manipulate script on the run

[mmoalem]

OK so I was think if there is a way to run a script/exe that basically reads the commands from an external script on the run...

The reason:

 I want to be able to change commands/data in my autoit script without terminating the run... so the main executing script will run 24/7 and its function is basically to fetch commands from the editable external script and execute them... any chance there is a possibility to do this?

[Jos]

.. and why would you require this? ... please gibe an example.

Jos

[mmoalem]

Ok so lets assume a script that check websites periodically for some data. so it opens a browser with a specific URL and run a check, close the browser, open another browser with another URL and so on and so on throughout the day - assuming there are some 100 URLs to rotate through... now if i wanted to change any of these URLs or add another one to the script or change the data it should look for I will have to stop the script, modify it and run it again from the start which is not desriable in my case... much simpler for me will be to change URLs or data in an external resource... _ I assume this can be done with some kind of database but have no knowledge how do this...

[Jos]

1 minute ago, mmoalem said:

I assume this can be done with some kind of database but have no knowledge how do this...

Correct so looks like you are up for a learning experience

Jos

[mmoalem]

 I barely started on AUtoit... let alone getting into database... will have to look for a tutrial on autoit integration with database i guess

 

[Jos]

There is ample information available with examples.

Jos

[Nomad_RJ]

One simple way to do that would be using an INI file. 

Create a custom section, like [WEBSITES], and list your urls under numbered keys. Your sample.ini file would look like this:

[WEBSITES]
total=3
url1=www.google.com
url2=www.yahoo.com
url3=www.cnn.com
url4=

Then you use IniRead in your script to read each line and do what you want. If you need to change an URL you just edit the ini file, which is a plain text file, and you don´t have to touch the script. Remember to update the "total" line if you change the number of URLs on the INI file (for this simple sample). You may work on a script to manage the INI file in the future...

$inifile = "F:\MySamples\sample.ini"
While 1
   $lines = IniRead($inifile, "WEBSITES", "total", "0") ; filename, section, key, default
   If $lines >= 1 Then
      For $i = 1 to $lines
         $url = IniRead($inifile, "WEBSITES", "url"&$i, "")
         MsgBox(-1,"sample", "URL: " & $url) ; <-- DO WHAT YOU WANT HERE
      Next
   Else ;Problem reading INI File
      MsgBox(-1,"ERROR", "Problem reading " & $inifile)
   EndIf
WEnd

Hope that helps. 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2016 by Nomad_RJ

[mLipok]

45 minutes ago, mmoalem said:

will have to look for a tutrial on autoit integration with database i guess

You should look here:

https://www.autoitscript.com/wiki/User_Defined_Functions#Databases_and_web_connections

 

[mmoalem]

Thanks all for your help - databse might be overkill for my needs so I think I will work out the iniread route... but are there any big disadvantages to using ini over database or spreadsheet (putting aside the differences in data management in those options)?

[Nomad_RJ]

That depends on the usage case and volume of data. 

If you need to handle thousands of entries, you need that data to be shared and/or edited concurrently, you need high performance and last but not least, data need to be secured/encrypted, go for a database system.

For a simple admin script like the one in the exampe you gave, I would go for the simplicity of an INI/TXT file.

[Nomad_RJ]

Sorry for my english, and for the global variables... 

[InunoTaishou]

You'll be writing to the local disk, and if you have two files trying to write at the same time it won't work. If you have a file trying to write and read at the same time, it might not work. You could use a database, I just recently discovered sqlite and using it to create a download manager that downloads multiple files at once, a few exes running accessing the same db. I get database locked/busy occasionally but when queueing 75 downloads and starting 15, it's only a handful of errors initially.

I also use a neat little trick from a post I found by melba a long time ago to continue communication between the main GUI process and the background process.

Main Process.au3:

#include <GUIConstants.au3>
#include <WindowsConstants.au3>

Global $hMain = GUICreate("Main Process", 400, 100)
Global $inpInput = GUICtrlCreateInput("Call,MouseMove,0,0,0;Call,MouseMove,250,250,10;Call,Run,Notepad.exe;Notepad,This command is complete!;Call,Sleep,2000;Call,ProcessClose,Notepad.exe", 10, 10, 380, 20)
Global $btnSend = GUICtrlCreateButton("Send commands", 10, 35, 100, 20)

Run("Background Process.exe")

GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)

While (True)
    Switch (GUIGetMsg())
        Case $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
            GUIDelete($hMain)
            Exit 0
        Case $btnSend
            SendData(WinGetHandle("Background Process"), GUICtrlRead($inpInput))
    EndSwitch
WEnd

Func SendData(Const $hWndTo, $sData)
    Local $tCOPYDATA = DllStructCreate("dword;dword;ptr")
    Local $tMsg = DllStructCreate("char message[" & StringLen($sData) + 1 & "]")
    DllStructSetData($tMsg, 1, $sData)
    DllStructSetData($tCOPYDATA, 2, StringLen($sData) + 1)
    DllStructSetData($tCOPYDATA, 3, DllStructGetPtr($tMsg))
    DllCall("user32.dll", "lparam", "SendMessage", "hwnd", $hWndTo, "int", $WM_COPYDATA, "wparam", 0, "lparam", DllStructGetPtr($tCOPYDATA))
EndFunc   ;==>SendData

Background Process.exe

expandcollapse popup

#include <GUIConstants.au3>
#include <WindowsConstants.au3>
#include <Array.au3>

Global $hMain = GUICreate("Background Process", 0, 0, 0, 0, -1, -1, AutoItWinGetTitle())
GUISetState(@SW_SHOW, $hMain)

GUIRegisterMsg($WM_COPYDATA, WM_COPYDATA)
While (True)
    Sleep(100)
WEnd

Func Notepad($sText)
    While (Not WinExists("Untitled - Notepad"))
        Sleep(100)
    WEnd
    ControlSend("Untitled - Notepad", "", "[Class:Edit;Instance:1]", $sText)
EndFunc   ;==>Notepad

; Return the a 1d array with all of the valid arguments from message array that can be used for Call(function, array returned from this call)
Func MessageArrayToCallArgArray(Const ByRef $aArray, Const $iIndex, Const $iColumnStart = 0, $iColumnEnd = -1)
    Return StringSplit("CallArgArray|" & ArgArrayToCleanArgString($aArray, $iIndex, $iColumnStart, $iColumnEnd), "|", $STR_NOCOUNT)
EndFunc   ;==>MessageArrayToCallArgArray

; Return the a 1d array with all of the valid arguments from message array
Func MessageArrayToArgArray(Const ByRef $aArray, Const ByRef $iIndex, Const $iColumnStart = 0, $iColumnEnd = -1)
    Return StringSplit(ArgArrayToCleanArgString($aArray, $iIndex, $iColumnStart, $iColumnEnd), "|", $STR_NOCOUNT)
EndFunc   ;==>MessageArrayToArgArray

Func MessageToArray(Const $sMsg)
    Local $aRet = StringSplit($sMsg, ";", $STR_NOCOUNT + $STR_ENTIRESPLIT)
    Local $aReturn[0][10]

    For $i = 0 To UBound($aRet) - 1
        _ArrayAdd($aReturn, $aRet[$i], 0, ",")
    Next
    Return $aReturn
EndFunc   ;==>MessageToArray

Func WM_COPYDATA($hWndFrom, $iMsg, $wParam, $lParam)
    Local $tCOPYDATA = DllStructCreate("dword;dword;ptr", $lParam)
    Local $tMsg = DllStructCreate("char[" & DllStructGetData($tCOPYDATA, 2) & "]", DllStructGetData($tCOPYDATA, 3))
    Local $aData = MessageToArray(DllStructGetData($tMsg, 1))

    For $iIndex = 0 To UBound($aData, $UBOUND_ROWS) - 1
        Local $aCurrentCommand = MessageArrayToArgArray($aData, $iIndex, 0)
        Switch ($aCurrentCommand[0])
            Case "Call"
                Call($aCurrentCommand[1], MessageArrayToCallArgArray($aData, $iIndex, 2))
            Case "Notepad"
                Notepad($aCurrentCommand[1])
        EndSwitch
    Next

    Return $GUI_RUNDEFMSG
EndFunc   ;==>WM_COPYDATA

Use window messages to communicate. There's also a post in the example sub-forum for sharing variables between multiple processes.

I forgot to mention, I did do some tests to see what would be faster when I was starting this. At first I was going to use some json files to store all the information I needed to share, then I remembered MySql and saw that we had Sqlite in the UDFS. I believe I did a 1000 read test on a file, fetching an entire table/reading an entire json file, and the json file took a few seconds, the sqlite took .01 seconds. I believe the WM_COPYDATA method took < 0.001 seconds, can't remember exactly (this was a couple weeks ago). Either way, database/ini files you're reading/writing to the hard disk, using the copydata method everything is in RAM.

Edited April 14, 2016 by InunoTaishou

[alien4u]

6 hours ago, mmoalem said:

Thanks all for your help - databse might be overkill for my needs so I think I will work out the iniread route... but are there any big disadvantages to using ini over database or spreadsheet (putting aside the differences in data management in those options)?

First and most important.
"The Need is the mother of all inventions"
So, Databases exists because of a need, in the same way Client-Server Paradigm exists and in the same way OOP(Objects Oriented Programming) Languages exists so yes there is disadvantages of using writing to hard disk files over using databases.

Regards
Alien.