Regarding the deactivation: If you use the installer, NPP deems your plugin as not stable (and says so) and will move it to the disabled folder. Sad but true.

Regarding your scenario, it does not have anything to do with Autosave per se. In fact you will obtain the same behavior in normal use without Autosave enabled:

1. Double click files tab new file opens, called “new 1”
2. Manually save the file as “new 1”
3. Double click files tab again and a new file opens, called also “new 1”
4. Manually save the file as “new 1”… obviously it get overwritten

In some older version the new file created by NPP kept increasing so you would not get a second “new 1”.

I think what you want to do is create unique empty files and that is achieved using TakeNotes plugin.

• when losing focus
• All open files
• Overwrite existing file
• Save (overwrite) silently to tmp dir

Scenario:
Double click Files Tab, a new file opens called new1.

• Write something, NPP loses focus, file gets saved to tmp dir, overwriting existing one. Correct behavior.
• Double click files tab again, new file opens, also called new1
• type something, NPP loses focus and the new new1 overwrites the old new1 file.
  The new file creation with the same filename in such a way only happens if your plugin is activated.
  Normal behavior by NPP is to name the second new file new2.

I copied my last posts code into the machine startup.py, removed the user startup.py and have no more errors.
It was likely an indentation error on my side.

This is on Windows 10 64bit, npp 6.9.1.
Your ‘hack’ works way better than I would have hoped for.
Goodbye Autosave 1.4 by Franco Stellari.
I warmly welcome Autosave 1.0 by Claudia Frank!

Cheers
Martin

does this happen immediately and always when npp looses focus?
Or randomly?
Could you double check that saveFiles is part of the hook class? Indentation?
Do you use user startup or machine startup.py?
Just tested it on my windows 7 and npp 6.9.1 - it works.

Cheers
Claudia

I have worked all weekend long with your first code and never once had a problem!
This is working extremely well. Thank you.

Now, with your additional saveFiles I get the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "_ctypes/callbacks.c", line 314, in 'calling callback function'
  File "C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\plugins\Config\PythonScript\scripts\startup.py", line 33, in MyWndProc
    self.saveFiles()                                                            # we can start saving the files
AttributeError: Hook instance has no attribute 'saveFiles'

The complete startup.py looks like so now:

import ctypes, os                                                                           # import needed modules
from ctypes.wintypes import LONG, HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM                                # import needed types    

SetWindowLong = ctypes.windll.user32.SetWindowLongA                                         # used to subclass npp window
CallWindowProc = ctypes.windll.user32.CallWindowProcA                                       # used to send message to npp
FindWindow = ctypes.windll.user32.FindWindowA                                               # used to find npp window handle

WndProcType = ctypes.WINFUNCTYPE(LONG, HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM)                          # callback prototype

GWL_WNDPROC = -4                                                                            # used to set a new address for the window procedure
WM_ACTIVATEAPP = 0x001C                                                                     # message we are interested in

NewFileDir = 'F:\\npp\\'
NewFileExt = '.txt'

class Hook():                                                                               # hook class

    def __init__(self):                                                                     # class constructor
        self.nppHandle = FindWindow('Notepad++',None)                                       # find npp window handle and store it
        
    def register(self):                                                                     # function to register the hook, first
        self.newWndProc = WndProcType(self.MyWndProc)                                       # get the address of our wndproc
        self.oldWndProc = SetWindowLong(self.nppHandle, GWL_WNDPROC, self.newWndProc)       # register it and receive old wndproc address
        console.editor.setProperty('oldWndProc', self.oldWndProc)                           # store it to be able to unregister it needed
        
    def unregister(self):                                                                   # function to unregister hook
        self.prevWndProc = console.editor.getProperty('oldWndProc')                         # receive previously stored wndproc address
        dummy = SetWindowLong(self.nppHandle, GWL_WNDPROC, int(self.prevWndProc))           # register it - return isn't interesting 

    def MyWndProc(self, hWnd, msg, wParam, lParam):                                         # our own wndproc function receives windows messages
        if msg == WM_ACTIVATEAPP:                                                           # if it is WM_ACTIVATEAPP and 
            if wParam == False:                                                             # if wparam is false then npp has lost focus and
                self.saveFiles()                                                            # we can start saving the files

        return CallWindowProc(self.oldWndProc, hWnd, msg, wParam, lParam)                   # IMPORTANT we need to pass received msg to npp, otherwise npp will be blocked.

	def saveFiles(self):
		buf = notepad.getCurrentBufferID()                                                  # remember current document id
		
		for f in notepad.getFiles():                                                        # loop through all files and
			if os.path.isfile(f[0]):                                                        # check if file is real (no new X file)
				notepad.activateBufferID(f[1])                                              # if so, switch to the doc
				if notepad.getCurrentBufferID() == f[1]:                                    # and check if we have the focus we want (and ignore hidden files)
					notepad.save()                                                          # now save it.
			else:                                                                           # here <- looks like this is a new x file
				notepad.activateBufferID(f[1])                                              # switch to the doc
				if notepad.getCurrentBufferID() == f[1]:                                    # and check if we have the focus we want (and ignore hidden files)
					counter = 0                                                             # initial counter
					filename = f[0]                                                         # get filename from tuple
					while os.path.isfile(NewFileDir + filename + NewFileExt):               # loop - check if file already exists
						counter += 1                                                        # yes, increase counter
						filename = filename[:-1] + str(counter)                             # create new filename based on counter
					notepad.saveAs(NewFileDir + filename + NewFileExt)                      # filename is unique, now save it as ...
		
		notepad.activateBufferID(buf)                                                       # switch back to initial doc
        
_hook = Hook()                                                                              # get a instance of our class

if console.editor.getProperty('Hookstatus') != '1':                                         # see if this call is used to register or unregister our wndproc
    console.editor.setProperty('Hookstatus', '1')                                           # it is the first call or call to register it again
    _hook.register()                                                                        # let's do it
else:                                                                                       
    console.editor.setProperty('Hookstatus', '0')                                           # we should unregister our hook
    _hook.unregister()                                                                      # so we do it.

no, afaik I can’t force npp to open as new 2 or whatever needs to be open next but what we can do is to save it with the
next number by checking if a new 2 already exists.
Save function needs to be changed like

def saveFiles(self):
    buf = notepad.getCurrentBufferID()                                                  # remember current document id
    
    for f in notepad.getFiles():                                                        # loop through all files and
        if os.path.isfile(f[0]):                                                        # check if file is real (no new X file)
            notepad.activateBufferID(f[1])                                              # if so, switch to the doc
            if notepad.getCurrentBufferID() == f[1]:                                    # and check if we have the focus we want (and ignore hidden files)
                notepad.save()                                                          # now save it.
        else:                                                                           # here <- looks like this is a new x file
            notepad.activateBufferID(f[1])                                              # switch to the doc
            if notepad.getCurrentBufferID() == f[1]:                                    # and check if we have the focus we want (and ignore hidden files)
                counter = 0                                                             # initial counter
                filename = f[0]                                                         # get filename from tuple
                while os.path.isfile(NewFileDir + filename + NewFileExt):               # loop - check if file already exists
                    counter += 1                                                        # yes, increase counter
                    filename = filename[:-1] + str(counter)                             # create new filename based on counter
                notepad.saveAs(NewFileDir + filename + NewFileExt)                      # filename is unique, now save it as ...
    
    notepad.activateBufferID(buf)                                                       # switch back to initial doc

Cheers
Claudia

That appears to be working very well, thank you!
I have done some testing with remote files opened with WinSCP and that has also worked so far.
Very promising indeed.

The next step is to use it later today, doing some productive work in the way I usually do.

One thing I noticed is the new file creation.
Say, I double click the tab bar for a new file and it opens as ‘new 1’.
I enter some text and have it Autosave to ‘new 1.txt’. So far so good, works as intended.

Now I double click again for another new file and I get another instance of ‘new 1’.
Entering text and have it Autosave overwrites the existing and still open ‘new 1.txt’ file.
Is there any way you could know that npp should open ‘new 2’ instead of ‘new 1’ when the ‘new 1.txt’ is already open in npp?

I have tried this without the .txt extension by removing the " + NewFileExt" on line 48 of your code.
It is the same outcome.

this is not only a bit of a hack it is a serious hack you should know that it might be able that it will crash your
npp if something unforeseen happens.
The reason is because we subclass npps message queue which means npp doesn’t get the messages first,
python script plugin gets the messages and after checking if the message in question has been received it
passes it to npp. So be warned.

I wouldn’t recommend that you put the whole code into startup.py as long as you didn’t test if everything works as expected.
If you execute the script it registered the hook, it you run it another time it unregisters it and everything should be as it was before.

You only need to modify two variables.

NewFileDir = 'D:\\tests\\npp\\'
NewFileExt = '.txt'

NewFileDir should point to the directory where “New X” files should be stored and
NewFileExt which extension should be used.

import ctypes, os                                                                           # import needed modules
from ctypes.wintypes import LONG, HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM                                # import needed types    

SetWindowLong = ctypes.windll.user32.SetWindowLongA                                         # used to subclass npp window
CallWindowProc = ctypes.windll.user32.CallWindowProcA                                       # used to send message to npp
FindWindow = ctypes.windll.user32.FindWindowA                                               # used to find npp window handle

WndProcType = ctypes.WINFUNCTYPE(LONG, HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM)                          # callback prototype

GWL_WNDPROC = -4                                                                            # used to set a new address for the window procedure
WM_ACTIVATEAPP = 0x001C                                                                     # message we are interested in

NewFileDir = 'D:\\tests\\npp\\'
NewFileExt = '.txt'

class Hook():                                                                               # hook class

    def __init__(self):                                                                     # class constructor
        self.nppHandle = FindWindow('Notepad++',None)                                       # find npp window handle and store it
        
    def register(self):                                                                     # function to register the hook, first
        self.newWndProc = WndProcType(self.MyWndProc)                                       # get the address of our wndproc
        self.oldWndProc = SetWindowLong(self.nppHandle, GWL_WNDPROC, self.newWndProc)       # register it and receive old wndproc address
        console.editor.setProperty('oldWndProc', self.oldWndProc)                           # store it to be able to unregister it needed
        
    def unregister(self):                                                                   # function to unregister hook
        self.prevWndProc = console.editor.getProperty('oldWndProc')                         # receive previously stored wndproc address
        dummy = SetWindowLong(self.nppHandle, GWL_WNDPROC, int(self.prevWndProc))           # register it - return isn't interesting 

    def MyWndProc(self, hWnd, msg, wParam, lParam):                                         # our own wndproc function receives windows messages
        if msg == WM_ACTIVATEAPP:                                                           # if it is WM_ACTIVATEAPP and 
            if wParam == False:                                                             # if wparam is false then npp has lost focus and
                self.saveFiles()                                                            # we can start saving the files

        return CallWindowProc(self.oldWndProc, hWnd, msg, wParam, lParam)                   # IMPORTANT we need to pass received msg to npp, otherwise npp will be blocked.

    def saveFiles(self):
        buf = notepad.getCurrentBufferID()                                                  # remember current document id
        
        for f in notepad.getFiles():                                                        # loop through all files and
            if os.path.isfile(f[0]):                                                        # check if file is real (no new X file)
                notepad.activateBufferID(f[1])                                              # if so, switch to the doc
                if notepad.getCurrentBufferID() == f[1]:                                    # and check if we have the focus we want (and ignore hidden files)
                    notepad.save()                                                          # now save it.
            else:                                                                           # here <- looks like this is a new x file
                notepad.activateBufferID(f[1])                                              # switch to the doc
                if notepad.getCurrentBufferID() == f[1]:                                    # and check if we have the focus we want (and ignore hidden files)
                    notepad.saveAs(NewFileDir + f[0] + NewFileExt)                          # now save it as ...
        
        notepad.activateBufferID(buf)                                                       # switch back to initial doc
        
_hook = Hook()                                                                              # get a instance of our class

if console.editor.getProperty('Hookstatus') != '1':                                         # see if this call is used to register or unregister our wndproc
    console.editor.setProperty('Hookstatus', '1')                                           # it is the first call or call to register it again
    _hook.register()                                                                        # let's do it
else:                                                                                       
    console.editor.setProperty('Hookstatus', '0')                                           # we should unregister our hook
    _hook.unregister()                                                                      # so we do it.

If something is unclear, let me know.

Cheers
Claudia

Thanks for jumping in and maybe save me from a lot of headaches!
I am using the Python Plugin anyway, so this could work.

The basic functionality of saving all open files without a prompt would do.
That means it has to overwrite existing files.

There is the matter of new files, like new 1, new 2 and so forth. I use these a lot for temporary code and snippets for later use.
I have set Autosave to save those to a configured temp directory, using the name given when opening a new file. This also would overwrite existing files with the same name in that directory. Which I have no problem with as these are only session critical files for me.

Cheers
Martin

I never used autosave, so I don’t know its functionality.
Saving if npp looses focus, is this the only feature you need?
If so, do you care if this feature is called by a python script (python script plugin needs to be installed)?
Need to check a few things but I assume it is possible to realize.

Cheers
Claudia