AutoHotkey Community

[nanobyte]

If you have the Win32 extensions of Python (are automatically installed with ActivePython AFAIK), it is easy to access the clipboard, and thus easy to communicate with AutoHotKey (in both directions).

I now only use AHK for the most basic GUI automation/hotkey tasks and delegate anything more fancy (string manipulation, for example) to Python. Here is a simple Python module that provides the required clipboard functionality:

import win32clipboard as cp
import win32con

def get_clipboard():
cp.OpenClipboard()
result = cp.GetClipboardData(win32con.CF_TEXT)
cp.CloseClipboard()
return result

def set_clipboard(what):
cp.OpenClipboard()
cp.EmptyClipboard()
cp.SetClipboardData(win32con.CF_TEXT, what)
cp.CloseClipboard()

def test():
set_clipboard("The matrix got you.")
print get_clipboard()

if __name__ == '__main__':
test()

Now if you create a Python module that accesses the clipboard on startup and manipulates it, you can easily use the AHK Run command to quickly manipulate anything that is in the clipboard.

I mainly use AHK + Python to work with C# code - e.g. automatically providing a property skeleton for the highlighted field. Works fine!

Happy AHK'ing!

[PhiLho]

Interesting...
Using the clipboard to communicate between two programs can be OK, but can be also disruptive if your programs run in the background while you try to work, eg. with a text editor...
Perhaps using something like shared memory (or even a temporary file) would work better. Or perhaps SendMessage...
Of course, most alternatives need some DllCalls on the AHK side.

For my (and others) reference:
http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms690478.aspx
http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/fast_ipc.asp
_________________
vPhiLho := RegExReplace("Philippe Lhoste", "^(\w{3})\w*\s+\b(\w{3})\w*$", "$1$2")