WinWaitActive fires Control Click before the window appears on screen

[JonF]

I'm building a bootable flash drive. I want to include the Wireshark packet watcher. It requres the  Npcap service to be running. I'm trying to automate the installation of Npcap after boot.
I'm testing in VirtualBox but the same thing happens on physical hardware.

In both the "Installing" window and the "Options" window appear AutoIT clicks the appropriate button. When the "Installing" windiow appears, a second or two later the WinWaitActive($Handle,"Completed") fires the ControlClick($WindowTitle"&Next",1) for a button that doesn't exist yet. I sprinkled WinActivate throughout because another program window is on screen while this is happening, but it made no difference. If I close the other program window first it makes no difference.

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#include <FileConstants.au3>
#include <File.au3>
#include <Array.au3>
#include <MsgBoxConstants.au3>

If $CmdLine[0] >= 1 Then
  $Pause=$CmdLine[1]
Else
  MsgBox(4096,"NPcap installer","Please include the pause flag (False or True) on the command line.")
  Exit
EndIf

If $CmdLine[0] >= 2 Then
  $StartDriver=$CmdLine[2]
Else
  MsgBox(4096,"NPcap installer","Please include the start driver flag (False or True) on the command line.")
  Exit
EndIf

$FileList = _FileListToArray(@ScriptDir,"npcap-*.exe",$FLTA_FILES ,True)

Select
  Case @error = 4
    MsgBox($MB_OK,"File error","Npcap installer " & @ScriptDir & "\npcap-*.exe not found!")
    Exit
  Case @error = 1
    MsgBox($MB_OK,"File error","Npcap installer path " & @ScriptDir & " not found!")
    Exit
  Case @error=0
EndSelect

; Wait until PE Network Manager settles down.
If WinExists("PE Network Manager") Then WinWait("PE Network Manager","Properties",3)

$Version = StringRight(StringTrimRight($FileList[1],4),4)
$WindowTitle = "Npcap " & $Version & " Setup"

ShellExecute($FileList[1])

$WindowTitle = WinWait($WindowTitle,"License Agreement",10)
If $WindowTitle <> 0 Then
  WinActivate($WindowTitle)
  ControlClick($WindowTitle,"License Agreement",1)
  WinWaitActive($WindowTitle,"Installation Options")
  WinActivate($WindowTitle)
  If $Pause = "False" Then
    ControlClick($WindowTitle,"&Install",1)
  EndIf
  WinActivate($WindowTitle)
  WinWaitActive($WindowTitle,"Setup was completed")
  WinActivate($WindowTitle)
  ; Wait for the "Next" button to be active
  Sleep(3000)
  ControlClick($WindowTitle,"&Next",1)
  WinWaitActive($WindowTitle,"Finished")
  ControlClick($WindowTitle,"&Finish",1)
Else
  MsgBox($MB_OK,"Npcap install","Did not see the installation window " & $WindowTitle & "!")
EndIf

If $StartDriver = "True" Then
  If @OSArch="X86" Then
    $Command = @WindowsDir & "\SysWOW64\cmd.exe"
  Else
    $Command = @SystemDir & "\cmd.exe"
  EndIf
  ShellExecute($Command," /c net start npcap")
EndIf

If you want to wattch it, https://fleming-group.com/Hidden/Video/Video.html. The cmd window flashing is the end of the AutoIT script.

[argumentum]

Fortunately npcap has these "&" that allows you to, instead of aiming the mouse, send the "ALT + n" to the window. Try that.

[Nine]

Seems a bit strange that all your buttons have a control id equals to 1.  All your ControlClick are using the control id 1.  Are you sure about that ?

[ioa747]

maybe for such an action ( installation ) you need #RequireAdmin  

Edited August 6 by ioa747

[JonF]

On 8/6/2025 at 2:33 PM, Nine said:

Seems a bit strange that all your buttons have a control id equals to 1.  All your ControlClick are using the control id 1.  Are you sure about that ?

Yes.

[argumentum]

@JonF I don't like you  To the ignore list !

[Nine]

14 hours ago, JonF said:

Yes.

No. Show me au3info, I think you are mistaken with the number of clicks...Anyway you do not need to provide the text of a button (or any other controls) if you know the control id.  It is just an overkill...

Edited August 8 by Nine

[JonF]

On 8/7/2025 at 5:11 PM, argumentum said:

@JonF I don't like you  To the ignore list !

I''ve seen people like you before. 

[JonF]

On 8/7/2025 at 5:44 PM, Nine said:

No. Show me au3info, I think you are mistaken with the number of clicks...Anyway you do not need to provide the text of a button (or any other controls) if you know the control id.  It is just an overkill...

I'm trying, but the program has decided to run minimized and can't be restored. Arghh......

It seeems nobody is addressing the issue, which is that...

WinWaitActive($WindowTitle,"Setup was completed")

... is reporting the windows is active before the window containing that text is on-screen.

[JonF]

On 8/7/2025 at 5:44 PM, Nine said:

No. Show me au3info, I think you are mistaken with the number of clicks...Anyway you do not need to provide the text of a button (or any other controls) if you know the control id.  It is just an overkill...

The Help file does NOT list the second argument as optional.

[Nine]

36 minutes ago, JonF said:

The Help file does NOT list the second argument as optional.

True.  For all Control* functions it doesn't say it is optional.  It is not optional in terms of skipping it. It is optional (check examples of Control* functions) in the sense that you must provide a string, but most of the time, it is going to be empty...

However, it is clearly stated that the second parameter of many Win* functions is optional (meaning that you can skip it).

Edited August 9 by Nine

[JonF]

I finally managed to get Au3Info screenshots.

During installation the "Next" button is ID 1 and when installtion is complet the Next button is ID 1.

However, the program doesn't try to click anything during installation, It is supposed to WAIT  until the "Installation Complete" window appears and click button ID 1.

IT DOESN'T WAIT!

 

Edited August 9 by JonF

[Werty]

Npcap supports Silent Install with no graphical interface or prompts.

https://npcap.com/guide/npcap-users-guide.html

/edit, just saw that silent install option is only available for OEM version of npcap, not the free version, dont know which you use.

Edited August 9 by Werty

[Nine]

Ok it seems all the controls have the id of 1.  Maybe you should try to loop until you get a valid handle of the control.  You are currently looking at the activation of the window, but maybe the control is not available yet.  Try this :

$WindowTitle = "Npcap " & $Version & " Setup"
$hWnd = WinGetHandle($WindowTitle)
ConsoleWrite($hWnd & @CRLF)
While Not ControlGetHandle($hWnd, "", "Button2")
  Sleep(100)
WEnd
ControlClick($hWnd, "", "Button2")

 

[pixelsearch]

10 hours ago, JonF said:

It seeems nobody is addressing the issue, which is that...

WinWaitActive($WindowTitle,"Setup was completed")

... is reporting the windows is active before the window containing that text is on-screen.

If not mistaken, $WindowTitle was a string, then it becomes a handle as found in your code :

$WindowTitle = "Npcap " & $Version & " Setup" ; $WindowTitle is a string
$WindowTitle = WinWait($WindowTitle,"License Agreement",10) ; $WindowTitle becomes a handle

Now have a look at this line :

WinWaitActive($WindowTitle,"Setup was completed")

1) If $WindowTitle is a handle (your case) then the 2nd parameter ("Setup was completed") has no meaning as stipulated by the help file :

When you use a window handle for the title parameter then the text parameter is completely ignored.

That's why your window is active, no matter the text you indicated as 2nd parameter

2) If $WindowTitle is NOT a handle, then the 2nd parameter is useful ("Setup was completed")
So what you should try is a 1st parameter not being a handle (it can be a title, a class etc...) then your second parameter will be useful.

This is a part of my personal test on NotePad :

WinWaitActive($hWnd, "123", 10) ; immediately active, "123" doesn't mean anything when 1st param. title is a handle
; WinWaitActive("[CLASS:Notepad]", "123", 10) ; active only when "123" is typed (title is not a handle)
; WinWaitActive("Sans titre - Bloc-notes", "123", 10) ; active only when "123" is typed (title is not a handle)

Good luck

 

[argumentum]

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;~ ConsoleWrite('-  WinGetHandle_NcapSetup() = ' &  WinGetHandle_NcapSetup() & @TAB & @error & ',' & @extended & @CRLF)
Func WinGetHandle_NcapSetup()
    Local $n, $aArray = WinList("[TITLE:Npcap;CLASS:#32770;]") ; Npcap 1.83 Setup
    If UBound($aArray) < 2 Then Return SetError(1, UBound($aArray), 0)
    For $n = 1 To $aArray[0][0]
        If StringInStr($aArray[$n][0], "Setup") Then Return SetExtended(UBound($aArray) - 1, $aArray[$n][1])
    Next
    Return SetError(2, UBound($aArray) - 1, 0)
EndFunc   ;==>WinGetHandle_NcapSetup

Exit AnswerSetup()
Func AnswerSetup()
    Local $hTimer = TimerInit()
    Local $iDone = 0, $sTextWas, $sTextIs, $hWin = WinGetHandle_NcapSetup()
    If @error Then Return @ScriptLineNumber
    WinActivate($hWin)
    WinSetOnTop($hWin, "", 1)
    While Not $iDone
        Sleep(1000)
        If TimerDiff($hTimer) > 60 * 1000 Then Return @ScriptLineNumber
        $sTextIs = WinGetText($hWin)
        If $sTextWas = $sTextIs Then ContinueLoop
        $sTextWas = $sTextIs
        ConsoleWrite($sTextIs)
        If StringInStr($sTextIs, "Reinstall (possibly with different options)") Then
            ControlSend($hWin, "", "", "!y")
            WinWaitClose($hWin, "", 5)
            $hWin = WinGetHandle_NcapSetup()
            WinSetOnTop($hWin, "", 1)
        EndIf
        If StringInStr($sTextIs, "I &Agree") Then ControlSend($hWin, "", "", "!a")
        If StringInStr($sTextIs, "&Install") Then ControlSend($hWin, "", "", "!i")
        If StringInStr($sTextIs, "&Next >") Then ControlSend($hWin, "", "", "!n")
        If StringInStr($sTextIs, "Click Finish to close this wizard.") Then
            WinClose($hWin)
            ControlSend($hWin, "", "", "{ENTER}")
            WinWaitClose($hWin, "", 5)
            If Not WinExists($hWin) Then Return
        EndIf
    WEnd
EndFunc   ;==>AnswerSetup

 

[Numeric1]

In your script, I noticed that you use WinWaitActive($WindowTitle, "Setup was completed"). However, it appears that "Setup was completed" is displayed in a label within the window, not in its title. To check the state of this label, which contains the main message you're interested in, you should inspect this control. I recommend using the AutoIt Window Info tool to identify its properties. Additionally, to make window detection more flexible, I suggest adding

Opt("WinTitleMatchMode", 2)

at the beginning of your script. This option allows for partial matching of the window title, which is particularly useful if the title varies slightly.

[Numeric1]

You could also tackle that fancy progress bar to make sure the operation is truly done, but hold your horses! First, check that it’s a real, honest-to-goodness progress bar and not some glamorous poser from a trendy drawing library. These days, with all their aesthetic swagger, these bars think they’re modern art and scoff at the old-school programming rules. Beware, they’re often more about looks than reliability! 🙊

[JonF]

On 8/9/2025 at 8:33 AM, Nine said:

True.  For all Control* functions it doesn't say it is optional.  It is not optional in terms of skipping it. It is optional (check examples of Control* functions) in the sense that you must provide a string, but most of the time, it is going to be empty...

However, it is clearly stated that the second parameter of many Win* functions is optional (meaning that you can skip it).

Well, it doesn't seem to me to be clearly stated:

Quote

The only required parameter for this function is title. However, the text and timeout parameters are optional. In some functions, the text parameter is not optional.

"In some functiions" isn't clear.

it appears that in some functions the Text argument must not be specified when an ID is specified. I removed all the Text arguments and rteplaced them with an empty string, and the entire function works!

Thank you.

[pixelsearch]

2 hours ago, JonF said:

it appears that in some functions the Text argument must not be specified when an ID is specified.

This is not always True
As I already explained in this post above, if the 1st parameter (title) is NOT a handle, then the Text argument is important, no matter you indicate a valid control ID . For example :

ControlClick("Untitled - Notepad", "123", "Edit1")

The ControlID (3rd parameter) has been correctly indicated, but ControlClick won't perform unless the text (2nd parameter) contains "123" : this is because the 1st parameter (title) is NOT a handle

ControlClick($hWnd, "123", "Edit1")

The ControlID (3rd parameter) has been correctly indicated, and ControlClick will perform no matter what's in the 2nd Text parameter : this is because the 1st parameter (title) IS a handle

And it helps to answer your "issue" question :

On 8/9/2025 at 1:24 PM, JonF said:

It seeems nobody is addressing the issue, which is that...

WinWaitActive($WindowTitle,"Setup was completed")

... is reporting the windows is active before the window containing that text is on-screen.

 

You indicated a handle as 1st parameter (your bad named $WindowTitle is a handle), this is why your 2nd Text parameter is ignored and your window is always active, as stipulated in the help file :

When you use a window handle for the title parameter then the text parameter is completely ignored.