Accessing External App's Control Property

If I create a form with a .net control, lets say a button, and I set the enable property of this button to false, it is possible for an external process to change the enable property to true at runtime? I assume that the answer is definitely yes, since it'll just be some binary value in memory, but is there an API or an easy way to accomplish this?

Yes there is, I *think* you can do it with EnableWindow()

eg:

Code:

/* use FindWindow to get the dialogs hwnd = hWnd */
/* use spy++ or whatever to get the id of the button = id */

EnableWindow(GetDlgItem(hWnd, id), TRUE);       /* enable it */

I don't know if EnableWindow() has to be in the same thread as the window, probably not see MSDN.

Hmm, interesting, thanks for the response. That did change some property of the control, but not in the way I wanted. If the .net button is disabled, and you call EnableWindow(*blah*, true) you can now click the button and it becomes active, but the text is still gray and the click event of the button is not fired. EnableWindow appears to be talking about a different kind of enabled/disabled than the .net control understands.

Thanks for the help so far. Anyone have any more ideas?

Just as an aside to show that it did actually do something; if the .net control is enabled and you do EnableWindow(*blah*, false) the text remains black but the click event no longer fires.