Help File/Documentation Issues. (Discussion Only)

[argumentum]

I was reading https://www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/162588-extended-length-support-in-file-functions-beta-for-reference/?do=findComment&comment=1190661 

and decided to search for UNICODE in the help file. reading along I read that the command line is

Aut2exe.exe / In < infile.au3 >[/out < outfile.exe >][/icon < iconfile.ico >][/comp 0 - 4][/nopack][/x64][/bin < binfile.bin >]

and the 

Command Line Notes
Long filenames should be enclosed in double-quotes like "C:\Program Files\Test\test.au3".

With the exception of /in all switches are optional.

By default, the 32-bit compiler produces a 32-bit binary and the 64-bit compiler produces a 64-bit binary. Use the /x86 and /x64 parameters to explicitly specify the output.

The /pass and /nodecompile switches are redundant as of version 3.2.8.1. They will be ignored if used and have been removed from this list.

The /ansi and /unicode switches are redundant as of version 3.3.0.0.

The /bin switch is redundant as of version 3.3.10.0 and has been removed from this list..

so the [/bin < binfile.bin >] should be removed

[argumentum]

fooling around, I've tried the _WinAPI_CreateDesktop() example and the ProcessWaitClose(DllStructGetData($tProcess, 'ProcessID')) does not wait  

[argumentum]

on _WinAPI_RegNotifyChangeKeyValue the help example should account ( or show ) that x86 != x64 

#include <APIRegConstants.au3>
#include <MsgBoxConstants.au3>
#include <WinAPIError.au3>
#include <WinAPIHObj.au3>
#include <WinAPIProc.au3>
#include <WinAPIReg.au3>

Opt('TrayAutoPause', 0)

Global $iAccess = StringInStr(@OSArch, "64") ? BitOR($KEY_NOTIFY, $KEY_WOW64_64KEY) : $KEY_NOTIFY
If @AutoItX64 Then $iAccess = $KEY_NOTIFY

Local $hKey = _WinAPI_RegOpenKey($HKEY_CURRENT_USER, 'Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run', $iAccess)
If @error Then
    MsgBox(BitOR($MB_ICONERROR, $MB_SYSTEMMODAL), @extended, _WinAPI_GetErrorMessage(@extended))
    Exit
EndIf
Local $hEvent = _WinAPI_CreateEvent()
If Not _WinAPI_RegNotifyChangeKeyValue($hKey, $REG_NOTIFY_CHANGE_LAST_SET, 0, 1, $hEvent) Then
    Exit
EndIf

While 1
    If Not _WinAPI_WaitForSingleObject($hEvent, 0) Then
        Run(@AutoItExe & ' /AutoIt3ExecuteLine "MsgBox(4096, ''Registry'', ''The registry hive has been modified.'' & @CRLF & @CRLF & ''HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run'', 5)"')
        If Not _WinAPI_RegNotifyChangeKeyValue($hKey, $REG_NOTIFY_CHANGE_LAST_SET, 0, 1, $hEvent) Then
            ExitLoop
        EndIf
    EndIf
    Sleep(100)
WEnd

_WinAPI_CloseHandle($hEvent)
_WinAPI_RegCloseKey($hKey)

 

Edited January 2, 2019 by argumentum
corrected error

[BrewManNH]

On 1/2/2019 at 5:06 PM, argumentum said:

on _WinAPI_RegNotifyChangeKeyValue the help example should account ( or show ) that x86 != x64 

That would apply to every registry function, so why this one specifically?

[argumentum]

11 minutes ago, BrewManNH said:

why this one specifically?

oh, no clue. This is the first time I became aware of the use of "$KEY_WOW64_64KEY". Haven't seen any examples of it's use and thought that having one example would show why the "$KEY_NOTIFY" not work if the compilation don't match the OS's ( 32 vs 64 ). I didn't do a deep dive into the help file, just that one example.

[BrewManNH]

10 minutes ago, argumentum said:

Haven't seen any examples of it's use

Then you haven't searched, there are dozens of times that the x86/64 issue has come up, both in registry and file reference functions. It's referenced in the help file under the heading "AutoIt => Using AutoIt => Running under Windows 64-bit Edition"

[argumentum]

6 minutes ago, BrewManNH said:

Then you haven't searched

Ok, this is not related to "HKCR64 or HKLM64".
In _WinAPI_SfcIsKeyProtected and _WinAPI_RegCreateKey are mentions of $KEY_WOW64_64KEY but no examples.
What I present shows an example. It would not hurt to have at least one example in a help file.

[water]

On 12/7/2018 at 3:44 AM, mLipok said:

Example for TimerInit

#include <MsgBoxConstants.au3>

Local $hTimer = TimerInit() ; Begin the timer and store the handle in a variable.
Sleep(3000) ; Sleep for 3 seconds.
Local $fDiff = TimerDiff($hTimer) ; Find the difference in time from the previous call of TimerInit. The variable we stored the TimerInit handlem is passed as the "handle" to TimerDiff.
MsgBox($MB_SYSTEMMODAL, "Time Difference", $fDiff)

 

Fixed it today.

[pixelsearch]

@people who are able to modify the wiki documentation pages :

First of all, I apologize if this post will be very long (my biggest default) but I like to explain in details, with pics etc...
A couple of days ago, I wanted to help Moist in this thread and before I replied to him, I was very happy to read in the help file, topic GUICtrlCreatePic(), the following sentence :

"To set the picture control to the same size as the file content, set width and height to 0"

Terrific feature I thought, but a couple of hours later and after dozen of useless tests, trying any kind of picture size/extension or applying any style / extended style, it didn't work.

Then I thought : "why not trying to copy and paste the whole sentence in Google and see where it goes from here ?"
I knew it would return dozen of links referring to the help file but I was lucky enough to find this link, Ticket #3682 reported by anonymous 11 months ago (ticket still opened waiting for a reply) and here is a resume of what anonymous wrote :

...While in AutoIt 3.3.12.0 this worked nice, in 3.3.14.5 this causes the image to be displayed in a 150x150 square...

After reading that, I downloaded several AutoIt versions (including the 3 Beta's) just to try that specific feature and double check anonymous test, here are the results :

And this is the script used to display the 2 Gui's from the precedent picture, please feel free to try it with any of your pictures :

#include <GuiConstantsEx.au3>

$hGui = GUICreate("163 - AutoIt " & @AutoItVersion, 300, 435)
GUICtrlCreatePic(@ScriptDir & "\163 - Original pic.jpg", 1, 1, 0, 0)
GUISetState()

Do
Until GUIGetMsg() = $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
GUIDelete($hGui)

As you can see, the downgrade happened when AutoIt 3.3.14.3 was released, because everything works fine with all precedent versions I tested, last working version is 3.3.14.2
Imho, this downgrade could be related to another ticket #2916 as shown in AutoIt history (though I may be mistaken) :

So the only thing I'm asking now is : could it be possible to any of you to modify this wiki page and add a note to indicate that this feature is no more available actually, something like this :

To set the picture control to the same size as the file content set width and height to 0.
(this feature is broken since version AutoIt 3.3.14.3, waiting to be fixed)

Of course the local help file AutoIt.chm on our HD won't reflect this modification (until next AutoIt release) but at least, when in doubt concerning any function, we all could rely on Wiki doc to make sure that we are reading the most recent help file fully amended.

Thanks for reading and thumbs up to our devoted wiki contributors

Edit : in case you wonder why I also downloaded the antique versions autoit-v3.2.10.0 (2007) and autoit-v3.2.12.0 (2008), it's because another important thing changed in AutoIt between these 2 versions (more than 11 years ago) but the actual help file doesn't reflect it and still indicates a wrong sentence. If I got strength enough, I'll prepare another fully detailed post. That magnifier in the avatar is a big help

Edited October 18, 2019 by pixelsearch

[water]

The example for _WinAPI_GetWindowDC (actually it is the _WinAPI_CreatePen example) does not work when run from SciTE. The cross does not get fully drawn and it disapears in a split second. But it should get displayed for 3 seconds.
This only happen when the example is run from SciTE. Why is described here.

To solve the problem I would like to Exit the example script when uncompiled with a MsgBox describing the problem an explaining the solution.

What do you think?

[seadoggie01]

In the _GDIPlus_GraphicsSetTransform example, the DrawInsert function is missing the $fAngle in the documentation... kinda not a problem, but very confusing when trying to use it and your picture suddenly rotates!

Edit: More than one of the UDFs uses this function... I can get a list if you need
Edit2: Too tired, it was the same function. Going to bed now

Edited November 3, 2019 by seadoggie01

[argumentum]

in the example of "VarGetType ( expression )":

"C:\ProgFilesSelf\AutoIt3\Examples\Helpfile\VarGetType.au3" (4) : ==> Variable subscript badly formatted.:
Local $mMap[]
Local $mMap[^ ERROR
->07:43:12 AutoIt3.exe ended.rc:1

as map[] is not in the production release.

[seadoggie01]

I would suggest mentioning that OnAutoItExitRegister doesn't declare variables that have a default value in the function definition

[seadoggie01]

(Apparently I really like OnAutoItExitRegister) Also undocumented:

• it accepts a function instead of its name --> OnAutoItExitRegister(Closing)
• It won't call a function twice even if you register it twice
• it uses a first-in last-out approach to calling registered functions

[mLipok]

On 10/18/2019 at 4:40 AM, pixelsearch said:

@people who are able to modify the wiki documentation pages :

First of all, I apologize if this post will be very long (my biggest default) but I like to explain in details, with pics etc...
A couple of days ago, I wanted to help Moist in this thread and before I replied to him, I was very happy to read in the help file, topic GUICtrlCreatePic(), the following sentence :

"To set the picture control to the same size as the file content, set width and height to 0"

Terrific feature I thought, but a couple of hours later and after dozen of useless tests, trying any kind of picture size/extension or applying any style / extended style, it didn't work.

Then I thought : "why not trying to copy and paste the whole sentence in Google and see where it goes from here ?"
I knew it would return dozen of links referring to the help file but I was lucky enough to find this link, Ticket #3682 reported by anonymous 11 months ago (ticket still opened waiting for a reply) and here is a resume of what anonymous wrote :

...While in AutoIt 3.3.12.0 this worked nice, in 3.3.14.5 this causes the image to be displayed in a 150x150 square...

 

I think this was fixed by @jpm

https://www.autoitscript.com/trac/autoit/ticket/3682

We should wait for @Jon approval, and releasing new version .

[pixelsearch]

Thanks mLipok for the update & jpm for the fix

[AZJIO]

You add browser check for IE only

if ((navigator.appName == "Microsoft Internet Explorer") && (parseInt(navigator.appVersion) >= 4)) // IE (4+) only

You can add for FireFox

function ClipBoard(NumBlok) {
    var input = document.createElement('textarea');
    input.innerHTML = NumBlok.innerText;
    document.body.appendChild(input);
    input.select();
    document.execCommand('copy');
    document.body.removeChild(input);
}

Add to online documentation...

universally:

function ClipBoard(NumBlok) {
    var input = document.createElement('textarea');
    if ((navigator.appName == "Microsoft Internet Explorer") && (parseInt(navigator.appVersion) >= 4)) // IE (4+) only
        input.innerText = NumBlok.innerText;
    else
        input.innerHTML = NumBlok.innerText;
    document.body.appendChild(input);
    input.select();
    document.execCommand('copy');
    document.body.removeChild(input);
}

 

Edited December 2, 2020 by AZJIO

[pixelsearch]

_WinAPI_SystemParametersInfo() , 4th parameter $iWinIni , help file :

"...$SPIF_SENDCHANGE - Broadcasts the $WM_SETTINGCHANGE message after updating the user profile."

When you read this, you may think that you can't/shouldn't use $SPIF_SENDCHANGE without updating the user profile first, which is wrong. Because an update to the user profile can sometimes be dangerous, so maybe it would be better to indicate this in the help file :

"...$SPIF_SENDCHANGE - Broadcasts the $WM_SETTINGCHANGE message (no matter you updated the user profile or not)"

From MSDN, this link :

WM_SETTINGCHANGE : A message that is sent to all top-level windows when the SystemParametersInfo function changes a system-wide setting or when policy settings have changed.

Applications should send WM_SETTINGCHANGE to all top-level windows when they make changes to system parameters.

An example from Musashi, using $SPIF_SENDCHANGE (value = 2) , followed by a test done just after by lee321987 in this link, using $SPIF_UPDATEINIFILE (value = 1) to make the update permanent.

All this tends to indicate that you can use $SPIF_SENDCHANGE without any fear, because if you do anything wrong during your experimentations with _WinAPI_SystemParametersInfo(), then everything will go fine after a reboot (as the registry won't have been updated)

Imho, $SPIF_SENDCHANGE isn't a dangerous parameter, while $SPIF_UPDATEINIFILE is (especially if you didn't write somewhere the original value of the parameter you mistakenly modified in the registry)

[JockoDundee]

I feel rather dumb asking this question, but here goes:

Where is the output from the example programs shown in the help?

 

[seadoggie01]

On 12/5/2020 at 8:16 PM, JockoDundee said:

I feel rather dumb asking this question, but here goes:

Where is the output from the example programs shown in the help?

 

There isn't output listed anywhere, you have to run the programs  (I get it though, I looked for it too)