REVERSE ENGINEERING EXERCISES FOR THE MASSES (lesson 2)


HOW TO DISASSEMBLE A WINDOWS PROGRAM

WINDOWS 3.1. - DISASSEMBLING TASKMAN
by FraVia



  After we've found and analyzed WinMain() (-> lesson 1), the
next places to inspect when you crack a program are the windows
procedures and dialog procedures (this is true only for Windows
*programs*; for DLL, on the countrary, the cracking procedures
are different and the relvant techniques will be discussed in
another lesson).
  These WndProcs and DialogProcs are "callback" procedures: they
are *exported* from Windows executables, almost as the program
were a DLL, so that Windows can call them.
  And -hear, hear!- beacuse they are exported these crucial
procedures have *names* (almost always useful) that are
accessible to any decent Windows disassembler. In Taskman.lst,
for example, WCB clearly identifies TASKMANDLGPROC:

Exported names by location:
  1:007B     1 TASKMANDLGPROC      2D5303           sub     ax, 0353
  1.00AD  7503             jne     00B2
  1.00AF  E9D602           jmp     0388

  1.00B2 >E9C801           jmp     027D

  1.00B5 >837E0A00         cmp     word ptr wParam, 0  ;[bp+0A]
  1.00B9  7403             je      00BE
  1.00BB  E9BF01           jmp     027D
  ...

 The problem here, of course, is what to make of all these magic
numbers: 0064, OO1C, 00F4 and so on... how are we going to figure
out what these mean?

 When examined via disassembled listings, Windows programs tend
to contain a lot of "magic numbers". Of course the actual source
code would
*    #include           and
*    #define numeric constants for the various resources (menus,
     strings, dialog controls, etc.) that it uses.
 Given a disassembled listing, it should be possible to turn a
lot of these seemingly senseless numbers back into something
understandable.
 Let's start with the number 001C in TaskManDlgProc():
  1.0097  8B460C           mov     ax, message    ;[bp+0C]
  1.009A  2D1C00           sub     ax, 001C
  1.009D  7416             je      00B5
 If AX holds the *message* parameter to TaskManDlgProc() (line
1.0097)... then the value 001C must be a Windows WM_ message
number (one of those you can breakpoint to with WINICE's BMSG
command, by the way). Looking in WINDOWS.H, we find that 0x1C is
WM_ACTIVATEAPP.
 TaskManDlgProc() is subtracting this value from AX and then
jumping somewhere (let's call it ON_ACTIVATEAPP) if the result
is zero... i.e. if it is WM_ACTIVATEAPP.
 This is an odd way to test whether (message == WM_ACTIVATEAPP):
if the test fails, and we do not take the jump to ON_ACTIVATEAPP,
the message number has 1C subtracted from it... and this value
must be taken account of by the next switch statement:

  1.009F  2DF400    sub    ax, 00F4 ;(+1C=110=WM_INITDIALOG)
  1.00A2  7436      je     00DA     ;jump to ON_INITDIALOG
  1.00A4  48        dec    ax       ;(110+1=111=WM_COMMAND)
  1.00A5  7503      jne    00AA     ;no, go elsewhere
  1.00A7  E98301    jmp    022D     ;yes, jump to ON_COMMAND
 Other WndProcs & DialogProcs will contain straightforward tests,
rather than testing via subtraction, is a matter of compiler
choice. In any case, a WndProc or DialogProc generally contains
a collection of handlers for different messages.
 In the case of TaskManDlgProc(), we can see that's handling
WM_ACTIVATEAPP, WM_INITDIALOG and WM_COMMAND. By itself, this
information is rather boring... however, it tells us what is
happening *elsewhere* in the function: 1.00B5 must be handling
WM_ACTIVATEAPP messages (therefore let's call it ON_ACTIVATEAPP),
1.00DA must be handling WM_INITDIALOG, and 1.022D must be
handling WM_COMMAND messages.
 Write it down! This same basic technique -find where the
[bp+0Ch] "message" parameter to the WndProc or DialogProc is
being rested, and from that identify the locations that handle
various messages- can be used in *ANY* Windows program.
 Because handling messages is mostly what Windows applications
do, once we know where the message handling is, we pretty much
can have our way with teh disassembled listing.
 Let's look now at TaskManDlgProc():

TASKMANDLGPROC proc far
  ...
 DISPATCH_ON_MSG:
  1.0097  8B460C    mov  ax, message        ;[bp+0C]
  1.009A  2D1C00    sub  ax, WM_ACTIVATEAPP ;001C
  1.009D  7416      je   ON_ACTIVATEAPP
  1.009F  2DF400    sub  ax, 00F4 ;(+1C=110=WM_INITDIALOG)
  1.00A2  7436      je   ON_INITDIALOG
  1.00A4  48        dec  ax       ;(110+1=111=WM_COMMAND)
  1.00A5  7503      jne  DEFAULT
  1.00A7  E98301    jmp  ON_COMMAND
 DEFAULT:
  1.00AA >2D5303    sub  ax, 0353 ;(111+353=464=WM_USER+64
  1.00AD  7503      jne ON_PRIVATEMSG ;00B2= some private msg
  1.00AF  E9D602    jmp  0388
 ON_PRIVATEMSG:
  1.00B2 >E9C801    jmp  027D
 ON_ACTIVATEAPP:
  1.00B5 >837E0A00  cmp     word ptr wParam, 0  ;[bp+0A]
  ...               ; code to handle WM_ACTIVATEAPP
 ON_INITDIALOG:
  ...               ; code to handle WM_INITDIALOG
 ON_COMMAND:
  ...               ; code to handle WM_COMMAND
  1.022D >8B460A        mov   ax, wParam  ;[bp+0A]
  1.0230  3D6800        cmp   ax, 0068    ; ? What's this ?
  1.0233  7503          jne   0238
  1.0235  E93301        jmp   036B
  ...
 This is starting to look pretty reasonable. In particular, once
we know where WM_COMMAND is being handled, we are well on the way
to understand what the application does.
 WM_COMMANd is *very* important for understanding an application
behavior because the handler for WM_COMMAND is where it dals with
user commands such as Menu selections and dialog push button
clicks... a lot of what an application unique.
 If you click on "Cascade" in Task manager, for instance, it
comes as a WM_COMMAND, the same occurs if you click on "Tile" or
"Switch To" or "End Task".
 An application can tell which command a user has given it by
looking in the wParam parameter to the WM_COMMAND message.
 This is what we started to see at the ned of the
TaskManDlgProc() exerpt:
ON_COMMAND:
  ; We are handling WM_COMMAND, therefore wParam is here idItem,
  ; i.e. a control or menu item identifier
1.022D >8B460A  mov  ax, wParam ;[bp+0A]
1.0230  3D6800  cmp  ax, 0068   ;ID number for a dialog control
1.0233  7503    jne   0238
1.0235  E93301  jmp   036B

1.0238 >7603    jbe   023D
1.023A  E96001  jmp   039D

1.023D >FEC8    dec   al        ;1
1.023F  7420    je    0261      ;if wParam==1 goto 1.0261
1.0241  FEC8    dec   al        ;1+1=2
1.0243  7503    jne   0248
1.0245  E94701  jmp   038F      ;if wParam==2 goto 1.038F

1.0248 >2C62    sub   al, 62    ;2+62=64
1.024A  742A    je    0276
1.024C  FEC8    dec   al        ;64+1=65
1.024E  7432    je    0282
1.0250  2C01    sub   al, 01    ;65+1=66
1.0252  7303    jnb   0257
1.0254  E94601  jmp   039D

1.0257 >2C01    sub   al, 01    ;66+1=67
1.0259  7703    ja    025E
1.025B  E9D200  jmp   0330

 It's clear that wParam is being compared (in an odd subtraction
way) to valus 1,2,65,66 and 67. What's going on?
 The values 1 and 2 are standard dialog button IDs:
 #define IDOK            1
 #define IDCANCEL        2
 Therefore we have here the two "classical" push buttons:
1.023D >FEC8    dec   al        ;1 = OK
1.023F  7420    je    ON_OK     ;If 1 goto 1.0261= ON_OK
1.0241  FEC8    dec   al        ;1+1=2= CANCEL
1.0243  7503    jne   NOPE      ;goto neither OK nor CANCEL
1.0245  E94701  jmp   ON_CANCEL ;if 2 goto 1.038F= ON_CANCEL
 The numbers 65, 66 etc are specific to TaskManager however, we
will not find them inside WINDOWS.H... so there is no home to
find the names of the commands to which these magic number
correspond, unless we happen to have a debug version of the
program true? NO! FALSE!
 One of the notable things about Windows is that remarkably
little information is lost or thrown away compiling the source
code. These magic numbers seem to correspond in some way to the
different Task Manager push buttons... it's pretty obvious that
there must be a way of having applications tell Windows what
wParam they want sent when one of their buttons is clicked or
when one of their menu items is selected.
  Applications almost always provide Windows with this
information in their resources (they could actually define menus
and controls dynamycally, on the fly, but few applications take
advantage of this). These resources are part of the NE executable
and are available for ur snooping around.
  This inspections of the resources in an EXE file is carried out
by means of special utilities, like RESDUMP, included with
Windows source (-> see my tool page). For example (I am using
"-verbose" mode):

DIALOG              10   (0Ah), "Task List"       [30,22,160,107]
FONT "Helv"
    LISTBOX         100  (64h), ""                [3,3,154,63]
    DEFPUSHBUTTON   1    (01h), "&Switch To"      [1,70,45,14]
    PUSHBUTTON      101  (65h), "&End Task"       [52,70,45,14]
    PUSHBUTTON      2    (02h), "Cancel"          [103,70,55,14]
    STATIC          99   (63h), ""                [0,87,160,1]
    PUSHBUTTON      102  (66h), "&Cascade"        [1,90,45,14]
    PUSHBUTTON      103  (67h), "&Tile"           [52,90,45,14]
    PUSHBUTTON      104  (68h), "&Arrange Icons"  [103,90,55,14]

 YEAH! It's now apparent what the numbers 64h, 65h etc. mean.
Imagine you would write Taskmanager yourself... you would write
something on these lines:
     #define   IDD_SWITCHTO        IDOK
     #define   IDD_TASKLIST        0x64
     #define   IDD_ENDTASK         0x65
     #define   IDD_CASCADE         0x66
     #define   IDD_TILE            0x67
     #define   IDD_ARRANGEICONS    0x68
 Let's look back at the last block of code... it makes now a lot
more sense:

ON_COMMAND:
  ; We are handling WM_COMMAND, therefore wParam is here idItem,
  ; i.e. a control or menu item identifier
 1.022D >8B460A  mov  ax, wParam   ;[bp+0A]
 1.0230  3D6800  cmp  ax, 0068     ;is it the ID 68h?
 ...
 1.023D >FEC8    dec   al              ;1=IDOK=IDD_SWITCHTO
 1.023F  7420    je    ON_SWITCHTO ;0261
 1.0241  FEC8    dec   al          ;1+1=2=ID_CANCEL
 1.0243  7503    jne   neither_OK_nor_CANCEL          ;0248
 1.0245  E94701  jmp   ON_CANCEL   ;038F
neither_OK_nor_CANCEL:
 1.0248 >2C62    sub   al, 62      ;2+62=64= IDD_TASKLIST
 1.024A  742A    je    ON_TASKLIST ;0276
 1.024C  FEC8    dec   al          ;64+1=65= IDD_ENDTASK
 1.024E  7432    je    ON_ENDTASK  ;0282
 1.0250  2C01    sub   al, 01      ;65+1=66= IDD_CASCADE
 1.0252  7303    jnb   check_for_TILE             ;0257
 1.0254  E94601  jmp   039D        ;something different
check_for_TILE:
 1.0257 >2C01    sub   al, 01      ;66+1=67= IDD_TILE
 1.0259  7703    ja    025E        ;it's something else
 1.025B  E9D200  jmp   ON_TILE_or_CASCADE         ;0330

 In this way we have identified location 0330 as the place where
Taskman's "Cascade" and "Tile" buttons are handled... we have
renaimed it ON_TILe_or_CASCADE... let's examine its code and
ensure it makes sense:
ON_TILE_or_CASCADE:
 1.0330 >56             push  hwndDlg          ;si
 1.0331  6A00           push  0000
 1.0333  9A6F030000     call  USER.SHOWWINDOW
 1.0338  9A74030000     call  USER.GETDESKTOPWINDOW
 1.033D  8BF8           mov   di, ax           ;hDesktopWnd
 1.033F  837E0A66       cmp   word ptr wParam, 0066 ;IDD_CASCADE
 1.0343  750A           jne   ON_TILE          ;034F
 1.0345  57             push  di               ;hDesktopWnd
 1.0346  6A00           push  0000
 1.0348  9AFFFF0000     call  USER.CASCADECHILDWINDOWS
 1.034D  EB2F           jmp   037E
ON_TILE:
 1.034F >57             push  di
 1.0350  6A10           push  0010
 1.0352  9AFFFF0000     call  USER.GETKEYSTATE
 1.0357  3D0080         cmp   ax, 8000
 1.035A  7205           jb    0361
 1.035C  B80100         mov   ax, 0001 ;1= MDITILE_HORIZONTAL
 1.035F  EB02           jmp   0363

 1.0361 >2BC0           sub   ax, ax   ;0= MDITILE_VERTICAL

 1.0363 >50             push  ax
 1.0364  9AFFFF0000     call  USER.TILECHILDWINDOWS
 1.0369  EB13           jmp   037E

 Yes, it makes a lot of sense: We have found that the "Cascade"
option in Tile manager, after switching through the usual bunch
of switch/case loops, finally ends up calling an undocumented
Windows API function: CascadeChildWindows()... similarly, the
"Tile" routine ends up calling TileChildWindow().
 One thing screams for attention in the disassembled listing of
ON_TILE: the call to GetKeyState().
 As an example of the kind of information you should be able to
gather for each of these functions, if you are serious about
cracking, I'll give you now here, in extenso, the definition from
H. Schildt's "General purpose API functions", Osborne's Windows
Programming Series, Vol. 2, 1994 edition (I found both this
valuable book and its companion: volume 3: "Special purpose API
functions", in a second hand shop, in february 1996, costing the
equivalent of a pizza and a beer!). Besides this function is also
at times important for our cracking purposes, and represents
therefore a good choice. Here the description from pag.385:
 ---------------------------------------------------------
  void GetKeyState(int iVirKey)

Use GetKeyState() to determine the up, down or toggled status of
the specified virtual key. iVirKey identifies the virtual key.
To return the status of a standard alphanumeric character in the
range A-Z, a-z or 0-9, iVirKey must be set equal to its ANSI
ASCII value. All other key must use their related virtual key
codes. The function returns a value indicating the status of the
selected key. If the high-order bit of the byte entry is 1, the
virtual key is pressed (down); otherwise it is up. If you examine
a byte emlement's low-order bit and find it to be 1, the virtual
key has been toggled. A low-order bit of 0 indicates that the key
is untoggled.

Under Windows NT/Win32, this function returns type SHORT.

USAGE
 If your application needs to distinguish wich ALT, CTRL, or
SHIFT key (left or right) has been pressed, iVirKey can be set
equal to one of the following:
     VK_LMENU       VK_RMENU
     VK_LCONTROL    VK_RCO?TROL
     VK_LSHIFT VK_RSHIFT
 Setting iVirKey equal to VK_MENU, VK_CONTROL or VK_SHIFT
instructs GetKeyState() to ignore left and right, and only to
report back the status of teh virtual key category. This ability
to distinguish among virtual-key states is only available with
GetKeyState() and the related functions listed below.
 The following fragment obtains the state of the SHIFT key:
     if(GetKeyState(VK_SHIFT) {
                              ...
                              }
RELATED FUNCTIONS
 GetAsyncKeyState()
 GetKeyboardState()
 MapVirtualKey()
 SetKeyboardState()
 ---------------------------------------------------------
 Ok, let's go on... so we have in our code a "funny" call to
GetKeyState(). Becaus ethe Windows USer's Guide says nothing
about holding down a "state" (shift/ctrl/alt) key while selecting
a button, this sounds like another undocumented "goodie" hidden
inside TASKMAN.
 Indeed, if you try it out on the 3.1 Taskman, you'll see that
clicking on the Tile button arranges all the windows on the
desktop side by side, but if you hold down the SHIFT key while
clicking on the Tile button, the windows are arranged in a
stacked formation.
 To summarize, when the 3.1. Taskman Tile button is selected, the
code that runs in response looks like this:

Tile:
     ShowWindow(hWndDlg, SW_HIDE);      // hide TASKMAN
     hDesktopWnd = GetDesktopWindow();
     if (GetKeyState(VK_SHIFT) == 0x8000)
          TileChildWindows(hDesktopWnd, MDITILE_HORIZONTAL);
     else
          TileChildWindows(hDesktopWnd, MDITILE_VERTICAL);

 Similarly, the CASCADE option in 3.1. TASKMAN runs the following
code:

Cascade:
     ShowWindow(hWndDlg, SW_HIDE);      // hide TASKMAN
     CAscadeChildWindows(GetDesktopWindow(), 0);

 We can then proceed through each TASKMAN option like this,
rendering the assembly language listing into more concise C.
 The first field to examine in TASKMAN is the Task List itself:
how is the "Task List" Listbox filled with the names of each
running application?
 What the List box clearly shows is a title bar for each visible
top level window, and the title bar is undoubtedly supplied with
a call to GetWindowText()... a function that obtains a copy of
the specified window handle's title.
 But how does TASKMAN enumerate all the top-level Windows?
TAskman exports TASKMANDLGPROC, but does not export any
enumeration procedure.
 Most of the time Windows programs iterate through all existing
windows by calling EnumWindows(). Usually they pass to this
function a pointer to an application-supplied enumeration
function, which therefore MUST be exported. This callback
function must have following prototype:
     BOOL CALLBACK EnumThreadCB(HWND hWnd, LPARAM lParam)
 Of course, the name a programmer chooses for such an exported
function is arbitrary. hWnd will receive the handle of each
thread-associated window.lParam receives lAppData, a 32-bit user-
defined value. This exported function must return non-zero to
receive the next enumerated thread-based window, or zero to stop
the process.
 But here we DO NOT have something like TASKMANENUMPROC in the
list of exported functions... what's going on? Well... for a
start TASKMAN IS NOT calling EnumWindows()... Taskman uses a
GetWindow() loop to fill the "Task List" list box, study
following C muster, sipping a good cocktail and comparing it with
the disassembled code you have printed:

Task List:
     listbox = GetDlgItem(hWndDlg, IDD_TASKLIST);
     hwnd = GetWindow(hwndDlg, GW_HWNDFIRST);
     while (hwnd)
      {   if ((hwnd != hwndDlg) &&    //excludes self from list
             IsWindowVisible(hwnd) &&
             GetWindow(hwnd, GW_OWNER))
          {    char buf[0x50];
               GetWindowText(hwnd, buf, 0x50); // get titlebar
               SendMessage(listbox, LB_SETITEMDATA,
                    SendMessage(listbox, LB_ADDSTRING, 0, buf),
                    hwnd);         // store hwnd as data to go
          }                        // with the titlebar string
          hwnd = GetWindow(hwnd, GW_HWNDNEXT);
     }
     SendMessage(lb, LB_SETCURSEL, 0, 0); // select first item

 The "End Task" opton in Taskman just sends a WM_CLOSE message
to the selected window, but only if it's not a DOS box. TASKMAN
uses the undocumented IsWinOldApTask() function, in combination
with the documented GetWindowTask() function, to determine if a
given HWND corresponds to a DOS box:

End Task:
  ...          // boring details omitted
  if(IsWinOldApTask(GetWindowTask(hwndTarget)))
    MaybeSwitchToSelecetedWindow(hwndTarget);
  if(IsWindow(hwndTarget) &&
    (! (GetWindowLong(hwndTarget, GWL	5STYLE) & WS_DISABLED))
  {
     PostMessage(hwndTarget, WM_CLOSE, 0, 0);
  }

 The "Arrange Icons" option simply runs the documented
ARrangeIconicWindows() function:

Arrange Icons:
  Showwindow(hWndDlg, SW_HIDE);
  ArrangeIconiCWindows(GetDesktopWindow());

 The "Switch To" option in TASKMAN is also interesting. Like
"Tile" and "Cascade", this too it's just a user-interface
covering an undocupented Windows API function, in this case
SwitchToThisWindow().
 Let's walk through the process of deciphering a COMPLETELY
unlabelled Windows disassembly listing, that will be most of the
time your starting situation when you crack, and let's turn it
into a labelled C code.
 By the way, there does exist an interesting school of research,
that attempts to produce an "EXE_TO_C" automatical converter. The
only cracked version of this program I am aware of is called
E2C.EXE, is 198500 bytes long, has been developed in 1991 by "The
Austin Code Works and Polyglot International" in Jerusalem (Scott
Guthery: guthery@acw.com), and has been boldly brought to the
cracking world by Mithrandir/AlPhA/MeRCeNarY. Try to get a copy
of this tool... it can be rather interesting for our purposes ;-)
 Here is the raw WCB disassembled code for a subroutine within
TASKMAN, called from the IDD_SWITCHTO handling code in
TaskManDlgProc():

 1.0010 >55             push    bp
 1.0011  8BEC           mov     bp, sp
 1.0013  57             push    di
 1.0014  56             push    si
 1.0015  FF7604         push    word ptr [bp+04]
 1.0018  681A04         push    041A
 1.001B  FF7604         push    word ptr [bp+04]
 1.001E  680904         push    0409
 1.0021  6A00           push    0000
 1.0023  6A00           push    0000
 1.0025  6A00           push    0000
 1.0027  9A32000000     call    USER.SENDMESSAGE
 1.002C  50             push    ax
 1.002D  6A00           push    0000
 1.002F  6A00           push    0000
 1.0031  9AEF010000     call    USER.SENDMESSAGE
 1.0036  8BF8           mov     di, ax
 1.0038  57             push    di
 1.0039  9A4C000000     call    USER.ISWINDOW
 1.003E  0BC0           or      ax, ax
 1.0040  742A           je      006C
 1.0042  57             push    di
 1.0043  9AFFFF0000     call    USER.GETLASTACTIVEPOPUP
 1.0048  8BF0           mov     si, ax
 1.004A  56             push    si
 1.004B  9AA4020000     call    USER.ISWINDOW
 1.0050  0BC0           or      ax, ax
 1.0052  7418           je      006C
 1.0054  56             push    si
 1.0055  6AF0           push    FFF0
 1.0057  9ACD020000     call    USER.GETWINDOWLONG
 1.005C  F7C20008       test    dx, 0800
 1.0060  750A           jne     006C
 1.0062  56             push    si
 1.0063  6A01           push    0001
 1.0065  9AFFFF0000     call    USER.SWITCHTOTHISWINDOW
 1.006A  EB07           jmp     0073

 1.006C >6A00           push    0000
 1.006E  9ABC020000     call    USER.MESSAGEBEEP

 1.0073 >5E             pop     si
 1.0074  5F             pop     di
 1.0075  8BE5           mov     sp, bp
 1.0077  5D             pop     bp
 1.0078  C20200         ret     0002

 The RET 0002 at the end tells us that this is a near Pascal
function thatexpects one WORd parameter, which appears as [bp+4]
at the top of the code.
 Because [bp+4] is being used as the first parameter to
SendMessage(), it must be an HWND of some sort.
 Here is the muster for SendMessage(): LRESULT SendMessage(HWND
hWnd, UINT uMsg, WPARAM wMsgParam1, LPARAM lMsgParam2), where
hWnd identifies the Window receiving the message, uMsg identifies
the message being sent, wMsgParam1 & lMsgParam2 contain 16 bits
and 32 bits of message-specific information.
 Finally, we don't see anything being moved into AX or DX near
the end of the function, so it looks as if this function has no
return value:
          void near pascal some_func(HWND hwnd)
 Let's look once more at it... the function starts off with two
nested calls to SendMessage(à, using the message numbers 41Ah and
409h. These numbers are greater than 400h, they must therefore
be WM_USER+XX values. Windows controls such as edit, list and
combo boxes all use WM_USER+XX notification codes.
 The only appropriate control in TASKMAN is the list box, so we
can just look at the list of LB_XXX codes in WINDOWS.H. 1Ah is
26 decimal, therefore 41Ah is WM_USER+26, or LB_GETITEMDATA.
Let's see what Osborne's "Special Purpose API functions" says
about it (pag.752):
 ------------------------------------------------------
LB_GETITEMDATA
 When sent: To return the value associated with a list-box item.
 wParam:    Contains the index to the item in question
 lParam:    Not used, must be 0
 Returns:   The 32-bit value associated with the item
 ------------------------------------------------------
 Similarly,, 409h is WM_USER+9, which in the case of a list box
means LB_GETCURSEL. We saw earlier that TASKMAN uses
LB_SETITEMDATA to store each window title's associated HWND.
LB_GETITEMDATA will now retrive this hwnd:

  hwnd = SendMessage(listbox, LB_GETITEMDATA,
     SendMessage(listbox, LB_GETCURSEL, 0, 0), 0);

 Notice that now we are caling the parameter to some_func() a
listbox, and that the return value from LB_GETITEMDATA is an
HWND.
 How would we know it's an hwnd without our references? We can
see the LB_GETITEMDATA return value (in DI) immediatly being
passed to IsWindow() at line 1.0039:
 ; IsWindow(hwnd = SendMessage(...));
1.0031 9AEF010000   call far ptr SENDMESSAGE
1.0036 8BF8         mov  di, ax
1.0038 57           push di
1.0039 9A4C000000   call far ptr ISWINDOW
 Next, the hwnd is passed to GetLastActivePopup(), and the HWND
that GetLastActivePopup() returns is then checked with
IsWindow()... IsWindow() returns non-zero if the specified hWnd
is valid, and zero if it is invalid:
 ; IsWindow(hwndPopup = GetLastActivePopup(hwnd));
1.0042  57          push    di
1.0043  9AFFFF0000  call    USER.GETLASTACTIVEPOPUP
1.0048  8BF0        mov     si, ax      ; save hwndPopup in SI
1.004A  56          push    si
1.004B  9AA4020000  call    USER.ISWINDOW
 Next, hwndPopup (in SI) is passed to GetWindowLong(), to get
informations about this window. Here is time to lok at WINDOWS.H
to figure out what 0FFF0h at line 1.055 and 800h at line 1.005C
are supposed to mean:
 ; GetWindowLong(hwndPopup, GWL_STYLE) & WS_DISABLED
1.0054  56          push  si           ;hwndPopup
1.0055  6AF0        push  GWL	5STYLE   ;0FFF0h = -16
1.0057  9ACD020000  call  USER.GETWINDOWLONG
1.005C  F7C20008    test  dx, 0800     ;DX:AX= 800:0= WS_DISABLED
 Finally, as the whole point of this exercise, asuming this
checked window passes all its tests, its last active popup is
switched to:
 ; SwitchToRhisWindow(hwndPopup, TRUE)
1.0062  56         push  si             :hwndPopup
1.0063  6A01       push  0001
1.0065  9AFFFF0000 call  USER.SWITCHTOTHISWINDOW
 It's here that all possible questions START: SwitchToThisWindow
is not documented... therefore we do not know the purpose of its
second parameter, apparently a BOOL. We cannot even tell why
SwitchToThisWindow() is being used... when SetActiveWindow(),
SetFocus() or BringWindowToTop() might do the trick. And why is
the last active popup and not the window switched to?
 But let's resume for now our unearthed mysterious function, taht
will switch to the window selected in the Task List if the window
meets all the function's many preconditions:
void MaybeSwitchToSelecetedWindow(HWND listbox)
{
  HWND hwnd, hwndPopup;
  // first figure out wich window was selected in the Task List
  if (IsWindow(hwnd = SendMessage(listbox, LB_GETITEMDATA,
      SendMessage(listbox, LB_GETCURSEL, 0, 0), 0)))
   {
    if (IsWindow(hwndPopup = GetLastActivePopup(hwnd)))
    {
     if (! (GetWindowLong(hwndPopup, GWL	5STYLE) & WS_DISABLED))
     {
        SwitchToThisWindow(hwndPopup, TRUE);
        return;
     }
    }
  MessageBeep(0);        //Still here... error!
}

Now we have a good idea of what TASKMAN does (it sure took a long
time to understand thos 3K bytes of code!). In the next lessons
we'll use what we have learned to crack together some common
Windows programs.

(->lesson 3)