WinActive() - is only 1 window active at any one time?

[callagga]

Hi,

is only 1 window active at any one time? Ie with multiple apps running & some apps that have multiple windows, there is only one out of all these that will be active?

does "active" = has the focus?

[Nutster]

Yes to both questions.

The window with the focus (even if not in front) is the active window and only one window can have the focus at a time. It is possible for no window to have the focus, but that is a pretty useless condition and pretty easy to change.

Just because a window is not considered active does not mean that the program associated with that window is not running or even accepting events, nor does it mean that the window might not be displayed while not active. It just means that the active window has the focus.

Edited August 25, 2009 by Nutster

[Info]

@callagga,

You can get many answers with a simple If...Then and a MsgBox().

If WinActive("window") Then MsgBox(64,"Success!","There is only one window active at a time!")

[callagga]

thanks - what I'm struggling with is, when I've sent keys in Window 1, and then want to move on to Window 2 (i.e. close window 1 first), how to validate in my code this has occured, so it's not possible the script can start sending Window2 keys to Window1 because there was some issue closing it..

I guess specifically can I ask:

a) if I send a control-s to a window that triggers a save/close for that app, how can I check this worked? In the case of the application I'm working it does seem to keep this Window active, but NOT VISIBLE, I guess to reuse later (this is my little gottcha for the question)

>_< to be sure that things are ready for you to send characters, but also want to minimise script delays (i.e. and avoid using Sleeps) which funtions should I use? Eg Winwaitactive()? , WinWaitActive() followed by ControlGetFocus() check? That is, what's best practice here to avoid ever having to worry about a need to use Sleeps.

[Nutster]

Check the documentation for SendKeepActive and ControlSend for some ideas on sending keys to a given window or control. Check WinExists or WinActive in a decision structure to see of a window is closed. WinActivate will give the focus to a window.

WinClose("Window 1")
While WinExists("Window 1")
    Sleep(250) ; Wait 1/4 second before checking again.
Wend
; At this point "Window 1" has been closed.
WinActivate("Window 2")
SendKeepActive("Window 2", "Test text ^s")

Edited August 26, 2009 by Nutster