VirtualDesktop (C++ port of VD.ahk)

HEAVILY VIBE-CODED : This is effectively the only part of this project written by a human. I hope no one reading this would blame me for not wanting to port undocumented COM code to c++ considering their unsupported nature. You can find the autohotkey library used as "motivation" (the claude prompt) here.

A C++ port of the AutoHotkey VD.ahk Windows Virtual Desktop library. It drives the same undocumented IVirtualDesktopManagerInternal / IVirtualDesktop / IVirtualDesktopPinnedApps COM interfaces, using the same runtime build-detection + manual vtable-index technique (these interfaces have no public header and their method order changes across Windows builds, so a static C++ interface declaration can't work here — each call goes through vtable[index], matching what the original script does with DllCall).

Files

• VirtualDesktop.h / VirtualDesktop.cpp — the library.
• example.cpp, CMakeLists.txt — a minimal demo/build.

Build

Windows only, needs a recent Windows SDK (for shobjidl.h's IObjectArray and servprov.h's IServiceProvider).

cmake -B build -A x64
cmake --build build --config Release

Or add VirtualDesktop.h/.cpp to any MSVC/MinGW project and link ole32, user32, shlwapi, version.

Usage

#include "VirtualDesktop.h"
CoInitializeEx(nullptr, COINIT_APARTMENTTHREADED);

vd::VirtualDesktopManager vdm;
if (vdm.IsValid()) {
    int n = vdm.GetCount();
    vdm.GoToDesktopNumber(2);
    vdm.MoveWindowToDesktopNumber(L"Notepad", 1);
}

API mapping (VD.ahk -> C++)

VD.ahk	C++
VD.getCurrentDesktopNum()	GetCurrentDesktopNumber()
VD.getDesktopNumOfWindow(wintitle)	GetDesktopNumberOfWindow(title) / (HWND)
VD.getCount()	GetCount()
VD.getRelativeDesktopNum(anchor, n)	GetRelativeDesktopNumber(anchor, n)
VD.goToDesktopNum(n)	GoToDesktopNumber(n, activate=true)
VD.goToDesktopOfWindow(wintitle)	GoToDesktopOfWindow(title)
VD.gotoRelativeDesktopNum(n)	GoToRelativeDesktopNumber(n)
VD.MoveWindowToDesktopNum(wintitle, n)	MoveWindowToDesktopNumber(title, n)
VD.MoveWindowToCurrentDesktop(wintitle)	MoveWindowToCurrentDesktop(title)
VD.MoveWindowToRelativeDesktopNum(wintitle, n)	MoveWindowToRelativeDesktopNumber(title, n)
VD.createDesktop() / createUntil()	CreateDesktop() / CreateUntil()
VD.removeDesktop(n)	RemoveDesktop(n)
VD.IsWindowPinned / TogglePinWindow / PinWindow / UnPinWindow	same names, *Window(title)
VD.IsAppPinned / TogglePinApp / PinApp / UnPinApp (by exe path)	IsAppPinned/PinApp/UnpinApp/TogglePinApp(exePath)
same, but by window title (as used in VD.ahk's examples)	*ByWindow(title) variants

getNameFromDesktopNum / setNameToDesktopNum are also ported (GetNameFromDesktopNumber / SetNameToDesktopNumber), even though they're only in VD.ahk's comments, not its "public API" header block.

Known differences from VD.ahk

• No event/notification support. RegisterDesktopNotifications and the VirtualDesktopCreated / CurrentVirtualDesktopChanged / etc. callbacks are not ported (they require implementing a full COM IVirtualDesktopNotification sink with per-build vtables — out of scope here). Only the request/response API is included.
• No wallpaper get/set (getWallpaperFromDesktopNum / setWallpaperToDesktopNum) — not part of VD.ahk's documented public API.
• Simplified switch animation. VD.ahk works around older Windows versions lacking a native animated switch by briefly moving an invisible GUI window to the target desktop via the public IVirtualDesktopManager interface as a trick to trigger the OS's built-in switch animation. This port skips that trick: it uses the native SwitchDesktopWithAnimation method when the OS provides one (Windows 11 23H2+), and a plain (non-animated) switch otherwise. Desktop-arrival detection and window-activation-on-arrival are preserved.
• Window matching mirrors AHK's SetTitleMatchMode 2 + DetectHiddenWindows On semantics (case-insensitive substring match over all top-level windows, including hidden ones).

Windows version coverage

Same 7 build ranges as VD.ahk: 17763.1+, 20348.2227+, 22000.51+, 22483.1000+/22621.1778+, 22621.2215+/22483(rev), 22631.3085+, and 26100.863+ (Windows 11 24H2+). Detected via twinui.pcshell.dll's file version, exactly like the original script.