I have some code that unpins and pins items from the task bar and start menu, which I run using Remoting, as a means of cleaning up lab machines between sessions. It works great, other than I need to log off and back on to see the changes. This is somewhat similar to another bit of code I have, which changes the icon of a shortcut in order to "badge" it as an updated file. That code also requires a refresh, but there I am able to use a technique I found here...This does a refresh of Explorer and the desktop shortcut shows up correctly. However, the same code does not do a refresh of the task bar it seems. I also found this, which also seems to not impact the Taskbar.
Also, this is related to the Remoting, because when I run the same code "locally" no refresh is needed. So, curious if anyone knows a way to directly refresh the task bar (and Start Menu) via Remoting? Or am I going to need to brute force it and just log the user off?
Well, this is interesting, and proof that sometimes we look for complex solutions to simple problems. All the examples I found are pretty complex, but what works fine is simply this...
Stop-Process -processName: Explorer
No need even to restart, as Explorer restarts automatically and near instantly.
Related
I am plagued by a very strange phenomenon. I tend to write fairly esoteric Powershell modules for stuff I do at work. Often, after running one of these, and the module has ended I will move onto some other tasks, and when I happen to bring up my Powershell console window again, several blank lines (or just blank "space") will have appeared in the buffer. It never appears right away, which is the most confounding part.
Afterwards, the blinking cursor exists at the end of this blank space, and the blank space cannot be "backspaced" (so it's not something inadvertently entering spaces or newlines). It's just there, as part of the buffer. I usually just clear the screen with cls to keep it from annoying me.
I used to just chalk this up to the buggy Windows Powershell 5.1 buffering. However now that I've begun using Powershell 7 (and Windows Terminal), I see that the issue still exists.
Here is a screenshot of a v7 Windows Terminal tab an hour or so after my module finished running:
Sometimes it seems the longer I wait the more blank space has appeared. Here is a screenshot of the same console tab about 20 hours later:
I'm sorry I don't have a better way of explaining this. I realize that without any code or pattern to analyze, that this is a very poor question, by SO standards, but I am just as confused as you are. The only pattern I've noticed is that this only seems to happen after I run my various custom modules. However this accounts for the majority of my Powershell usage, so it might be a red herring.
Usually my modules simply do some processing (talking to computers, AD, etc) and just output some information via Write-Host, and occasionally output a [PSCustomObject], which I always capture in a variable. Even if I was accidentally outputting some blank lines or something to the pipeline, I can't see how that would manifest as blank buffer space that grows over time. I thought maybe I was incorrectly killing async jobs or something and that was somehow causing this, but this happens even in purely synchronous code.
To be clear, in the screenshots above there is no code actually running. That module was the only thing I had run in this particular console tab/session, and it doesn't run any background processes. So I can't understand why the buffer is changing all on its own. In both screenshots, the tab/window is the same size as it was when the module first completed, so it's not just a bunch of spaces in the buffer that are being dynamically resized. And as noted, when the module fist completed there were NO rogue characters in the buffer at all.
One other thing about my usage is that it's all done on a remote VM, accessed through RDP, which I use daily. The only other thing I can think of is that maybe something about the console window being minimized/maximized/resized, the resolution changing, or the login session being connected/reconnected has something to do with it.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? Any ideas for what could be causing this or what I can try to understand the behavior better are much appreciated.
I've confirmed that this actually happens as a direct result of simply "restoring" and "maximizing" the Powershell console window and/or Windows Terminal window. When the issue is "present", doing this will often add another "set" of blank space to the buffer before the cursor. Minimizing seems to have no effect, only going from maximized to "restored" and back to maximized.
I've also confirmed that this has nothing to do with my custom modules. I can replicate the issue by simply opening a fresh, maximized console window/tab, running get-process and then "restoring" and maximizing. It doesn't happen every time though.
It also has nothing to do with my custom profile script, as it happens even on a freshly-imaged computer with no profile.
At this point I'm going back to blaming it on buffer/rendering/window manager implementation bugs in powershell and moving on with my life.
With Pry (but also with Rubymine), I'm trying to debug a certain point in the code (using binding.pry). After calling Capybara's save_screenshot, I'm unable to execute any Capybara related commands (all commands die on time-out). This works out of a "debug mode" and in other web-drivers like Poltergeist.
I took a couple of hours today trying to debug it. I think I found the problem - or at least a way around it.
Our web site has a couple of links that open content in another browser window. Since the automation is quite ancient, and in that time Selenium didn't have a decent way to switch window-context, what we do is to visit the opened page by URL, and by this keep only a single window open at any given time.
This works, but something strange happens when running this test on "debug mode" (using binding.pry for example). Right before we do any actions on that specific page, we take a screen-shot using Capybara's save_screenshot method. On debug this results a corrupted image, and any following Capybara methods will fail on time-out. Opening this page using the link, and handling the windows context switching with Capybara's handle_window method solves the issue. It's still a mystery why it only happens with Capybara wekit though (as other web-drivers work properly). I'm guessing that perhaps the DOM might be structured differently.
I'm still studying for my computer science degree and have mostly focused on the mathematics side of things for now. However, in my current job I am working with Selenium IDE (specifically because it doesn't require coding knowledge) and I'm having a bit of trouble:
I need to test a Shift + click as well as a cherry-pick (Control + click) command on the web-based software we are creating, but it's not working. Manually pressing control and then clicking different elements on the screen works fine, however.
Like I said, I'm using Selenium IDE 2.9.1, and I'm using it on Firefox 50.0.2 on a Windows 10 install. My commands on that section are as follows:
Screenshot of the IDE command
The idea, obviously, being to select the object named Field1, depressing the Ctrl key, selecting the object named Field2 and then releasing the Ctrl key. This should, theoretically anyway (and does work when done manually outside of the IDE), select Field1 and then cherry-pick Field2 from the list as well.
This, however, is not the case, and it doesn't work.
Can anyone, please, advise me on how to proceed here? Should the commands be structured differently? Am I using the incorrect commands? Is there something else I can try?
As a PS: The same issue persists with the shiftKeyDown command as well.
I have searched for this issue online and found no help that actually works for me yet, hence this post.
I am looking forward to your replies, in the hope that I can find success... :)
I think that it is a Selenium IDE original command problem.
When you tried to simulate pressing Ctrl key and used "controlKeyDown/Up" command, it just changed the boolean value and did not fired a real key down/up event. Also Shift and Alt key could not work.
Maybe you should try to add a "keyDown/Up" command after "controlKeyDown/Up" command and the target could be //body .
And, if you need, please try to use the tool, SideeX, the extended version of Selenium IDE. Maybe this problem will be solve in the future and make the test case flexible. Here is the link to SideeX and there are more details about the tool.
OK, I found the solution.
When compiling the tests I test them by running through them step by step to ensure that everything is working like it should, before saving it to a test suite and letting it run on it's own. Now, this involves me double-clicking every command in the Table one by one, in sequence, and keeping and eye on the screen to ensure that it executes and behaves exactly like I want it to. Simple, understandable, logical, correct?
Well, it seems like the controlKeyDown and controlKeyUp commands DO NOT WORK in this way.
I built a bare-minimum test case using only the 4 commands: click the element, controlKeyDown, click the next element, controlKeyUp. I ran through the test a hundred times with no success, but then I started thinking - what if the controlKeyDown command is never released? That would cause issues outside of the test (on the rest of the environment, obviously), since the Ctrl key would be permanently depressed. So I figured that the Selenium IDE either 1. Releases the key in a short amount of time automatically (faster than I can execute the command to click the next element manually) or 2. It simple ignores the controlKeyDown command if it's not run in a complete test case/suite.
So I took the 4-line test case, built up a test screen with test grid elements and ran the test case - and it works. Perfectly, actually.
So, in case anyone has similar issues in the future, try to RUN the test case instead of clicking through it or executing commands manually.
We have a new server running and we got some new programs doing import routines. So far so good... But there is one program that is put into autostart folder. So it doesn't run until admin logs in and it stops if we logout.
I'd like to put this one into a seperate session so it may work without any interaction by simply starting it with the task scheduler at startup. Is this the right way to do this? Is it safe if I log in later and log out?
Many thanks!
Edit: The applications shows as a symbol in the task bar if running, it can be configured by this. Anything I must know about this if I change?
Edit: It is not my application, I cannot rewrite it as a service.
I successfully added the application by using task schelduler on startup. Login and logout will not quit the application but no symbol is shown. Please add details to my side questions and I'll mark your answer as the accepted one.
Edit: Ended up using this one. If I have to configure, I stop the application in task manager and start it again by link. After that I quit the application and restart it by task scheduler manual start.
You need to run your program as a Windows Service. One way of doing it is using the sc.exe program:
> sc create <new_service_name> binPath= "c:\myapp\myapp.exe"
You can read about it here.
You need to separate your application in two.
To allow it to run without a user session, you need a windows service. That should handle all the background stuff. You can then register the service and set it to start when the system starts.
To allow it to have a UI, and show up in the notification area, you need a windows application. This will be in autostart as usual, and will communicate with the service - for example, over named pipes.
While it is still (barely) possible to run an UI application without a user session, it's only maintained for backwards compatibility, and already shows a lot of problems. It will likely be removed altogether in the future, because it breaks quite a few contracts. Do not rely on hacks like this.
I also used the task scheduler to create the application at system startup. It should be noted that if you want to use for mining, you have to disable an option in "settings" where it says that if the application lasts more than three days in a row it will end.
It really works wonderfully!
it is a old question but I recently solved in another way...
(before I was using a scheduled-task for startup but this gave me diverse problems with lots software...)
Some programs also for diverse reasons must be run at a user level... or even inside a specific user session...
So the best way I found was to use a tool like Sysinternal/Autoruns to program the auto-logon to a specific user (it is a registry setting)... and in the startup-folder of that user (or any other "autorun/autolaunch" task)... run a script that first locks the screen... and next runs the other intended programs... that will run under that user profile...
so you can choose a standard user or a administrator... or even launch programs from a standard user in adminsitrator mode...
I hope will help...
This "hack" solved me many problems with startup apps...
I could not get the "sc create" command to work. Instead I manually edited the registry using regedit. I added a new key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services.
I used the following page to figure out required parameters and their values. Note that the names do not map.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/install/inf-addservice-directive
Old question, but for anyone that stumbles here. Use srvany to set the program as a custom service.
Note that when you do this with for example dropbox, googledrive, etc., you will need stop the service, then open the program normally to make changes like password, updates, etc.
below is a well enough intro.
https://www.iceflatline.com/2015/12/run-a-windows-application-as-a-service-with-srvany/
Download the tool kit here
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17657
Convert user application to Service and Register it using Regsvr32 or installutil.exe. It will start the service using SYSTEM user account. Which is a high privilege account.
Note : You can`t run any Window based application. Even a Message only window.
I am developing in PHP with Xdebug and for some reason every now and then the debug session stops working, so i click again the debug button but it gives me this error all the time "Web launch already running", so i have to go to Debug Perspective and click "Terminate and Relaunch".
Is there a way to make eclipse automatically terminate and relaunch or launch two sessions or don't show this popup, for 2 years this popup has been bugging me xD
As noted in response to questions like this one and this one, the best current solution appears to be binding "Terminate and Relaunch" to a keyboard shortcut.
Not automatic, but at least a lot less clicking around.
I have taken care of pesky popups in Eclipse with AutoHotkey script which have worked very well. I could create an AutoHotkey script which sends specific keystrokes automatically every time there is a specific pop-up.
So the flow I had in mind was as follows :
You click on the debug button -> The Error popup appears and as soon as that happens the AutoHotKey script kicks in and automatically does what you have to do manually.
If you think that might be worth looking into then we can talk more in a Chat session somewhere. I would need some information about the Pop up using the AU3_Spy.exe bundled with the AutoHotkey Installer.
Searching on Google, I found that many people have the same problem.
Bellow are some links that help you, I think:
https://aptanastudio.tenderapp.com/discussions/questions/123-definitive-installation-guide-for-php-debugging-on-linuxubuntu
A good article: http://www.latenightpc.com/blog/archives/2008/05/24/a-complete-lamp-development-environment-xampp-eclipse-pdt-and-xdebug
See this, too: http://www.eclipse.org/forums/index.php/m/57493/
Take a look here, too: Getting error in XDEBUG
So, read and try, read and try.