Print out control panel task links on MS Windows

print_cpanel_task_links.py

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-


"""
Print out control panel task links: command, name, and keywords

This script is modified from this: https://github.com/blackdaemon/enso-launcher-continued/blob/master/enso/contrib/open/platform/win32/control_panel_win7.py
Need this to run: python27 + pip install pywin32

Output language will depends on current system's language, not only English

Output:
0  |  Accommodate learning abilities  |  control.exe /name Microsoft.EaseOfAccessCenter /page pageQuestionsCognitive  |  [[u'accomidate', u'accomodates', u'accomodating', u'adjust', u'for'], [u'can', u'not', u'cannot', u"can't", u'difficult', u'to', u'difficulty', u'does', u"doesn't", u'hard', u'not', u'will', u'willnot', u"won't"], [u'disabled', u'handicap', u'handicapped', u'disabilities', u'disability', u'empaired', u'impaired', u'imparied', u'trouble'], [u'cognitive', u'learning']]
1  |  Accommodate low vision  |  control.exe /name Microsoft.EaseOfAccessCenter /page pageEasierToSee  |  [[u'accomidate', u'accomodates', u'accomodating', u'adjust', u'for'], [u'site', u'blindness', u'blurred', u'blurry', u'half', u'legally', u'low', u'vision', u'poor', u'seeing', u'seems', u'sight', u'weak', u'bad', u'eyesight', u'eye-sight'], [u'disabled', u'handicap', u'handicapped', u'disabilities', u'disability', u'empaired', u'impaired', u'imparied', u'trouble'], [u'best', u'better', u'easier', u'easy', u'enhance', u'improvement', u'make', u'more', u'most', u'optimal', u'optimise', u'optimize']]
2  |  Change how your keyboard works  |  control.exe /name Microsoft.EaseOfAccessCenter /page pageKeyboardEasierToUse  |  [[u'switch', u'filterkeys', u'keys', u'stickykeys', u'togglekeys', u'sticky-keys', u'toggle-keys', u'repeat', u'delay', u'hold', u'down', u'rate'], [u'accessibility', u'acessibility', u'ease', u'of'], [u'best', u'better', u'easier', u'easy', u'enhance', u'improvement', u'make', u'more', u'most', u'optimal', u'optimise', u'optimize'], [u'board', u'bord', u'keyboards', u'keyborads', u'keybord']]
3  |  Change how your mouse works  |  control.exe /name Microsoft.EaseOfAccessCenter /page pageEasierToClick  |  [[u'accessibility', u'acessibility', u'ease', u'of'], [u'butons', u'buttons'], [u'adjust', u'ajust', u'alter', u'change', u'edit', u'modify', u'replace', u'reset', u'set', u'switch'], [u'lock', u'clicking', u'doubleclick', u'double-click', u'single-click'], [u'best', u'better', u'easier', u'easy', u'enhance', u'improvement', u'make', u'more', u'most', u'optimal', u'optimise', u'optimize'], [u'move', u'moving', u'shadow', u'speed', u'tails'], [u'mice', u'mouses', u'pointer']]
4  |  Use screen reader  |  control.exe /name Microsoft.EaseOfAccessCenter /page pageNoVisual  |  [[u'adjust', u'ajust', u'alter', u'change', u'edit', u'modify', u'replace', u'reset', u'set', u'switch'], [u'screan', u'readers', u'screenreader', u'windows', u'narrator']]
5  |  Change the Narrator’s voice  |  %windir%\system32\narrator.exe  |  [[u'adjust', u'ajust', u'alter', u'change', u'edit', u'modify', u'replace', u'reset', u'set', u'switch'], [u'sound', u'voices'], [u'screan', u'readers', u'screenreader', u'windows', u'narrator']]
...
"""

import os
import re
from xml.etree import cElementTree as ElementTree

import win32api
import win32con


def _expand_path_variables(file_path):
    re_env = re.compile(r'%\w+%')

    def expander(mo):
        return os.environ.get(mo.group()[1:-1], 'UNKNOWN')

    return re_env.sub(expander, file_path)


def read_mui_string_from_dll(id):
    assert id.startswith("@") and ",-" in id, \
        "id has invalid format. Expected format is '@dllfilename,-id'"

    m = re.match("@([^,]+),-([0-9]+)(;.*)?", id)
    if m:
        dll_filename = _expand_path_variables(m.group(1))
        string_id = long(m.group(2))
    else:
        raise Exception(
            "Error parsing dll-filename and string-resource-id from '%s'" % id)

    h = win32api.LoadLibraryEx(
        dll_filename,
        None,
        win32con.LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_DATAFILE | win32con.DONT_RESOLVE_DLL_REFERENCES)
    if h:
        s = win32api.LoadString(h, string_id)
        return s
    return None


def read_task_links_xml(xml):
    APPS_NS = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/cpltasks/v1"
    TASKS_NS = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/tasks/v1"
    TASKS_NS2 = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/tasks/v2"

    results = []
    tree = ElementTree.fromstring(xml)

    for app in tree.findall("{%s}application" % APPS_NS):
        for item in app.findall('{%s}task' % TASKS_NS):
            keyword_tags = item.findall('{%s}keywords' % TASKS_NS)
            keywords = []
            for m in [k.text for k in keyword_tags]:
                keywords.append([kw.strip() for kw in
                                 read_mui_string_from_dll(m).split(';') if
                                 kw.strip()])

            name_shell32id = item.findtext("{%s}name" % TASKS_NS)
            name = read_mui_string_from_dll(name_shell32id)

            cmd = item.findtext("{%s}command" % TASKS_NS)
            cp = item.find("{%s}controlpanel" % TASKS_NS2)

            if cmd is not None:
                pass
            elif cp is not None:
                cname = cp.get('name')
                cpage = cp.get('page')
                cmd = "control.exe /name %s" % cname
                if cpage:
                    cmd += " /page %s" % cpage
            else:
                raise ValueError('cmd and cp both None')
            results.append((name, cmd, keywords))

    return results

def read_default_windows7_tasklist_xml():
    handle = win32api.LoadLibraryEx(
        "shell32.dll",
        None,
        win32con.LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_DATAFILE | win32con.DONT_RESOLVE_DLL_REFERENCES)
    # TODO: Is the resource-id #21 for all versions of Windows 7?
    xml = win32api.LoadResource(handle, "XML", 21)
    return xml


if __name__ == '__main__':
    xml = read_default_windows7_tasklist_xml()
    r = read_task_links_xml(xml)
    r = sorted(r, key=lambda x: x[1])
    for idx, i in enumerate(r):
        # Encode to avoid encoding trouble
        s = '%d  |  %s  |  %s  |  %s' % (idx, i[1], i[0], i[2])
        print(s.encode('ascii', 'replace'))

Here's a patch to work with both Python2 and Python3, using a try except.
This was tested on Windows 10.

--- print_cpanel_task_links_python2.py  2021-02-26 19:14:09.803384400 -0500
+++ print_cpanel_task_links.py  2021-02-26 21:18:35.897675300 -0500
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@

 This script is modified from this: https://github.com/blackdaemon/enso-launcher-continued/blob/master/enso/contrib/open/platform/win32/control_panel_win7.py
 Need this to run: python27 + pip install pywin32
+              OR: python35 + pip install pywin32

 Output language will depends on current system's language, not only English

@@ -43,7 +44,10 @@
     m = re.match("@([^,]+),-([0-9]+)(;.*)?", id)
     if m:
         dll_filename = _expand_path_variables(m.group(1))
-        string_id = long(m.group(2))
+        try:
+            string_id = long(m.group(2)) # python 2 style
+        except NameError:
+            string_id = int(m.group(2)) # python 3 style
     else:
         raise Exception(
             "Error parsing dll-filename and string-resource-id from '%s'" % id)

@chrispleasegradethis Thanks!