[Solved] FindWindow loop - the most efficient solution

[xavier]

Hi,

I need to check the random appearance of two windows and, when a window appears, perform an action.

I wrote a simple routine that controls when it appears notepad or calc, but the traybar EventGhost icon flashes continuously and log window is full of messages.



Is there a better way of my code?

[stottle]

If there is a Task event generated when the windows open (should be for calc and notepad, but I doubt that's really what you are looking for), you could run your actions off of those instead of checking manually.

If not, the best bet would probably be to create a simple plugin that runs the findwindow in a loop (or better yet, uses a hook - but that is more complicated) in a separate thread and only generates events on success.

Brett

[xavier]

If there is a Task event generated when the windows open (should be for calc and notepad, but I doubt that's really what you are looking for), you could run your actions off of those instead of checking manually.

My code was just one example. I really need to intercept a modal dialog box and a message box, but the code would be too complicated to present.

If not, the best bet would probably be to create a simple plugin that runs the findwindow in a loop (or better yet, uses a hook - but that is more complicated) in a separate thread and only generates events on success.

D'oh!

Your reply is very complex for my knowledge of EventGhost, but I will try to study EventGhost documentation for writing plugins, I hope to be able to resolve the problem.

[Pako]

The window that you're watching, certainly has a corresponding item in the Windows Task Manager.
If the presence of the item coincides with the appearance of the window, your problem is solved.
You can use this my plugin.
If not, you can at least find inspiration there.
Pako

[xavier]

You can use this my plugin. If not, you can at least find inspiration there.

Wow, nice piece of code!

Unfortunately, the window that I find is a message box, and I do not detect any difference in the Task Manager.

So, where can I find documentation about the syntax of FindWindow and/or WindowMatcher?

I have tried in many examples given in the forum, but all refer to research of executables, never substring of text in many windows.

[Pako]

Here is the documentation for the function eg.WindowMatcher.
The place where you want to use Wildcart, insert this string: {*}.
The best procedure to obtain the proper form of arguments is this:
1) Wait for the moment when the search window is displayed
2) Into configuration tree add action Find Window
3) Experiment with various items in the dialog box and test the result using the Test button (items can enable, disable, and strings can be edited, including the use of wildcard)
4) Once the correct configuration found, save by pressing OK button
5) Use copy/paste (copy in the configuration tree in the Find Window item and paste in any text editor)
Pako

[xavier]

The best procedure to obtain the proper form of arguments is this:

With your code and your instructions I wrote this, that fires an event when I open a window that contains the string "Mozilla Firefox" in the title bar:

Code: Select all

version="0.0.0"

eg.RegisterPlugin(
    name = "Window Matcher",
    author = "xavier",
    version = version,
    canMultiLoad = False,
    description = (
        "Generates events if specific windows are detected."
    ),
)

from eg.cFunctions import GetProcessDict
from threading import Thread, Event
from os.path import splitext
#===============================================================================

class Text:
    suffix = "Matcher"
    prefix = "Window"
#===============================================================================

class ObserverThread(Thread):

    def __init__(
        self,
        period,
        plugin
    ):
        self.abort = False
        self.threadFlag = Event()
        self.running = True
        self.period = 0.5
        self.text = plugin.text
        Thread.__init__(self, name = 'WindowMatcherThread')


    def run(self):
        while not self.abort:
            FindWin = eg.WindowMatcher(None, u'Mozilla Firefox', None, None, None, None, False, 0.0, 0)
            hwnd = FindWin()
            if len(hwnd) > 0:
                eg.TriggerEvent(self.text.suffix+"."+"Mozilla Firefox", prefix = self.text.prefix),
                self.abort = True
            if self.abort:
                break
            self.threadFlag.wait(self.period)
            self.threadFlag.clear()


    def AbortObservation(self):
        self.abort = True
        self.threadFlag.set()
#===============================================================================

class WindowMatcher(eg.PluginBase):
    text = Text

    def __start__(self):

        period = 0.5
        ot = ObserverThread(
            period,
            self,
        )
        ot.start()
        self.observThread = ot
             

    def __stop__(self):
        if self.observThread:
            ot = self.observThread
            if ot.isAlive():
                ot.AbortObservation()
            del self.observThread
        self.observThread = None

Not very elegant as your code, but it works.

It would be interesting to improve the code with a parametric interface (for manage the research of multiple windows), but for tonight I'll stop here.