I am writing a python script that automates running a program and performing different tasks within the program. My main problem is figuring out how to click buttons and interact with the GUI of the program to be controlled.
I am currently using the pyautogui library and using pyautogui.click(X,Y) to advance through prompts and click on different menus and menu items. The problem with this approach is that I am relying on a separate script to inform me of the coordinates of interest in my environment by telling me the coordinates of where my cursor is hovering. This probably will not work on other machines and just seems like a one case solution.
My question is how can I automate using a program in windows (clicking around) without having to hard code the exact position of the items I need to click?
For example, If I need to click a "ok" box to accept some setting, how can I make Windows grab the program window, read through the options and click what I need without any prior knowledge of the position of the dialog box and where the "Ok" button is located?
Code:
import pyautogui as gui
gui.click(x,y)
The way you can do this using pyautogui is with their locating methods. You will need a picture (for example of the OK box) and then you can have pyautogui find it on the screen and give you its coordinates. Check out the official documentation on this.
I am working on automating program that requires choosing file path.
After I click the browse button using code:
dlg.child_window(auto_id='btnBrwsBinFile').click()
browse window opens and freeze execution of code and I cannot control the popup window.
I have tried also different approach. I have edited text filed using code:
dlg['Edit'].set_text(path)
but then program do not see the path, it treats the field like it was never edited, like it was empty
I would like to ask if someone solved this issue before.
try:
dlg.child_window(title='btnBrwsBinFile').click_input()
pywinauto documentation：https://pywinauto.readthedocs.io/en/latest/code/pywinauto.findwindows.html
You can use UISpy.exe to get the title, class name
I'm trying to find a way to make my automation bot faster I realized that by searching only within the application window instead of the whole screen would give it a speed post how can i do it
You need to give us some code or what you already tried.
But you could use pywinauto package to use the application you want. For more details please check the How does it work.
You can get all applications open from Desktop function as:
from pywinauto import Desktop
windows = Desktop(backend="uia").windows()
window = [w.window_text() for w in windows]
So if you print(window) you will have for example:
['Zoom', 'python - how do i use Pyautogui locate on screen function within only one application window instead of the whole screen - Stack Overflow', 'Dictations - OneNote']
Does anyone have any ideas on how to use the Mac’s built-in dictation tool to create strings to be used by Python?
To launch a dictation, you have to double-press the Fn key inside any text editor. If this is the case, is there a way to combine the keystroke command with the input command? Something like:
Step 1: Simulate a keystroke to double-press the Fn key, launching the Dictation tool, and then
Step 2. Creating a variable by using the speech-to-text content as part of the input function, i.e. text_string = input(“Start dictation: “)
In this thread (Can I use OS X 10.8's speech recognition/dictation without a GUI?) a user suggests he figured it out with CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(src, 0x3F, true), but there is no code.
Any ideas? Code samples would be appreciated.
UPDATE: Thanks to the suggestions below, I've imported AppScript. I'm trying the code to work along these lines, with no success:
from appscript import app, its
se = app('System Events')
proc = app.processes[its.frontmost == True]
mi = proc.menu_bars[1].menu_bar_items['Edit'].menus[1].menu_items['Start Dictation']
user_voice_text = input(mi.click())
print(user_voice_text)
Any ideas on how I can turn on the dictation tool to be input for a string?
UPDATE 2:
Here is a simple example of the program I'm trying to create:
Ideally i want to launch the program, and then have it ask me: "what is 1 + 1?"
Then I want the program to turn on the dictation tool, and I want the program to record my voice, with me answering "two".
The dictation-to-text function will then pass the string value = "two" to my program, and an if statement is then used to say back "correct" or "incorrect".
Im trying to pass commands to the program without ever typing on the keyboard.
First, FnFn dictation is a feature of the NSText (or maybe NSTextView?) Cocoa control. If you've got one of those, the dictated text gets inserted into that control. (It also uses that control's existing text for context.) From the point of view of the app using an NSTextView, if you just create a standard Edit menu, the Start Dictation item gets added to the end, with FnFn as a shortcut, and anything that gets dictated appears as input, just like input typed on a keyboard, or pasted or dragged with the mouse, or via any other input method.
So, if you don't have a GUI app, enabling dictation is going to be pointless, because you have no way to get the input.
If you do have a GUI app, the simplest thing to do is just get the menu item via NSMenu, and click the item.
You're almost certainly using some kind of GUI library, like PyQt or Tkinter, which has its own way of accessing your app's menu. But if not, you can do it directly through Cocoa (using PyObjC—which comes with Apple's pre-installed Python, but which you'll have to pip install if you're using a third-party Python):
import AppKit
mb = AppKit.NSApp.mainMenu()
edit = mb.itemWithTitle_('Edit').submenu()
sd = edit.indexOfItemWithTitle_('Start Dictation')
edit.performActionForItemAtIndex_(sd)
But if you're writing a console program that runs in the terminal (whether Terminal.app or an alternative like iTerm), the app you're running under has its own text widget and Edit menu, and you can parasitically use its menu instead.
The problem is that you don't have permission to just control other apps unless the user allows it. In older versions of OS X, this was done just by turning on "assistive scripting for accessibility" globally. As of 10.10, there's an Accessibility anchor in the Privacy tab of the Security & Privacy pane of System Preferences that has a list of apps that have permissions. Fortunately, if you're not on the list, the first time you try to use accessibility features, it'll pop up a dialog, and if the user clicks on it, it'll launch System Preferences, reveal that anchor, add your app to the list with the checkbox disabled, and scroll it into view, so all the user has to do is click the checkbox.
The AppleScript to do this is:
tell application "System Events"
click (menu item "Start Dictation" of menu of menu bar item "Edit"
of menu bar of (first process whose frontmost is true))
end tell
The "right" way to do the equivalent in Python is via ScriptingBridge, which you can access via PyObjC… but it's a lot easier to use the third-party library appscript:
from appscript import app, its
se = app('System Events')
proc = app.processes[its.frontmost == True]
mi = proc.menu_bars[1].menu_bar_items['Edit'].menus[1].menu_items['Start Dictation']
mi.click()
If you really want to send the Fn key twice, the APIs for generating and sending keyboard events are part of Quartz Events Services, which (even though it's a CoreFoundation C API, not a Cocoa ObjC API) is also wrapped by PyObjC. The documentation can be a bit tricky to understand, but basically, the idea is that you create an event of the appropriate type, then either post it to a specific application, an event tap, or a tap location. So, you can create and send a system-wide key-down Fn-key event like this:
evt = Quartz.CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent(None, 63, True)
Quartz.CGEventPost(Quartz.kCGSessionEventTap, evt)
To send a key-up event, just change that True to False.
I am trying to send a couple basic text commands to a flash program running in Firefox on Windows 7, but I am unable to get pywinauto working for me.
Right now, I have just been able to accomplish the very basic task of connecting to Firefox plugin-container by directing it to the path using the following code:
from pywinauto import application
app = application.Application()
app.connect_(path = r"c:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\plugin-container.exe")
The next step seems to be something to the effect of:
app.plugin-container.Edit.TypeKeys('Text')
However, I can't reference the plugin-container window using '.plugin-container', or any combination of those words. I have tried adding a title variable to the connect_() function and I have tried everything I can think of to find out how to type the command.
The example I am basing this off of is the notepad sample:
from pywinauto import application
app.start_(ur"notepad.exe")
app.Notepad.Edit.TypeKeys(u"{END}{ENTER}SendText d\xf6\xe9s "
u"s\xfcpp\xf4rt \xe0cce\xf1ted characters!!!", with_spaces = True)
It doesn't matter to me if I use pywinauto or Firefox. If it is any easier to do this using a different module or Internet Explorer, I'm on board for whatever accomplishes the task. I am using Python version 2.7.2 and would prefer it over any version changes.
Any help at all is appreciated. I am pretty lost in all this.
As the author of pywinauto - I think you are going to have a hard time. pywinauto only really helps with standard windows controls, and I don't think that flash controls are implemented as standard windows controls (Buttons, Edit boxes, etc).
OFf the top of my head - I would think Sikuli may be a better starting point (http://sikuli.org/).
Another option may be 'http://code.google.com/p/flash-selenium/' - I just googled for "automating flash input" - and it turned up in one of the first articles I clicked.
Thanks for trying pywinauto - I just don't think it is best suited for Flash automation.