Macro script when txt content changes

Mirko Rossi

I have a macro and I want it to run automatically whenever the content of a txt file changes. The txt is loaded in real time thanks to the “document monitor” plugin. Is there a way to automatically start a Notepad ++ macro, without the external use of powershell and the like?

I am missing the string to run the script.

Conditions:
Upload the txt file from the following path \ SERVER \ Disk_C \ example.txt

execute the script every time the txt file changes content
execute key combination “Ctrl + Shift + 9”
save the txt

thank you
Mirko

Ho una macro e voglio che venga eseguita automaticamente ogni volta che il contenuto di un file txt cambia. Il txt viene caricato in real time grazie al plugin “document monitor”. C’è un modo per avviare automaticamente una macro di Notepad ++, senza l’uso esterno di powershell e simile?

Mi manca la stringa per eseguire lo script.

Condizioni:
Carica il file txt dal seguente percorso \SERVER\Disco_C\esempio.txt

esegui lo script ogni qual volta il file txt cambia contenuto
esegui combinazione tasti “Ctrl+Shift+9”
salva il txt

grazie
Mirko

PeterJones

@Mirko-Rossi said in Macro script when txt content changes:

Is there a way to automatically start a Notepad ++ macro, without the external use of powershell and the like?

It depends on your definition of “External”. Notepad++ by itself cannot.

However, if you accept a plugin like PythonScript, that can hook into events like SCN_MODIFIED. Unfortunately, per the docs for that one, the handler for that notification is not allowed to modify the document – and I am assuming your macro is going to modify the document.

On the other hand, you might be able hook into another message, and manually check SCI_GETMODIFY using editor.getModify().

I don’t have time right now to experiment and come up with a solution, but there are other PythonScript users here who might take my ideas (or their own) and develop a solution before I get around to it. But if no one else has something workable by the time I have free time, I will see what I can do.

execute key combination “Ctrl + Shift + 9”

oh, right; I am not 100% sure, but I cannot think of a PythonScript hook that will call a specific keyboard shortcut. But there are commands that can access any of the Notepad++ menu entries that keystrokes are usually mapped to. They keystroke combo isn’t mapped by default on my setup, so I need to ask: What command is Ctrl+Shift+9 mapped to on your setup? Is it a standard command (whether from normal Notepad++ menus or editor commands? Or a specific plugin’s menu entry? or a Run-menu entry? (Please note, if it’s an externally-handled keystroke, like an AutoHotKey script, then the PythonScript interface probably cannot call it directly; however, there are ways using standard Python libraries in a PythonScript to send keystrokes, but that will be essential to know before we can help you further)

So, answer the question about Ctrl+Shift+9, and then please be patient while waiting for me or one of the PythonScript experts to have a chance to investigate and chime in.

Ekopalypse

@PeterJones

I never thought this day would come, but now that it has, I’ll take the opportunity to tell, er - only half the truth. :-D

The section is not 100 correct in the Scintilla documentation, there is one small way and that is to intercept the SC_MOD_INSERTCHECK,
then, and only here, the text may be changed.

@Mirko-Rossi
What puzzles me a bit is the document monitor, when it is on, the document is read-only from the Npp point of view, isn’t it?
If you are willing to explain in more detail what needs to be done, and if you are willing to use the PythonScript plugin, then I suppose we can find a solution for you.

PeterJones

@Ekopalypse said in Macro script when txt content changes:

The section is not 100 correct in the Scintilla documentation, there is one small way and that is to intercept the SC_MOD_INSERTCHECK,
then, and only here, the text may be changed.

Ah, nice. And it’s a good thing you’re working on this, because all the experiments I had run have not panned out:

the SCI_GETMODIFY only returns true if scintilla thinks the contents have changed; since the View > Monitoring (tail -f) mode (and presumably the document monitor plugin) reload the contents in a way that scintilla knows about it, scintilla claims the contents haven’t changed… because they haven’t been edited since the last time scintilla has loaded it from disk
I thought of trying to hook into notepad++'s FILEBEFORELOAD, but that only gets triggered when opening a new file, not from File > Reload From Disk or View > Monitoring (and thus, presumably not from the plugin)
Per @Scott -Sumner’s quick-and-dirty “which notification is it using” script,. the only notification that gets triggered repeatedly in View > Monitoring (tail -f) is the NPPM_BUFFERACTIVATED, which isn’t one I thought would be triggered at all.
- If your idea doesn’t pan out, I would go down the BUFFERACTIVATED route, and store a crc32 of the contents in a Python dict (with the filepath as the key and the crc as the value); when the notification is triggered, it would recompute the crc and compare-to-stored: if crc32 changed, then run the other tasks and update the dict). But yours will probably be better

Mirko Rossi

thank you all for the quick responses and I apologize for my very rough english.

The key combination “Ctrl + Shift + 9” simply calls a macro.

The txt file is generated by an old radio automation and contains a simple text “Title - Interpreter”. Below is an example of the txt:
“Regardless - Raye”

I need to invert the title with the interpreter in order to allow the correct association of the cover albums that are requested and retrieved by the streaming players.
I have created the macro and it works correctly; The whole process, up to the final acquisition of the cover, works … obviously by manually activating the macro.

I used notepad ++, the macro and only the “Document monitor” plugin (which reads the file in real time).

the txt is updated every song change and so I wanted to create a script, which calls the macro or the key combination, whenever the content of the file changes.

thank you all
Mirko

grazie a tutti per le rapide risposte e mi scuso per il mio inglese molto approssimativo.

La combinazione di tasti “Ctrl+Shift+9” richiama semplicemente una macro.

Il file txt viene generato da una vecchia radio automation e contiene un semplice testo “Titolo - Interprete”. A seguire un esempio del txt:
“Regardless - Raye”

Ho necessità di invertire il titolo con l’interprete, al fine di permettere l’associazione corretta delle cover album che vengono richieste e recuperate dai player streaming.
Ho creato la macro e funziona correttamente; Tutto il processo, fino all’acquisizione finale della cover, funziona…ovviamente attivando manualmente la macro.

ho usato notepad++, la macro e il solo plugin “Document monitor” (che legge in real time il file).

il txt viene aggiornato ogni cambio canzone e quindi volevo creare uno script, che richiama la macro o la combinazione di tasti, ogni qual volta il contenuto del file cambia.

grazie
Mirko

Mirko Rossi

@Ekopalypse said in Macro script when txt content changes:

PythonScript

no problem, just get to the solution

Alan Kilborn

@Mirko-Rossi

So if I’m putting the pieces of the above together correctly…

The idea of using SC_MOD_INSERTCHECK, if it will truly work in this case, would probably require the PythonScript callback, and not the macro, to do the changing of the text? At least that’s the only way I’ve ever used such a thing (via the editor.changeInsertion() function).

So…probably publishing the macro here, and having its functionality converted to PythonScript code, is probably a good idea?

Mirko Rossi

@Alan-Kilborn

I think so. if the final result doesn’t change, you can use PythonScript completely.
is there any way to give you the code of a macro? to then convert it with PythonScript

thank you

penso di si. se il risultato finale non cambia, si può usare completamente PythonScript.
esiste un modo per darvi il codice di una macro? per poi convertirlo con PythonScript

grazie

Mirko Rossi

it’s enough?

Mirko Rossi

the path to the file is “\SERVER\Disco_C\rds.txt”
…on the local network LAN, not locally

Alan Kilborn

@Mirko-Rossi said in Macro script when txt content changes:

it’s enough?

Yes. I was worried that it was going to be extremely long. That one is of a moderate length so that it would not be too difficult for someone to reverse engineer what it does.

PeterJones

@Mirko-Rossi said in Macro script when txt content changes:

path to the file is “\SERVER\Disco_C\rds.txt”
…on the local network LAN, not locally

Do you mean \\SERVER\Disco_C\rds.txt ? (the forum treats \\ as an escaped backslash, so only displayed one)

[macro contents…]
it’s enough?

That is the macro code, yes, so that can be translated into equivalent PythonScript commands.

But I think you still haven’t responded to when @Ekopalypse asked,

What puzzles me a bit is the document monitor, when it is on, the document is read-only from the Npp point of view, isn’t it? If you are willing to explain in more detail what needs to be done, …

In case you didn’t understand, often times with document-monitoring turned on, the file is marked as read-only, so that Notepad++ cannot edit it while it’s being written to by some external process. Otherwise, you get in the dangerous condition where both the external process and Notepad++ both try to write the file to disk at the same time. It might be nice to know how often the external process writes to the file, because that might influence whether or not there’s enough time to safely run your commands and save the file before the next time that the external process writes to it. (Then again, since you seem able to run the macro manually between refreshes, without adverse effects, it’s probably okay for the script, too.)

The process you want, as I understand it:

The Document Monitor plugin will be used to refresh the contents of the editor window periodically
You want to check the contents after such a refresh, and see if the contents have changed
If they have changed, run the Macro you listed (or the equivalent translation into Python Script commands), then save the file
Repeat ad infinitum

Please answer about “read only” status, and please add any additional details not captured in my summary of the process. After that, there will probably be enough for someone who understands @Ekopalypse’s SC_MOD_INSERTCHECK suggestion to implement a possible script.

Alan Kilborn

@PeterJones

It might be nice to know how often the external process writes to the file, because that might influence whether or not there’s enough time to safely…

Here’s a hint:

the txt is updated every song change

I’m envisioning a DJ type situation, including disco ball…roughly 3 minute songs. Could be totally wrong, though!

Ekopalypse

Ok, I misunderstood what was meant by “Document Monitor”.
I assumed we are talking about this one

So, as @PeterJones already mentioned, this one is generating a buffer activated event, which means your could do something like this

from Npp import notepad, editor, NOTIFICATION
import hashlib

def md5sum(): return hashlib.md5(editor.getText()).hexdigest()

def on_buffer_activate(args):
    global CURRENT_HASH
    if args['bufferID'] == FILE_TO_BE_MONITORED:
        NEW_HASH = md5sum()
        if CURRENT_HASH != NEW_HASH:
            CURRENT_HASH = NEW_HASH
            notepad.runMenuCommand('Macro', 'YOUR_MACRO_NAME')

FILE_TO_BE_MONITORED = notepad.getCurrentBufferID()
CURRENT_HASH = md5sum()
notepad.callback(on_buffer_activate, [NOTIFICATION.BUFFERACTIVATED])

You have to give the document, which is monitored, the focus and run the script. I how this does what you want it to be done.

If you are running a localized version of npp, you need to replace Macro with the localized name.

Mirko Rossi

it seems not to work.
I created and ran the script from the plugin menu. Am I wrong some steps?

This is the script code:

from Npp import notepad, editor, NOTIFICATION
import hashlib

def md5sum(): return hashlib.md5(editor.getText()).hexdigest()

def on_buffer_activate(args):
    global CURRENT_HASH
    if args['bufferID'] == FILE_TO_BE_MONITORED:
        NEW_HASH = md5sum()
        if CURRENT_HASH != NEW_HASH:
            CURRENT_HASH = NEW_HASH
            notepad.runMenuCommand('\\SERVER\Disco_C\rds.txt', 'intero')

FILE_TO_BE_MONITORED = notepad.getCurrentBufferID()
CURRENT_HASH = md5sum()
notepad.callback(on_buffer_activate, [NOTIFICATION.BUFFERACTIVATED])

@Ekopalypse said in Macro script when txt content changes:

        notepad.runMenuCommand('Macro', 'YOUR_MACRO_NAME')

i think i didn’t understand how to compile

Ekopalypse

@Mirko-Rossi

\\SERVER\Disco_C\rds.txt is the file which is monitored, correct? And intero is the name of the macro?

If so, call notepad.runMenuCommand('Macro', 'intero')
but only, if Macro is the name of the menu.

Mirko Rossi

ok, it starts up but doesn’t work properly. The macro, if called manually, works correctly; if called via script (automatically) it compares badly.

I write an example…
Original txt, starting: “Shake you down - Gregory Abbott”
This is the result with the automatic script: Shake you dow - regory Abbott
This is the result if I run the macro manually: Gregory Abbott - Shake you down

strange, right?
thanks

Mirko Rossi

another example
txt original: “No woman no cry - Bob Marley”
no script: Bob Marley - No woman no cry
with script: No woman no cr - ob Marley

deletes one more character, next to the final leading quotes "

Ekopalypse

@Mirko-Rossi

that is strange, indeed. May I ask you how exactly you did it?
I expect the following:

The file \SERVER\Disco_C\rds.txt is open in npp.
You start the document monitor
You start the script via the PythonScript menu, BUT only once. If you call it multiple times, the macro will be called the same number of times. I should have mentioned that before, sorry.

For testing, open the PythonScript console (via menu) and run notepad.clearCallbacks() after each try to be sure that no
callback is active anymore. Or add this line before notepad.callback(on_buffer_activate, [NOTIFICATION.BUFFERACTIVATED])

Mirko Rossi

@Ekopalypse said in Macro script when txt content changes:

You start the script via the PythonScript menu, BUT only once. If you call it multiple times, the macro will be called the same number of times. I should have mentioned that before, sorry.

ahahah you are right :) The title and the interpreter are reversed twice … I should have guessed it.

It seems to work perfectly.
now, I just have a txt encoding problem but that goes beyond this post

thank you all