I have a program that out of my control will bring up a message box (I didn't write or have source code)
I am trying to find out if it is possible to write a program (visual studio) that can at a set time, say every 10 minutes close all open applications(msgbox) but keep the process going? The application/task name is different to the process name.
It runs on XP and 7.
I've tried google but haven't managed to find what I'm after, all i can find is process kill. Not 100% sure on correct terminology.
You might be better-off writing a program that finds a current open dialog (window, messagebox, etc) and closing it. Sending an Esc keystroke is a pretty easy approach. Here is another SO article that talks about doing this: How to send a mouse click event to a hidden window?
Related
Okay, I have had the most aggravating problem with OpenFileDialog1. I have a program that I've been using for some 8 months, and in the past month, the program has begun to hang randomly when utilizing the OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog() function. I have already read through all of the other posts about multi-threaded vs single threaded application. This did not fix it. Enabling the "Show Help" button did not fix it. I am mostly at a loss. here is a thorough walkthrough of the bug:
Run the application. I can always use the Open File button a few times with no problems. It freezes randomly after the program has been running for awhile.
The freeze happens after I push the ShowDialog button, and never displays the Open File Dialog window. The entire program locks up and hangs. If I pause it, Visual Studio doesn't show an error. It underlines the OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog() in green, which is very odd.
I have found a way to break the freeze. Simply run a second instance of the program and use the OpenFileDialog function. As soon as it loads the file in the second instance, the first instance unfreezes. However, this is not a fix.
The only thing I can think of that may be causing this is the program also uses a WebBrowser1 control. It only seems to happen AFTER the WebBrowser control, which is on a seperate form, not the main form, has been initiated and utilized. Does this make any sense at all?
Thank you for anyone who can help me. I am about to tear my hair out.
Debug your program with dnspy, And when the software freezes, you will be able to see within the dnspy the actual code even if it is in a third party DLL.
I have solved this problem. It was quite unsolveable based on my description above, but hopefully I will help someone with this solution. The error is related to using the IE11 Emulation Control (11000) in the WebBrowser1 control. For some reason this interferes with OpenFileDialog and causes it to hang. I have no idea why. I changed my WebBrowser1 to use IE9 Emulation Control (9999) and the error has gone away. Thank you to those who looked into this. This is a registry entry in HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
I'm look for code which can help me accomplish what the title suggests.
I want this because I have an issue with a program which is quite buggy (it's a game), and if It freezes, and results in a black screen. Even after using Shift+Ctrl+Esc, Ctrl+Alt+Del, Alt+F4 and the rest of them, I acn't seem to end the program. So I thought that a KeyPress event would work, as it doesn't require me to use the UI in any way.
However, I've never used VB for anything other than Form's, so I have no idea how to start on something which runs in the background.
Thanks :)
A background app won't help in this case.
Ctrl+Alt+Del is specail key combo that is handled directly by Windows and can't be intercepted by a running program.
What this means is that if your game locks up and Ctrl+Alt+Del doesn't bring up the Windows menu, then the game has corrupted the system. The only fix at that point would be a restart.
That being said, you can kill a running process using VB.NET like this:
For Each program As Process In System.Diagnostics.Process.GetProcesses
If program.ProcessName = "ProcessName" Then
program.Kill()
End If
Next
Read more about it on the MSDN.
Okay, so Windows isn't actually locking up, but you just need some way to kill the process. Use the above code, replacing "ProcessName" with the name of your game process, and then either:
(basic) Turn the VB.NET code into an .exe file. Then set up a keyboard macro (using your keyboard software or some freeware) to launch the .exe you made which will kill all running instances of the given process. or...
(advanced) Import "user32.dll" into the VB.NET code, call SetWindowsHookEx with a hook id of 13, a pointer to a LowLevelKeyboardProc function, the handle to your running program, and a thread id of 0. Then, whenever a key is pressed in any program, your KeyboardProc function will be invoked. If the key(s) pressed match your desired kill-key combo, then run the above process killing code. This looks like it may give you more step-by-step instructions.
I picked vb.net for this question since it's the only prgramming language I am fairly familair with, but if C++ or something else is more suited for this, I am willing to learn something new.
What I am trying to do is:
Retrieve text from database (this already works in vb.net) and copy it to clipboard
Switch primary screen to the external application I want to work with (example: word or open office)
Emulate key-press Enter
Paste text and hit Enter again
Emulate key-press Ctrl and then emulate a click on a pre-defined spot on the screen (like 500pixels from left, 740pixels from top).
Save screenshot, using a second value from the database as the filename (the naming part should be easy)
Emulate another click on another pre-defined spot
Repeat for next text in database.
I wouldn't know where to start, though. I guess the most important part of what I'm trying to achieve is; switching focus to an external application and emulate keypresses and mouse clicks on it.
use http://www.autohotkey.com/
write a console app to get the value from the database
1 - get autohotkey to run the console app and put the return into the clipboard
then continue as described in your list.
Hi my program launches a 3rd party program with a few switches to update itself.
Once these updates are complete I need to manually click save from the applications menu. This can be done via the keyboard (Alt Gr + M then Alt Gr + S)
The application will take several seconds to load at which point the application will open maximised and the save option will be enabled.
Can anyone suggest a method or example for doing such a thing? Monitoring a lauched process? Macro?
Thanks.
I imagine that the most stable way of achieving this is to try to find out which message that is posted to the window when the save command is invoked. Then you can p/invoke SendMessage to send that message to the application window. That way you will not rely on that window being active for the command to be carried out properly.
My employer has purchased a third-party tool, OfficeConverter from Conveter Technology that automates the conversion / repair of Office 2003-formatted files to Office 2007 format. This tool also highly automates the translation / change in macro / VBA code requirements between Office 2003 and 2007 formats.
My problem is that during this conversion the tool is opening the targeted Office product, say Excel and is then opening the target user file (ie. Report.xls) and is then examining any VBA / macro code for change requirements. The problem is that IF the Excel file code is dependent upon some external tool like an .OCX file and if that tool doesn't exist on the PC that I'm performing this action on, Excel will pop up a message that the Object has not been found, stopping the entire conversion process (thousands of files in a row) until someone comes along and MANUALLY clicks the appropriate button to close the dialogue box.
I figured that creating a small watching application in VB6 (hey, I'm old and my skills are too) could sit on the same PC and watch for these dialogue boxes and, depending on the specific message, click the appropriate button via the SendMessage API call.
The problem is that I haven't been able to get SendMessage to actually PUSH the button for me, I've tried sending it the Return key value (vbKeyReturn) or even the Space key (vbKeySpace) but the action never results in the dialogue box closing like it should. I can get the focus to tab between whichever buttons on the dialogue box are enabled, but that is about it.
I've attempted to use SendKeys, but that is far less reliable and strongly discouraged in the current documentation that I've come across.
Any suggestions? :)
If you have the hWnd for the button, and the machine is unattended, you can easily use MouseEvent to move the cursor over the button and click it. This sample includes a drop-in ready module that'll do the dirty work for you given just the window handle:
http://vb.mvps.org/samples/MouseEvent
Otherwise, the most straightforward way is probably to just send WM_LBUTTONDOWN and WM_LBUTTONUP sequentially.
EDIT: If you "just want to get it done" take Jim's advice and try Gary Chanson's Window Demon tool.
Take a look at this utility "Window Demon" by Gary Chanson
Karl: how quickly we forget our pals!
I would suggest taking a look at AutoIt.
It is perfect for this task, look for a window with a particular text on it and click a button.
Runs in the system tray as a standalone application.