reinitiating a exe program

[utpalmtbi]

Hi Monks..

I have a script.exe prgram that works on many files in a directory and save the output of each file in a different directory. This program shows a minor error message in screen (due to lack of a supporting file, and which cant be fixed) after each file processing.. To remove the error and start the process again I have to press (Tab+Enter) and then (Ctrl+R) + means I have to press those keys simultaneously.. but as I have thousands of input files, I suppose to do it for that many times..

I am wondering if there is any way to put those keys in whenever the program shows the error message ...

Thanks

[marto]

You could use Win32::GuiTest to monitor for these error messages (see the FindWindowLike/WaitWindowLike/WMGetText methods) then send the specific key sequences (the SendKeys method). See also Win32::GuiTest::Examples

Update: mentioned other methods. Added link to Win32::GuiTest::Examples

[zork42]

What platform are you using?

Is it a command line script? (Or does it have a command line mode?) = many solutions available, like pipes, etc
or does it have a GUI?

If Windows + GUI then: what marto said :)

[utpalmtbi]

@zork42 .. I am using a windows 7 machine and the exe script can be run through command line

[zork42]

It might be worth ignoring all of the following and instead concentrating on marto's post on using Win32::GuiTest !

I've used Win32::GuiTest and I know it can do the sort of things you want. But the following might be of interest so I've posted it.

================================================================

I'm afraid I have not played with IPC, also Windows does not implement some functions.

If you run your script from the command line, do you still need to press (Tab+Enter) and then (Ctrl+R)?

Before you try anything complicated you might want to try piping stuff in to and out of the script on the command line to see what you can achieve with dos's < > and |.
eg can you pipe the equivalent of (Tab+Enter) and then (Ctrl+R) into the script somehow?

If it turns out that you need to send (Tab+Enter) and then (Ctrl+R) using Win32::GuiTest then it still might be worth monitoring the output of the script to see what it's done, and when to send the keys. (But Win32::GuiTest can do useful related stuff)

These might be useful:
• system()
• Backquoted string
• open() command as filehandle for output
• open() command as filehandle for input

After that it gets very complicated, and all I can really offer is a bunch of things to read. And as I said some of this stuff is not implemented under Windows.
• perlopentut: tutorial on opening things in Perl
• perlopentut: Pipe-Opens
• perlipc: Using-open()-for-IPC
• perlipc: Bidirectional-Communication-with-Another-Process
• perlfaq8: System Interaction
• IPC::Open2: open a process for both reading and writing using open2()
• IPC::Open3: open a process for reading, writing, and error handling using open3()
• perlport: Writing portable Perl
• perlport: Writing portable Perl - DOS-and-Derivatives
• perlfunc
  "Functions for processes and process groups
  alarm, exec, fork, getpgrp, getppid, getpriority, kill, pipe, qx//, readpipe, setpgrp, setpriority, sleep, system, times, wait, waitpid"
  (These are the sort of functions that Windows might not implement)