I am trying to automate a web process using selenium.
The process clicks an "upload image" button and then sends the file name to a Windows File Explorer Window.
My solution as of now is to use selenium to click the "upload image" button and then to use a VBscript, via the sendKeys command, to send the file name to the active windows file explorer window.
As others have noted this causes some issues, foremost of which is that accidently focusing on another window sends the keys to it instead of file explorer.
I'm trying to make this process less "hacky".
I know MS Edge uses a Windows Utilities subprocess to open the file explorer window.
As of now, I can get the Id of this subprocess, but in a round about way, namely, by finding the most recently created subprocess managed by the browser. Obviously, this is a far cry from automation.
Using windows PowerShell, I've I have not managed to locate any information about this subprocess that could help with my automation task. For example, I could not get any unique identifying characteristics of the subprocess other than its process Id and I can't access its standard input. So far, all I can do is kill the sub process.
What I'm looking for is a rough outline (no code, just an architectural overview) of what it would take to do in PowerShell, what MS edge does after invoking the Windows Utility subprocess to upload a file to a website.
If someone has any suggestions on books I can read, I'd appreciate that as well.
Just looking for someone to point me in the right direction, really.
Related
I first need to offer the disclaimer that I am barely a novice when it comes to scripting or coding, so I might be doing this all wrong in the first place. I'm running into an issue with a script I had written in powershell a while ago that is used on several hundred computers in my company daily to automate starting a certain app that everyone uses. So far everyone else hasn't had an issue except one machine.
Normally when I run the script, it starts the services and cli for the program which opens in a new window. Then the script, still open behind that, sends all of the key commands to that cli window, pauses for a brief line of user input after which it closes that cli window, does a few other clean up tasks and closes out itself.
The only difference on this one machine that's not working is the script won't pass the keystrokes to the cli window. If I put them in manually including the normal user input, it finishes the rest of the script just fine, but the cli window is just not receiving the keystroke input from the main script.
The only part of the script that send the keystrokes to the cli window is a few lines of this:
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("Text{Enter}")
I have tried using the sleep command before and in between the key commands to make sure it's not going through the keystrokes to early. I've checked and windows had gone through an Update two days ago, but we would've heard about this issue right then if that was it. I'm at a loss for what the issue could be and would apreciate and help, tips, or direction to help figure this one out.
Is the console window the active window when the keys are sent? The documentation for the class you are calling indicates that it sends the keys to the active window. Not only that, but the documentation also seems to indicate that there are some issues that developers have run into when using that class to sends keys. I would try using the autoit powershell module instead. Autoit is its own scripting language which specializes in automating windows processes and being capable of automating interactions with windows forms, but also comes bundled with its own powershell module that I think is exactly what you need, so I would download the portable "zip" package, extract the powershell module from "Autoitx", and that should help you accomplish what you need
PowerShell automation especially when using SendKeys can / is glitchy due to many varying reasons. Can you use SendKeys sure, but you have to know the environment it will be run in and the needed performance details. Hence your futzing/guessing with Sleep.
There are purpose-built tools to help.
Auto HotKey
'PowerShell auto hotkey'
or the UIAutomation tool
'PowerShell automating other applications'
I'd like to create a Powershell script to press the next button in an installation wizard.
I'm troubleshooting a script that a client wrote to help them automate the process of installing software. This script can allegedly fully install any program (with some small amount of customization from program to program).
Now I've gotten it to work to a point where it launches the install wizard, but then nothing happens. Their problem only happens further down the install process, but I can't seem to figure out why the first part of it being able to press next doesn't work.
I can provide code if necessary.
What line of code I should look for in the script that could make the script push the "next" and/or "continue" buttons?
Can you? Probably.
Powershell has access to .Net API and even native Windows API, so you could go low-level enough to enumerate windows in the installer window, find the window labeled 'Next' and send a pair of mouseDown, mouseUp events to the button.
Should you? Probably not.
As mentioned in comments, any good installer system supports some method of installing silently. MSI, if I recall correctly, has a way of recording manual steps performed by a user and store them in a Response File. Then you may pass the .rsp file in later executions of the installer.
See other answers:
How to make better use of msi files
Practically all of the exercises in my introductory Perl book have so far required taking input, which is causing me some challenges with Sublime Text 3. I set up the custom build file from this post to run scripts directly and I've also installed REPL on top of that, but I'm still unable to provide input through the bottom console.
Is there a way to enable input for scripts built via Ctrl+B, preferably with the console messages getting a little less in the way? I'm currently stuck with having to fire up the terminal every time, which doesn't make for a particularly smooth learning experience.
This doesn't really help you with your Sublime issue, but you mention firing up a terminal every time isn't helping you learn - here's the way I do it when I'm either learning or rapidly prototyping: Simply setup a folder on your local machine, called sync or something. Create a similar folder on your terminal server.
Now use an app (I use WinSCP and use Keep Remote Directory Up To Date setting) to sync. Every time you press save in your text editor, the new script is automatically uploaded to your terminal server, you can now just alt+tab to your terminal and run the script. Works very well for me and enabled really easy rapid prototyping.
I am not a programmer rather a designer but have been trying to write a .bat file for weeks to have two applications, which I specify, open automatically and snap to a scale of 80% left hand side and 20% for the second app on the right hand side. I have looked into multiple options without having any luck. Currently, I can create a script to open two files and automate key strokes to have them snap 50-50%, however I really need the 80-20% screen real estate. Any chance anyone would be able to help me out?
I am currently trying to use PowerShell with WASP (http://wasp.codeplex.com/) but scripting in this is beyond my knowledge. Many thanks!
You should try UI Automation PowerShell Extensions.
It supports testing for Metro Apps. The initial setup is a bit tedious (as described in the link provided) but it is well worth it. You have a UI action recording tool UIAutomationSpy which records all of your actions and generates corresponding PowerShell scripts. You can then run these scripts using the UIARunner tool.
With respect to the current problem, you could simulate the steps for snapping the apps using the recorder. You could then create a task which runs a batch file (executing the concerned script) on startup.
I'm opening a folder in Windows explorer from within matlab with the following line :
system('explorer.exe /select,./my_folder/my_file.tif');
It works well, even with the relative path for Matlab "current folder" with "./". Note that it also selects the specified file, which is what I want.
However, I would like to open this window only if the same path isn't already open. Right now, I get several copies of the same window and it's annoying. Do you know any way to do this ?
Thanks,
Ghislain
(Windows 8, Matlab R2011b 64bits)
Disclaimer
This is a partial answer. I don't know how to go on from here, but maybe it helps anyways. Your question is quite interesting to me, and it would make data-analysis a lot easier if changing between interfaces (Matlab/Explorer) were easier!
Some History
DDE is an ancient technology (16-bit Windows, yeah!) that enables Windows applications to talk to each other. DDE has been deperecated from Windows XP on, but it simply refuses to die.
One reason for DDE's longevity is that Windows Explorer still uses DDE a lot. For example, when you double-click a file, the Explorer sends a DDE command to Excel, telling it to open that file in the current Excel window.
How DDE might help you
Matlab's DDE support is officially deprecated. Maybe it would have disappeared completely, were it not for the fact that Explorer talks to Matlab via DDE messages!
You can reverse this process by telling initiating a DDE channel to the application "folders" about the topic "appproperties":
channel = ddeinit('folders', 'appproperties')
The "folders" application appears to be a synonym for "progman", the good ol' Windows 3 program manager. You can tell Explorer ("folders") to view a folder by executing
ddeexec(channel, '[ViewFolder("%l", c:\windows, 5)]')
If Explorer already points to that folder, no new window is opened. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you much more about that command. I don't know what that %l is doing there, or the 5 for that matter. The only thing I know is that ViewFolder can be replaced by ExploreFolder, in which case you always open a new window, and that window always shows the folder tree structure on the left pane.
More Information
The most important DDE-related functions are ddeinit, ddeexec, and ddeterm. Their documentation is buried inside the .m files of those functions. You can view the .m files by simply executing
edit ddeinit
Yair Altman has some more info on Matlab's DDE capabilities. What DDE commands are understdood by Explorer evades me. I assembled my example from what I found here.