obj.click hangs on IE.au3 line 2418

[Toolbox]

Ok long story short, I am automating an .HTA window, and the script is hanging on line 2418 of IE.au3 which is '$o_object.Click()'.

Using AutoIt, I have gotten as far as finding all elements I need, a few element clicks and I get to a point where I need to click an anchor tag that I have grabbed as an object and done an obj.click on. This .click call invokes the onclick of the anchor which opens up a file browser. It hangs here.

I turned on the 'TrayIconDebug' option of the 'Opt' function and hovering over the tray tells me its hanging on a random (I say random only because it is different everytime) command that I know has already been executed. However, if I click the tray icon to pause it, hovering over it again tells me something different. It switches between telling me that it is paused on the obj.click call I mentioned earlier and '$o_object.Click()' which resides on line 2418 of IE.au3, which is called by the obj.click. So I know this is where it is hanging everytime.

If I manually click close and reclick the button, it will continue the script as if nothing happened. However, thats the only work around. Due to the fact that this hangs, placing a WinWaitActive or even a WinActivate after the .click is futile as the script never gets there, unless I do the aforementioned workaround.

So question(s)

1. Is there a way to terminate a single command (or even block of code, it makes no difference really) per use of a timeout/timer or any other automatic method?

2. Has anyone else had this issue and found a work around?

3. Does anyone know why this hang would be happening?

a.Possibly because the anchor tag or possibly the hta is not returning to the script until the browser window has been terminated?

b.Is this anchor tag not a feasible object for the .click command

(Knowing this is possible as I struggled to find clean ways of obtaining these objects, I had to use a script I found somewhere on the intertubes to search through each element, identifying it by class, as not all elements had ID tags)

4. Any suggestions? As this is a project for work, please understand that the hta code is not something I can reveal as well I as I hope that my explanation suffices for the autoit code because I am not entirely sure on the feasibility of that.

[Toolbox]

Ah, the code for IE.au3 can be found here ...

[DaleHohm]

When a DOM action results in a dialog box being displayed that requires user interaction, control is not passed back to the calling routine until the user takes that action. This can be avoided by performing the 'click' using another method. Please see the third example for _IEAction in the helpfile for a work-around.

Dale

Edit: spelling

Edited January 18, 2011 by DaleHohm

[Toolbox]

When a DOM action results in a dialog box being displayed that requires user interaction, control is not passed back to the calling routine until the user takes that action. This can be avoided by performing the 'click' using another method. Please see the third example for _IEAction in the helpfile for a work-around.

Dale

Edit: spelling

Dale,

Thanks for the quick reply. I appreciate the explanation, it helps. Trying '_IEAction($obj, "click")' yields the same hang. I even tried

If _IEAction($obj, "click") Then
     MsgBox(0, "Success", "_IEAction has finished.")
Else
     MsgBox(0, "Error", @error & "_IEAction failure.")
EndIf

But we still encounter a hang at the same place.

Any other suggestions? Thanks for all the help in advance, its greatly appreciated.

[Toolbox]

:light bulb:

The anchor click calls a js method that then calls to a separate module that does not return to the js until the file browser is terminated (by finishing or being closed). So in truth, the hang probably occurs here, and subsequently, I assume the click, whether it is an $obj.click or _IEAttach($obj, "click"), is waiting for the onclick handler of the anchor element, or obj as far as AutoIt is concerned, to return to the script (or however that works, as I am new to AutoIt, I can be wildly mistaken).

So, basically, what I am getting at, is it seems that unless there is a way to terminate a single line/block of code upon a variable timeout, I will have to figure out another fix.

Which lead me to the idea of simultaneous scripts. In AutoIt, is it possible to run simultaneous scripts? Using AutoIt itself or an outside language, possibly of an OO paradigm. In this case Ruby, as that is what I am using to run through all the scripts I am running.

For sake of clarity, lets call the script in question, Script A, the one hanging on the file browser. Lets then call a second script, Script B, whose purpose is to simply wait for the file browser to be opened, using a WinWaitActive or something similar.

Is it possible to invoke Script A and sometime before the click occurs in said script, invoke Script B from within Script A? This would require the script call to Script B to be simply a call with no wait and not a wait for completion (if you will) call. So essentially simultaneous scripting. As this is a scripting language, I foresee this not being possible.

Alternatively, using an OO language, is it possible to run the two scripts simultaneously? Does AutoIt allow two separate scripts to be ran at the same time?

Apologies for the long-winded approach, it was necessary to clearly demonstrate my question.

[DaleHohm]

I pointed you to the 3rd example for _IEAction... sorry there are only 2 and it is the second I meant to point you to. It does NOT use the .click method.

Dale

[Toolbox]

I pointed you to the 3rd example for _IEAction... sorry there are only 2 and it is the second I meant to point you to. It does NOT use the .click method.

Dale

Trying this no longer gives me the hang, but it does not click the button. I did some research on Ruby threading and found a way to run both scripts simultaneously. This seems to be the fix.

Thanks again for all the help Dale.

Tommy

[philkryder]

Unfortunately, Tommy did not show how to run the second thread that does the click so that the first thread can proceed without blocking.

Would someone kindly point me to an example of this sort of multi-threading? I too have a similar situation where an ON-CLICK is needed to activate the control. FOCUS + ENTER does not suffice.

thanks in advance.
Phil

[Danp2]

Probably best to repost a detailed description of your issue in a new thread since this one died over 7 years ago.

[philkryder]

Thanks Dan.
I don't think I can explain it any better than Tommy and Dale did 7 years ago. The issue is the same. I click on a control that opens an explorer window that solicits a file name, and AUTOIT waits for the user input to cause the window to close and return to the prior web page.

I tried Dale's "example 2" which is to use FOCUS followed by {enter} - but, the web page only responds to ON-CLICK.

I  need a way to programatically CLICK on the control, THEN enter a file name in the explorer window, and then click OPEN on the explorer window. 
Thanks. Phil

Edited December 5, 2018 by philkryder

[Danp2]

Have you searched the forum? I believe there are multiple other threads with the solution of running a 2nd script to handle the popup window..

[Juvigy]

Lookup my topics. I had the same issue and the solution is inside.

[jdelaney]

Call another script to click the button.   that script will be deadlocked, and your script may proceed.

[philkryder]

Juvigy - thanks so much! your code to generalize the external exec so that we can pass parms to it is very insightful and helpful and much more useful than the brute force single effect exe that I had made.

I could see that being a nice addition - I'll make a UDF for myself. thanks for your help and the quick response. Phil

https://www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/194926-_ieactionnclick-script-freeze/?tab=comments#comment-1398343

 

 

Edited December 6, 2018 by philkryder

[Juvigy]

You are welcome. But i cant take credit for the solution as it was given to me by

mLipok