How to close the xxxxx.exe terminal window without killing the xxxxx process? - emacs

Question

How does this Emacs command (make-comint-in-buffer "Python" nil "python" nil "-i") or (make-comint-in-buffer "git" nil "C:/Program Files (x86)/Git/bin/sh.exe" nil "--login" "-i") manage to get the prompt in an Emacs buffer and get ride of it's, Python's/sh.exe's, interactive terminal without killing the Python process?
I tried to figure out by taking a shallow dive into make-comint-in-buffer's source code but bumped into processp, which is C compiled code, whose source I couldn't find.
The reason I am asking this question is to find an alternative answer to this question without using pythonw (their aint a mayapyw.exe to mayapy.exe for example).

Answer 1

Emacs uses the SHOWWINDOW flag to CreateProcess to control display of the console window associated with a subprocess.
The key code from create_child in w32proc.c is:
if (NILP (Vw32_start_process_show_window) && !is_gui_app)
start.dwFlags = STARTF_USESTDHANDLES | STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW;
else
start.dwFlags = STARTF_USESTDHANDLES;
start.wShowWindow = SW_HIDE;
if (!CreateProcess (exe, cmdline, &sec_attrs, NULL, TRUE, flags, env, dir, &start, &cp->procinfo))
{ ...
}

Answer 2

I can only guess how that Emacs command works, so can't really help you there... But however, I can provide you with a way to hide a window. That is possible by using the CTypes module and call the Windows-API to get the Window/Python-prompts ID/Hwin, and then hide that window.
This forces you to import/or include this piece of code in your script, and then call a function/do a little something in your script. Once your script is run, this should hide the prompt. See "main.py"-part for usage.
Window.py
from ctypes import *
user32 = windll.user32
BOOL = c_bool
INT = c_int
LONG = c_long
LPVOID = c_void_p
LPTSTR = c_wchar_p
HWND = LPVOID
LPARAM = LPVOID
GW_OWNER = 4
GWL_EXSTYLE = -20
WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW = 128
WS_EX_APPWINDOW = 262144
#------------------------------------------------------------------------
def GetWindowLong(hwnd, index):
user32.GetWindowLongW.argtypes = [HWND, INT]
return user32.GetWindowLongW(hwnd, index)
def GetWindow(hWnd, uCmd):
user32.GetParent.argtypes = [HWND, INT]
return user32.GetWindow(hWnd, uCmd)
def GetParent(hwnd):
user32.GetParent.argtypes = [HWND]
return user32.GetParent(hwnd)
def IsWindowVisible(hwnd):
user32.IsWindowVisible.argtypes = [HWND]
return user32.IsWindowVisible(hwnd)
def GetWindowTextLength(hwnd):
user32.GetWindowTextLengthW.argtypes = [HWND]
return user32.GetWindowTextLengthW(hwnd)
def GetWindowText(hwnd):
length = GetWindowTextLength(hwnd)
if not length: return False
buff = create_unicode_buffer(length + 1)
user32.GetWindowTextW.argtypes = [HWND, LPTSTR, INT]
res = user32.GetWindowTextW(hwnd, buff, length + 1)
if res: return buff.value
else: return False
def isRealWindow(hwnd):
""" Check if a given window is a real Windows application frame..
Returns a BOOL """
if not IsWindowVisible(hwnd):
return False
if GetParent(hwnd) != 0:
return False
hasNoOwner = GetWindow(hwnd, GW_OWNER) == 0
lExStyle = GetWindowLong(hwnd, GWL_EXSTYLE)
if (((lExStyle & WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW) == 0 and hasNoOwner)
or ((lExStyle & WS_EX_APPWINDOW != 0) and not hasNoOwner)):
if GetWindowText(hwnd):
return True
return False
class WindowEnumerator(object):
""" Window enumerator class. You can pass it's instances
as callback functions in window enumeration APIs. """
def __init__(self):
self.hwnd = []
def __call__(self, hwnd, lParam):
self.hwnd.append(hwnd)
return True
class __EnumWndProc(WindowEnumerator):
pass
def EnumWindows():
WNDENUMPROC = WINFUNCTYPE(BOOL,HWND,LPARAM)
_EnumWindows = user32.EnumWindows
_EnumWindows.argtypes = [WNDENUMPROC, LPARAM]
_EnumWindows.restype = BOOL
EnumFunc = __EnumWndProc()
lpEnumFunc = WNDENUMPROC(EnumFunc)
if not _EnumWindows(lpEnumFunc, None):
errcode = GetLastError()
if errcode not in (ERROR_NO_MORE_FILES, ERROR_SUCCESS):
raise WinError(errcode)
return EnumFunc.hwnd
def GetWindowByName(title):
window = []
hwnds = EnumWindows()
for hwnd in hwnds:
if not isRealWindow(hwnd):
pass
else:
wndtitle = GetWindowText(hwnd)
if title.lower() in wndtitle.lower():
return (hwnd, wndtitle)
return False
def ShowWindow(hWnd, arg=0):
user32.ShowWindow.argtypes = [HWND, c_int]
return user32.ShowWindow(hWnd, arg)
main.py
import Window
# Pass the full or partial title of the window that should be hidden.
wnd = Window.GetWindowByName('xxxxxxx.exe')
if wnd:
Window.ShowWindow(wnd[0], 0) #Hide it. 0=SW_HIDE, 5 = SW_SHOW.
I hope this does the trick.