AutoHotkey Community

We don't need any external tool or dll call. Sending keystrokes allows marking and copying the whole (or part of the) content of the output buffer of the console to the clipboard. We then process the clipboard in the script, to get the output of a console application. Here is a working example: Hello World!While a console application runs it changes the title of the window. Monitoring the change tells us, when the application terminates. We run the desired program via cmd.exe. Its full path is stored in %comspec%, which is the title of its window when idle. "cmd.exe /k" runs the program, and remains open. Before running the program we start a timer, which checks in every 30 ms if a window exists with the idle cmd.exe title. If it is found, the checking can stop. We activate from the context menu (Alt-Space) Edit/Select all. Sending Enter copies the selection to the clipboard, from where we only need to remove the bottommost command prompt to get the output of the console application.

We have to make sure the buffer is large enough for holding the full output. We can set it up to 999 lines via the properties of the command prompt, and making it the default. The "Select all" menu item only selects the beginning of the buffer, so a large one does not slow things down. Another approach is to use "|more" and a loop to get the output one screen at a time.

This version is slightly faster and more robust: it is not disturbed if there are other cmd windows open. When the desired program gets started (Alt-C hotkey), the process ID of its window is saved. The GetIt subroutine checks the title of the corresponding window every 30 ms. If it becomes %comspec%, it indicates that the console program has finished. Then the used part of the buffer is copied to the clipboard and the cmd window gets closed. The original thread now continues and processes the output (in this case the directory listing of c:\).Tested under XP SP2, with 999 lines long buffer and default command prompt (for different prompts you need to adapt the Text processing).

Looks like that should replace cb.exe for most uses. Way cool!
I've added the post to my database.

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“yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation” yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation.

Interesting... Good work.

I do not have a lot of scripitng knowledge, but play around when time is available.

I have always wanted a way to find when an exact webpage has loaded, not just some web page.

I use Control A, then copy, then look in string which works very good except it is flashy and attracts attendtion.

Would you comment on if this script of yours would help me with http://www.webscrape.com, which looks like it might, but would take some experimenting to see if it does?

The script above is monitoring the window title. Unfortunately, in case of a website, it changes when the content starts loading, not when it is done. I would use instead the status bar and (part of) the window title

You can use the WinHide command with Internet Explorer.
You can use "Hide" with Run, Target [, WorkingDir, Max|Min|Hide|UseErrorLevel, OutputVarPID]

WinHide and Hide w/ Run/RunWait work well. I've noticed some behavioral differences in comparison to windows that are visible though... and its better to use WinActivate, IfWinExist, etc... but beware of issues with using WinWait and some other commands. Also, when using WinHide with Internet Explorer it seems ControlSetText or some combination would forcibly show the Window and I would have to re-WinHide it or use something else.

Before I proceed further, people can still determine if AutoHotkey scripts are running by looking for tray icons, checking the processes that are running, and by some other methods... I would advise against, trying to sneakily or illegally run scripts without a user's knowledge and have your scripts classified as malware or get yourself in legal trouble.

The advantage of WinHide and Hide, is that a number of things you do with AutoHotkey may annoy users of your script or various users may actively interfere with the operation of your script. People don't usually try to interfere with what they can't see. By hiding the Window or certain operations of your script you can avoid problems with users or even not annoy yourself, especially if you have numerous AutoHotkey scripts running at the same time.

Anyone get this to work post-XP?

In WinXP SP3 it opens a cmd.exe window and just sits there.

tested with XP SP3
important is what you send to DOS console when copy ( depending language )

(I think)
English
-Edit
-Select All
means
SendInput !{Space}es{Enter}

German
-Bearbeiten
-Alles Markieren
means
SendInput !{Space}ba{Enter}





another example