While in Case statement not looping

[silly135]

Is there a way to format auto-it code to have space so it can look more neat? Anyways...

In the code below my while $i>0 .... wend only loops once and does not go infinitely like I want, would someone now how I can fix this? Also with the while loop it does not tab to my notepad and without while loop it does, is there a reason behind this as well?

Thank you!

Edit: Forgot to mention that it also closes the gui after it loops once

expandcollapse popup

#include <GUIConstants.au3>
#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
#include <WindowsConstants.au3>
#include <EditConstants.au3>
#include <StaticConstants.au3>
HotKeySet("{PAUSE}","terminate")

GUICreate("abc",150,250)
global $as = GUICtrlCreateButton("a",25,10,100,30)
global $b = GUICtrlCreateButton("b",25,50,100,30)
global $c = GUICtrlCreateButton("c",25,90,100,30)
global $d = GUICtrlCreateButton("d",25,130,100,30)
global $e = GUICtrlCreateButton("e",25,170,100,30)
global $start = GUICtrlCreateButton("Start",25,210,100,30)
GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)
global $i = 0
while 1
   global $msg = GUIGetMsg()
   Select
      Case $msg = $as
         if $i<5 THEN
            global $itok = MsgBox(0,"Select a " & $i+1,"Press ENTER to save location")
            if $itok = 1 THEN
               if $i = 0 THEN
                  global $apos1 = MouseGetPos()
               ElseIf $i = 1 Then
                  global $apos2 = MouseGetPos()
               ElseIf $i = 2 Then
                  global $apos3 = MouseGetPos()
               ElseIf $i = 3 Then
                  global $apos4 = MouseGetPos()
               ElseIf $i = 4 Then
                  global $apos5 = MouseGetPos()
               EndIf
            Endif
            $i += 1
         Else
            global $itok = MSGBox(0,"Error", "Maximum number of a exceeded")
         EndIf
      Case $msg = $b
         global $bn = MsgBox(0,"Select b","Press ENTER to save location")
         if $bn = 1 then
            global $bnpos = MouseGetPos()
         EndIf
      Case $msg = $c
         global $cd = MsgBox(0,"Select c","Press ENTER to save location")
         if $cd = 1 then
            global $cdpos = MouseGetPos()
         EndIf
      Case $msg = $d
         global $dcc = MsgBox(0,"Select d","Press ENTER to save location")
         if $dcc = 1 then
            global $dccpos = MouseGetPos()
         EndIf
      Case $msg = $e
         global $eill = MsgBox(0,"Select e","Press ENTER to save location")
         if $eill = 1 then
            global $epos = MouseGetPos()
         EndIf
      Case $msg = $start
         WinActivate("[CLASS:Notepad]", "")
         if $i = 1 THEN
;~             while $i>0
               MouseMove($bnpos[0],$bnpos[1],10);bn
               sleep(300)
               MouseMove($epos[0],$epos[1],10);e
               sleep(300)
               MouseMove($apos1[0],$apos1[1],10);bn
               sleep(2000)
               MouseMove($dccpos[0],$dccpos[1],10);dcc
               sleep(1250)
               MouseMove($cdpos[0],$cdpos[1],10);cd
               sleep(300)
               MouseMove($epos[0],$epos[1],10);e
               sleep(300)
               MouseMove($apos1[0],$apos1[1],10);e
               sleep(300)
               MouseMove($epos[0],$epos[1],10);e
               sleep(300)
;~             wend
         EndIf
   EndSelect
   If $msg = $GUI_EVENt_CLOSE Then exitloop
WEnd
GUIDelete()

func terminate()
   Exit
EndFunc

Edited May 6, 2013 by silly135

[Jos]

Is there a way to format auto-it code to have space so it can look more neat? Anyways...

Load the full version of SciTE4AutoIt3, open your script and hit Ctrl+T which will run Tidy.exe

Also read the Forum rules while you are clicking to ensure you stay within our set rules.

Jos

Edited May 6, 2013 by Jos

[silly135]

Oh, my code looks fine in SciTE, i meant in the snippet provided to forum readers. I want the code to be easier to read for others.

[Jos]

Oh, my code looks fine in SciTE, i meant in the snippet provided to forum readers. I want the code to be easier to read for others.

Toggle edit mode (Left top option) when posting of convert Tabs to Spaces.

... and in case you missed my edit: Please read our Forum rules.

Jos

[silly135]

I've read the rules before and I was trying my best to just be general and find a solution to the weird behavior which i was facing. however since you did not find it general enough I have edited it further to be more general is that is what you were referring to.

[Jos]

I've read the rules before and I was trying my best to just be general and find a solution to the weird behavior which i was facing. however since you did not find it general enough I have edited it further to be more general is that is what you were referring to.

Just wanted to make sure you did and the topic is still open for the moment.

[mikell]

silly135,

To loop 5 times you need e.g. 'For $x = 1 to 5'

To do an infinite loop you need 'While 1'

But in this case you'd better envisage also a way to interrupt it without leaving the script (what the hotkeyset does)

'if $i = 1 THEN' this makes the script run only once, because if you increment $i then $i>1 and it will not work any more

Edited May 6, 2013 by mikell

[silly135]

Yeah, you're right, I moved the if $i = 1 statement after the while 1 and it looped infinitely. the reason why i had the if was i wanted to have a different scenario based on how many times a user pressed a. I did not implement it thought because of the issue, however now everything is working well, thank you.

[guinness]

My advice to add would be don't declare variables inside a loop. Therefore move the Global $vVarNames outside of the loop, preferably to the top.

[silly135]

My advice to add would be don't declare variables inside a loop. Therefore move the Global $vVarNames outside of the loop, preferably to the top.

mm, what exactly do you mean by this? could you provide an example?

[guinness]

Bad:

While 1
    Switch GUIGetMsg()
        Case $iSomeControl
            Global $fSomeVar = True
    EndSwitch
WEnd

Good:

Global $fSomeVar = False
While 1
    Switch GUIGetMsg()
        Case $iSomeControl
            $fSomeVar = True
    EndSwitch
WEnd

Because everytime AutoIt see Global it checks whether or not the variable is declared thus increasing execution. I'm sure you appreciate efficient code.

[silly135]

So should i just do global $a,$b,$c etc in a line before GUICreate?

[guinness]

Well before the loop at least. You're free to do what you want, all I'm pointing out is over time you will notice an increase in execution time.

Edit: I'm referring to those variables you declare inside the loop. $a, $b, $c (despite lacking description) are fine just where they are.

Edited May 6, 2013 by guinness

[silly135]

so, i've been using global cause i know 100% it works, local is a bit confusing, but if i did implement it would it be more efficient than global?

Edited May 6, 2013 by silly135

[guinness]

See above as I edit my post. How the keywords work are as follows...

Global - For variables you will use 'globally' in the script i.e. inside and outside of functions. Lifespan is until the program ends.

Local - For variables declared within a function and are only visible within the function they're declared. Lifespan is until the function is returned from.

Static - Help file explains this, though for now you probably won't use it.

For now it seems you're new to AutoIt and coding, so how you've done it is fine in the short term.

Edited May 6, 2013 by guinness

[water]

What do you mean by "efficient"? Faster?

[guinness]

See an example of what I mean:

Global $hTimer = 0
$hTimer = TimerInit()
For $i = 1 To 9000
    Global $fReturn_1 = True
Next
ConsoleWrite('With Global inside a loop: ' & TimerDiff($hTimer) & @CRLF)

Global $fReturn_2 = False
$hTimer = TimerInit()
For $i = 1 To 9000
    $fReturn_2 = True
Next
ConsoleWrite('With Global outside of a loop: ' & TimerDiff($hTimer) & @CRLF)

I see water asked for an example just as I posted. water it's well known that declaring/re-declaring inside a loop is cause for increase in execution time and displays bad coding practice.

Edited May 6, 2013 by guinness

[silly135]

See an example of what I mean:

Global $hTimer = 0
$hTimer = TimerInit()
For $i = 1 To 9000
    Global $fReturn_1 = True
Next
ConsoleWrite('With Global inside a loop: ' & TimerDiff($hTimer) & @CRLF)

Global $fReturn_2 = False
$hTimer = TimerInit()
For $i = 1 To 9000
    $fReturn_2 = True
Next
ConsoleWrite('With Global outside of a loop: ' & TimerDiff($hTimer) & @CRLF)

I see water asked for an example just as I posted. water it's well known that declaring/re-declaring inside a loop is cause for increase in execution time and displays bad coding practice.

this qualitatively makes a lot more sense to me, thanks! I have moved my global declaration outside of the loop and went ahead and just declared all my global variables before GUICreate so I'm not typing global a bajillion times

when would you only use local instead of global? why would you use local if global is more broad?

Edited May 6, 2013 by silly135

[guinness]

when would you only use local instead of global? why would you use local if global is more broad?

I would return with "Why use so many Global variables?" In time you will understand that using Global variables is bad coding practice.

My advice do some research on Google or such-like about the usage of variable declaration and why Global variables are "evil." I would also advise to look in my signature for the title "Coding". It's not something I want to bombard you with right now because it seems you're still new to AutoIt and coding in general.

[silly135]

Okay, sorry to bombard you with questions, you said that local are for variables declared in functions, are if statements and select statements considered separate functions or do you literally mean Func()?

Edited May 6, 2013 by silly135