How can Java retrieve a comprehensive list of active processes and windows across different operating systems?

How to Obtain a Comprehensive List of Active Processes and Windows Using Java

Problem:

Devising a multi-platform solution in Java to retrieve an enumerated list of currently running processes and open windows, analogous to the 'tasklist' function in Windows.

Solution:

Java offers a robust library for interacting with the underlying operating system, allowing you to retrieve a catalog of active processes and windows using native commands. Here are two approaches:

Approach 1: Parsing Process List from Command

This approach leverages the 'ps' command (present on most Unix-like systems) to list all running processes, including their pertinent details.

try {
    String line;
    Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("ps -e");
    BufferedReader input = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(p.getInputStream()));
    while ((line = input.readLine()) != null) {
        System.out.println(line); //<-- Parse data here.
    }
    input.close();
} catch (Exception err) {
    err.printStackTrace();
}

Approach 2: Utilizing Tasklist Command on Windows

For Windows-based systems, the 'ps' command is not available. Instead, you can use the 'tasklist' utility to retrieve process information.

Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(System.getenv("windir") +"\system32\"+"tasklist.exe");

Parsing and Processing Data

Once you have executed the appropriate command, you can parse the output to extract specific process or window details, such as process ID, name, or window title. Utilizing Java's String parsing capabilities and regular expressions can simplify this task.

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