Can hide main app window, not Print dialog

[emendelson]

I'm working on a script that uses the open-source Evince PDF viewer to print a file in the background, and sets some options in the Print dialog. I can use @SW_HIDE to hide the main Evince window, but the Print dialog always appears. Is there any way around this?

Here's my first draft of the code that does this job:

Opt("WinTextMatchMode", 2)
$pdffile = "c:\temp\test.pdf"
$pdftitle = "test.pdf"
Run("c:\printwp\evince\bin\evince.exe " & $pdffile,"",@SW_HIDE)
WinWait($pdftitle,"", 2)
If WinExists ($pdftitle) Then
    WinActivate ($pdftitle)
    Send ("^p")
    WinWait ("Print","",4)
    Send ("^{TAB}")
    Send ("{Tab 3}")
    Send ("{SPACE}")
    Send ("!p")
    Sleep (1000)
    WinClose ($pdftitle)
Else
    MsgBox(0,"","Error")
EndIf

I've tried adding this line after the WinWait("Print",...) line:

WinMove ("Print", "", @DesktopWidth+1, @DesktopHeight+1)

But the Print window appears briefly anyway, Is there any other trick I can try?

Obviously, I'm going to replace all the filenames in the final code, and the current code is only for testing.

Thanks for any advice.

Edited March 9, 2011 by Edward Mendelson

[martin]

You could try detecting th ewindow faster and moving it but that might still not do what you want.

Presumably the PDF is displayed in the Evince window when you send ^p?

If you are happy for the Evince window to be displayed but just don't want the print dialog to be shown then maybe something like this would do want you want.

expandcollapse popup

; *** Start added by AutoIt3Wrapper ***
#include <WindowsConstants.au3>
#include <screencapture.au3>
; *** End added by AutoIt3Wrapper ***

#AutoIt3Wrapper_Add_Constants=n
Opt("WinTextMatchMode", 2)
$pdffile = "c:\temp\test.pdf"
$pdftitle = "test.pdf"
Run("c:\printwp\evince\bin\evince.exe " & $pdffile,"",@SW_HIDE)

WinWait($pdftitle, "", 2)
$wsize = WinGetPos($pdftitle)
_ScreenCapture_Capture("screen1.jpg", $wsize[0], $wsize[1],$wsize[0] + $wsize[2],$wsize[1] + $wsize[3], False)


If WinExists($pdftitle) Then
    $fake = GUICreate("fake", $wsize[2], $wsize[3], $wsize[0], $wsize[1], $WS_POPUP)
    $Img = GUICtrlCreatePic("screen1.jpg", 0, 0, $wsize[2], $wsize[3])
    GUISetState()
    WinSetOnTop($fake,"",1)
    sleep(9000)
    exit
    WinActivate($pdftitle)
    Send("^p")
    WinWait("Print", "", 4)
    Send("^{TAB}")
    Send("{Tab 3}")
    Send("{SPACE}")
    Send("!p")
    Sleep(1000)
    GUIDelete($fake)
    WinClose($pdftitle)
    GUIDelete($fake)
Else
    MsgBox(0, "", "Error")
EndIf

It's a fairly awful approach but has been useful before.

[emendelson]

Martin,

Thank you for that. I've experimented with your answer, and - as you say - it certainly works, but I'm not certain I want to mask the screen. By luck, I found a simpler solution, which seems as if it should NOT work, but it does. I simply remove the @WinWait statement, and the Print window never appears:

If WinExists($pdftitle) Then
    WinActivate($pdftitle)
    Send("^p")
    WinMove("Print", "", @DesktopWidth + 1, @DesktopHeight + 1)
    Send("^{TAB}")
    Send("{Tab 3}")
    Send("{SPACE}")
    Send("!p")
    Sleep(1000)
    WinClose($pdftitle)
    Exit    
Else
    MsgBox(0, "", "Error")
EndIf

I didn't think it would be physically possible to move the "Print" window immediately after sending Ctrl-P, but it certainly works, at least on my system, without making the Print window visible at all.

I didn't make clear enough what I was trying to do with this. I don't want any window to appear at all during silent printing. I use @SW_HIDE to hide the main Evince window; I use the code above to keep the Print window from appearing when I print.

This now works, but I've encountered another problem with the script, which I'll write about in a different thread.

Thank you again!