Trying to catch MsgBox text and press button in xlwings - macros

Question

So I have some code which uses xlwings for writing data in Excel file, xlsm.
after i've done writing, I press a certain button to calculate.
sometimes, an error/message pops in the Excel, which is fine, but i want to catch this message to python, and write it later to a log/print it.
also, i need to interact with this message, in this case to press "Ok" in the message box
Attached image of the message box

Answer 1

So guys, I've been able to solve this with an external python library.
here is the code:
from pywinauto import application as autoWin
app = autoWin.Application()
con = app.connect(title = 'Configuration Error')
msgText = con.Dialog.Static2.texts()[0]
con.Dialog.Button.click()
con.Dialog.Button.click()
print(msgText)
basically, what it does, is connecting to the app, and searching for the title.
in this case "Configuration Error"
it needs to perform double click in order to press "Ok" to close the message.
Secondly, it gets the text from the message, and can forward it wherever i want.
important part to remember though, because this should be an automated task, it should run concurrently, which means Threading.
so, a simple Thread class below:
class ButtonClicker(Thread):
def __init__(self):
Thread.__init__(self)
self._stop_event = Event()
def stop(self):
self._stop_event.set()
def stopped(self):
return self._stop_event.is_set()
def run(self) -> None:
while True:
time.sleep(3)
try:
app = autoWin.Application()
con = app.connect(title='Configuration Error')
msg_data = con.Dialog.Static2.texts()[0]
while True:
con.Dialog.Button.click()
# con.Dialog.Button.click()
# print(msg_data)
return msg_data
except Exception as e:
print('Excel didnt stuck')
break
and of course to actually use it:
event_handle = ButtonClicker()
event_handle.start()
some manipulation is needed in order to work in different codes/scenarios, but at least I hope i will help others in the future, because this seems to be very common question.

Answer 2

#Danny's solution, i.e. pywinauto and Thread, works perfectly in my local machine, but it seems can't catch the message box when Excel is running in server mode, e.g. in my case, the automation is triggered in local and started by a system service installed in the server.
pywinauto.findwindows.ElementNotFoundError:
{'title': '<my-wanted-title>', 'backend': 'win32', 'visible_only': False}
It is finally solved with another python third-party library pywin32, so providing a backup solution here.
'''
Keep finding message box with specified title and clicking button to close it,
until stopped by the main thread.
'''
import time
from threading import Thread, Event
import win32gui
import win32con
class ButtonClicker(Thread):
def __init__(self, title:str, interval:int):
Thread.__init__(self)
self._title = title
self._interval = interval
self._stop_event = Event()
def stop(self):
'''Stop thread.'''
self._stop_event.set()
#property
def stopped(self):
return self._stop_event.is_set()
def run(self):
while not self.stopped:
try:
time.sleep(self._interval)
self._close_msgbox()
except Exception as e:
print(e, flush=True)
def _close_msgbox(self):
# find the top window by title
hwnd = win32gui.FindWindow(None, self._title)
if not hwnd: return
# find child button
h_btn = win32gui.FindWindowEx(hwnd, None,'Button', None)
if not h_btn: return
# show text
text = win32gui.GetWindowText(h_btn)
print(text)
# click button
win32gui.PostMessage(h_btn, win32con.WM_LBUTTONDOWN, None, None)
time.sleep(0.2)
win32gui.PostMessage(h_btn, win32con.WM_LBUTTONUP, None, None)
time.sleep(0.2)
if __name__=='__main__':
t = ButtonClicker('Configuration Error', 3)
t.start()
time.sleep(10)
t.stop()