %SystemRoot%\system32\moricons.dll, or you favorite icon source, and select an icon.
When it is time to ALT+TAB:
1. Press the 'Shortcut key' you set in step 4 above. A Window will open and display your running applications, like:
01 cmd C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe 02 iexplore SunTrust Online Banking - Jerry 03 POWERPNT Microsoft PowerPoint - \[Presentation1\] 04 WINWORD Document1 - Microsoft Word 05 MSACCESS JSI Order Entry 06 MSACCESS JSI_ORDERS : Database (Access 2002 file format) 07 OUTLOOK Calendar - Microsoft Outlook 08 FRONTPG Microsoft FrontPage 09 MSACCESS Orders by Customer 10 notepad tip_index.txt - Notepad 11 FRONTPG Microsoft FrontPage 12 webcompiler Windows NT Tips, Tricks and Registry Hacks. JSI, Inc is your Windows NT Resource 13 notepad NewTips.txt - Notepad 14 explorer C:\ZIPNEW 15 iexplore Windows XP Pro/Server/2000/NT Support - Jerry 16 agent WinNT Public - \[IN_EMAIL\] 17 agent WinNT Public - \[microsoft.beta.srv2003sp1.general\] 18 agent MVP - \[microsoft.private.mvp.windows_server\] 19 iexplore JSI, INC. - Tips & Tricks - Windows Server 2003 / Windows XP / Windows 2000 / Windows Server 20 - Jerry 20 iexplore Advanced Search Options - Jerry 21 notepad Untitled - Notepad 22 EXCEL Microsoft Excel - Book1 23 explorer C:\UTIL \[Enter the application number, or 0 to exit\]2. Type the application number, or 0 to exit.
When I typed a 7 and pressed the Enter key, my Outlook Calendar received focus, and the ALTTAB.BAT window closed.
NOTE: If the ALTTAB.BAT window is not large enough:
1. Right-click the title bar and press Properties.
2. Select the Layout tab.
3. Increase the Window Size Width and Height.
4. If the Screen Buffer Size Width and/or Height is less than the Window Size values, increase them.
5. Press OK.
6. Check the Save properties for future windows with the same title.
7. Press OK.
NOTE: See How can I enlarge the ALT+TAB dialog to fit all the applications I have open?
NOTE: See the taskswitch.exe PowerToy for XP, which not only displays the icons of the application window, but lets you see a preview of the page which helps when you have multiple sessions of an application open.
NOTE: See How can I use Task Manager to emulate the ALT+TAB function?
ALTTAB.bat contains:
@echo off setlocal ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION set /a cnt=0 for /f "tokens=1,8*" %%i in ('cmdow /T /B /F^|SHELLESC') do ( set handle=%%i set /a cnt=!cnt! + 1 set wrk=!cnt! if !cnt! LSS 10 set wrk=0!cnt! set table=!table!!wrk!!handle! for /f "Tokens=1*" %%a in ('@echo %%j %%k') do ( set app1=%%a # set app2=!app1:~0,16! set app3=%%b @echo !wrk! !app2! !app3! ) ) @echo. :enter set /p ANS=\[Enter the application number, or 0 to exit\] if \{%ANS%\}\{\} goto :enter if \{%ANS%\}
\{0\} endlocal&goto :EOF set /a number=100%ANS%%%100 set wrk=%number% if %number% LSS 10 set wrk=0%number% set /a number=%number% - 1 set /a number=%number% * 10 call set entry=%%table:~%number%^,10%% if "%entry:~0,2%" NEQ "%wrk%" @echo Invalid number.&goto enter set handle=%entry:~2,8% cmdow %handle% /ACT /VIS /RES endlocal