How to use Application.WindowState in the xlwings API way

The Application.WindowState property in Excel’s object model is a crucial feature for controlling the visual state of the Excel application window through xlwings. This property allows developers to programmatically maximize, minimize, or restore the main Excel window, which can enhance user experience by ensuring the application is presented in a desired state during automation tasks. In xlwings, this is accessed via the App object that represents the Excel application instance.

Functionality:
The WindowState property sets or returns the state of the Excel application window. It can be used to adjust the window to fit the screen, minimize it to the taskbar, or keep it in a normal restored state. This is particularly useful in scenarios where you want to hide the Excel interface during background processing or ensure it’s fully visible when presenting data.

Syntax in xlwings:
In xlwings, the property is accessed through the App object. The syntax is:

app.window_state

Where app is an instance of xlwings.App. This property can be both read and written. When setting the property, you assign it a string value that corresponds to the desired state. The possible values are:

• 'normal': The window is in a restored state (not maximized or minimized).
• 'maximized': The window is maximized to fill the screen.
• 'minimized': The window is minimized to the taskbar.

Examples:
Here are practical xlwings API code examples demonstrating the use of WindowState:

1. Maximizing the Excel Application Window:
   This example maximizes the Excel window to ensure it occupies the entire screen, which is helpful when displaying large datasets or dashboards.

import xlwings as xw
# Connect to an existing Excel instance or start a new one
app = xw.apps.active
# Maximize the application window
app.window_state = 'maximized'

2. Minimizing and Restoring the Window:
   This example minimizes the Excel window to the taskbar and then restores it to its normal state. This can be used to temporarily hide the interface during calculations.

import xlwings as xw
app = xw.App() # Start a new Excel application
# Minimize the window
app.window_state = 'minimized'
# Perform some background operations (e.g., data processing)
# Restore the window to normal state
app.window_state = 'normal'

3. Checking the Current Window State:
   You can also read the current state of the window to make conditional decisions in your script.

import xlwings as xw
app = xw.apps[0] # Access the first open Excel application
current_state = app.window_state
print(f"The current window state is: {current_state}")
if current_state == 'minimized':
    app.window_state = 'maximized' # Maximize if it was minimized