Exit Script after idle

[Bookman]

I have a script that's called by a DB program for using a barcode scanner. The script works fine, ut there are occasions where the user can sit idle for a while, then go back to scanning causing another iteration of the script running. Is it possible to have the script exit after a given idle time, or recognize that the script is already running and not load a second iteration?

[Melba23]

Bookman,

Look at _Singleton & _WinAPI_GetIdleTime in the Help file - that should get you started.

M23

[Bookman]

I'm not a programmer, and it's been almost 10 years since I originally did this script (I'm old too!). It looks like _Singleton is the command I need, but I'm having trouble with the syntax. I just want only one instance of the script running. I would like it to simply not load if it is already running. The script I have just buffers the input of a barcode scanner to place it into a DB, so multiple iterations are a problem. The script I'm running is compiled (.exe) and distributed to other computers.

Edited July 29, 2015 by Bookman

[xxaviarxx]

Maybe something like this it is a script to check if a window is running and if it is not running it will run the program via a desktop shortcut even if there is something full screen currently running. You could add in a loop function to constantly check to make sure it is running this is just a base code.

Global $windowTitle = "insert name here" ; defines the window title for the script
Global $shortcutTitle = "insert name here" ; defines the shortcut title for the script

Global $checkWin = WinExists($windowTitle) ; sees if the window is open or not

RunWindow() ; runs the RunWindow function

Func RunWindow() ; runs the window
    If $checkWin = 0 Then ;0 = not launched/open
        ShellExecute($shortcutTitle, "", @DesktopDir) ; launches the window from your desktop
        $checkWin = 1 ; enables next block of code to activate
    EndIf
    If $checkWin = 1 Then ;1 = launched/open
        WinActivate($windowTitle) ; supposed to activate the window
        WinWaitActive($windowTitle) ; waits for the window to be active before continuing
        Sleep(10000) ; waits 10 seconds to make sure window is loaded fully
    EndIf
EndFunc

 

[kylomas]

Bookman,

Boiler plate of what M23 has suggested...

#include <Misc.au3>
#include <WinAPISys.au3>

If _Singleton("MyDBUpdater", 1) = 0 Then exit msgbox(0,'','Update already running')

while 1
    if _WinAPI_GetIdleTime() > 1000*10 then exit msgbox(0,'','Idle time exceeded') ; 10 seconds, appx.
wend

kylomas

Edited July 29, 2015 by kylomas

[Bookman]

This is far more in depth than I need. In my instance the script is called by a function in a Filemaker application. Once it is called it remains running in background. This is not a problem unless the user initiates the Filemaker script that calls the autoIt script again. The AutoIt script is simply a hotkey that opens a window to buffer input from a barcode scanner (Hot key definition, then several steps to gather the scanned info and send a command to the Filemaker appplication to trigger an action using the scanned info. Unfortunately, the AutoIt script will open multiple iterations causing problems. I'm looking for a command within the script that will check if there is a running iteration of the script and, if there is, not open another iteration. The alternative would be a script that I could call form the application to close the previous script.

[Bookman]

@kylomas, Thanks, The first line looks exactly like what I need. I don't even need the Msgbox.

Thanks

[Bookman]

That's exactly what I needed, works perfectly! Thanks, All.

[kylomas]

You might want to change the 2ND parm of Singleton to "0".