Finding available shortcut keys (originally "Where's the 'New Window' command?")

PeterJones · Jan 11, 2023, 2:45 PM

Was your screenshot created with the Tkinter library, or with raw calls to the TaskDialog? If with raw calls, could you share the code (as a gist if it’s too long to fit nicely in the forum)?

Ekopalypse · Jan 11, 2023, 4:39 PM

@Alan-Kilborn

I don’t use Tkinter either, but as you said it is an alternative.
90% of my scripts I use have a configuration section, so no dialog at all. The rest use dialogs like the task dialog.
Just my preference - could be done differently.

@PeterJones

The screenshot with the TaskDialog was created with ctypes and the corresponding Win32 API calls.
Give me a few minutes to create a standalone, callable version. I’ll post the link to the gist once I’m done.

Ekopalypse · Jan 11, 2023, 6:42 PM

@PeterJones

tested with PS 2 and 3.
Note the comment on FindResourceExA
If something is unclear, let me know.

Alan Kilborn · Jan 11, 2023, 7:07 PM

@Ekopalypse said:

(provided code link)
tested with PS 2 and 3.
Note the comment on FindResourceExA
If something is unclear, let me know.

I’m sure it works great.
IMO though, it seems “heavy”.
But…it depends on how much effort one wants to put in, I guess.

I mean, that is a lot of lines of code, just for a UI for a script.
When considering that the non-UI part of the code is only going to add to that already large line count, well…

Also, there’s no “edit box” type of input demo’d, which seems kind of important when one considers what we’ve been able to do in the past to gather user input from the workhorse notepad.prompt() function.

This is by no means an insult to the code provided, just some comments…

Ekopalypse · Jan 11, 2023, 7:17 PM

@Alan-Kilborn

Yes, it is larger than a “prompt” solution, and the TaskDialog is strictly defined by MS. You can only have what it provides.

If you want a custom dialog, you have to wrap DialogBoxes
but that is just as heavy, if not heavier, than the TaskDialog.

The prompt solution may be fine for simple scripts, but as soon as you need to parameterize a script with different settings depending on different models, it is much easier to use a guided dialog, at least in my opinion.

Alan Kilborn · Jan 11, 2023, 9:12 PM

@Ekopalypse said in Finding available shortcut keys (originally “Where’s the ‘New Window’ command?”):

The prompt solution may be fine for simple scripts

“Simple” scripts are really all we should be doing, with a tool such as the PythonScript plugin.

Of course, and probably more of late, some of mine haven’t exactly been “simple”, so I’m a violator of my above edict. :-)

And maybe sadly, I’ve got a doozy in the in-progress pipeline. Maybe my excuse for it is, let’s push the limits of a PS.

But maybe my overall point is, if I can keep the UI relatively simple-minded, I can spend more time on the “meat” of whatever the script is trying to accomplish.

Others can go off and make the UI part as polished (and as complicated and lengthy) as they want to, in their own scripts.

Ekopalypse · Jan 11, 2023, 7:22 PM

@Alan-Kilborn said in Finding available shortcut keys (originally “Where’s the ‘New Window’ command?”):

Of course, and probably more of late, some of mine haven’t exactly been “simple”

:-D for sure !! :-D

TBugReporter · Jan 12, 2023, 3:59 AM

@Ekopalypse said in Finding available shortcut keys (originally "Where's the 'New Window' command?"):

As for sys.exit, I found out that calling a “main” function and returning from that function serve the same purpose.

Due to the scope errors I’ve been getting, I decided to forego that, and just put everything as immediate commands.

@Alan-Kilborn said in Finding available shortcut keys (originally “Where’s the ‘New Window’ command?”):

I’m sure it works great.
IMO though, it seems “heavy”.

At 445 lines for do-nothing sample code, “heavy” seems an understatement. 😁

@TBugReporter said in Finding available shortcut keys (originally “Where’s the ‘New Window’ command?”):

How can I prematurely end my script (if something weird happens)?

Here’s what I came up with for this:

def bailout(msg):                               # routine to display error message and exit
    print(msg)                                  # duplicate msg to console
    notepad.messageBox(msg, "Error", 0)
    user32.keybd_event(VK_MENU,   0, 0,     0)  # press alt key
    user32.keybd_event(VK_P,      0, 0,     0)  # press P key (to activate "Plugins" menu)
    user32.keybd_event(VK_P,      0, KEYUP, 0)  # release P key
    user32.keybd_event(VK_MENU,   0, KEYUP, 0)  # release alt key
    user32.keybd_event(VK_P,      0, 0,     0)  # press P key (to activate "Python Script" submenu)
    # above assumes no other Plugins starting with "P" are installed
    user32.keybd_event(VK_P,      0, KEYUP, 0)  # release P key
    user32.keybd_event(VK_RIGHT,  0, 0,     0)  # press cursor right key (to enter submenu)
    user32.keybd_event(VK_RIGHT,  0, KEYUP, 0)  # release cursor right key
    user32.keybd_event(VK_DOWN,   0, 0,     0)  # press cursor down key
    user32.keybd_event(VK_DOWN,   0, KEYUP, 0)  # release cursor down key
    user32.keybd_event(VK_DOWN,   0, 0,     0)  # press cursor down key again (to move to "Stop Script")
    user32.keybd_event(VK_DOWN,   0, KEYUP, 0)  # release cursor down key
    user32.keybd_event(VK_RETURN, 0, 0,     0)  # press enter key
    user32.keybd_event(VK_RETURN, 0, KEYUP, 0)  # release enter key

Ekopalypse · Jan 12, 2023, 5:43 AM

@TBugReporter

… or you could have used

notepad.runPluginCommand('Python Script', 'Stop Script')

TBugReporter · Jan 12, 2023, 6:27 AM

@Ekopalypse

(When the only tools you know about are hammers, all your problems tend to look like nails.)

And now, question number umpteen-plus-one, regarding this part of your script:

    sk_mapper_hwnd = user32.FindWindowW(None, u'Shortcut mapper')
    if not sk_mapper_hwnd:
        print('Shortcut mapper was not found')
        return

    sys_tab_hwnd = user32.FindWindowExW(sk_mapper_hwnd, None, u'SysTabControl32', None)
    if not sys_tab_hwnd:
        print('SysTabControl32 was not found')
        return

    item_count = user32.SendMessageW(sys_tab_hwnd, TCM_GETITEMCOUNT, 0, 0)
    if not item_count:
        print('TCM_GETITEMCOUNT returned 0')
        return

    babygrid = user32.FindWindowExW(sk_mapper_hwnd, None, u'BABYGRID', None)
    if not babygrid:
        print('BABYGRID was not found')
        return

I’d like to add “Abort, Retry, Ignore?” dialogs to these, but I’m getting tripped up on the “Retry” part. What would you consider to be the best practice for this?

Ekopalypse · Jan 12, 2023, 1:51 PM

@TBugReporter

something like this

while True:
    result = notepad.messageBox('','', MESSAGEBOXFLAGS.ABORTRETRYIGNORE)
    if result != MESSAGEBOXFLAGS.RESULTRETRY:
        break

Alan Kilborn · Jan 12, 2023, 1:51 PM

It boggles the mind that someone would ever think to use the Stop Script menu item, in code, to “bail out”. Just write code that nicely returns, like @Ekopalypse 's main example from earlier. Stop Script should only be run from the menus as a last resort, a “kill my script” kind of thing. And I don’t think I’ve ever had a need to use it.

TBugReporter · Jan 12, 2023, 11:42 PM

@Ekopalypse said in Finding available shortcut keys (originally “Where’s the ‘New Window’ command?”):

while True:
    result = notepad.messageBox('','', MESSAGEBOXFLAGS.ABORTRETRYIGNORE)
    if result != MESSAGEBOXFLAGS.RESULTRETRY:
        break

Okay, but where do I put the code that I want it to retry, and where do I put the code that tests whether to show the MessageBox? (without having to duplicate either of those?)

@Alan-Kilborn said in Finding available shortcut keys (originally “Where’s the ‘New Window’ command?”):

It boggles the mind

Yeah, but isn’t it nice to know that your mind can still be boggled? 😁

Stop Script should only be run from the menus as a last resort

This was a stopgap measure for me - a placeholder until I could understand my difficulties with scope for variables. I think I got that under control; I just need to test it out and then I’ll do like you said.

PeterJones · Jan 12, 2023, 11:55 PM

@TBugReporter said in Finding available shortcut keys (originally “Where’s the ‘New Window’ command?”):

Okay, but where do I put the code that I want it to retry

while True:
    result = notepad.messageBox('','', MESSAGEBOXFLAGS.ABORTRETRYIGNORE)
    if result != MESSAGEBOXFLAGS.RESULTRETRY:
        break
    # code to redo goes here

or alternately, if it makes more sense to you,

while True:
    result = notepad.messageBox('','', MESSAGEBOXFLAGS.ABORTRETRYIGNORE)
    if result == MESSAGEBOXFLAGS.RESULTRETRY:
        # code to redo goes here
    else:
        break
    # code to redo goes here

TBugReporter · Jan 13, 2023, 1:15 AM

@PeterJones

It seems to me that that structure won’t do the “code to redo” a first time without first putting up the A/R/I box…?

PeterJones · Jan 13, 2023, 1:15 AM

@TBugReporter ,

It seems to me that that structure won’t do the “code to redo” a first time without first putting up the A/R/I box…?

Then put the code in whatever order you think is logical for your needs.

while True:
   # code to do every loop goes here 
   result = notepad.messageBox('','', MESSAGEBOXFLAGS.ABORTRETRYIGNORE)
   if result != MESSAGEBOXFLAGS.RESULTRETRY:
        break

TBugReporter · Jan 13, 2023, 7:53 AM

@PeterJones
I’ve now tried this …

def bailout(msg):
    print(msg)
    user_response = notepad.messageBox(msg, "Error", MB_CANCELTRYCONTINUE | MB_ICONWARNING)
    if user_response == MB_RESULTCANCEL:
        notepad.runPluginCommand('Python Script', 'Stop Script')
    else:
        return user_response

def main():
    # ...
    while True:
        sk_mapper_hwnd = user32.FindWindowW(None, u"Shortcut mapper")
        if not sk_mapper_hwnd:
            action_to_take = bailout("Mapper window not found!")
        if action_to_take != MB_RESULTTRYAGAIN:
            break
    # ...

… but that gives me …

UnboundLocalError: local variable 'action_to_take' referenced before assignment

Where did I go wrong?

Ekopalypse · Jan 13, 2023, 12:08 PM

@TBugReporter

Scope problem. An if-block introduces a new scope and the variables defined there are only valid within this scope. Either the comparison with MB_RESULTTRYAGAIN is indented to have it in the same scope, or action_to_take must be defined at the same scoping level as the comparison.

Alan Kilborn · Jan 13, 2023, 12:15 PM

I don’t know that I like the trend of this thread. It seems we’re teaching Python??

Mendella Replacement · Jan 13, 2023, 4:26 PM

@Alan-Kilborn please can i get your attention? I need help pls