Support for SendKeys module

[sasumner]

I've notice that in 1.5.4 there seems to be partial support for the SendKeys module import:

>>> import SendKeys
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<console>", line 1, in <module>
  File "C:\...\plugins\PythonScript\lib\SendKeys.py", line 16, in <module>
    from _sendkeys import char2keycode, key_up, key_down, toggle_numlock
ImportError: No module named _sendkeys

So, SendKeys is found, but when that code tries to access _sendkeys there is a failure because that isn't found.

I'd like to use SendKeys without having to do "special things" to make it work.

Note about 3.0.5alpha: SendKeys is not present at all -- can this be added (in full, of course)?

[chcg]

See https://pypi.org/project/SendKeys/#files and https://www.reddit.com/r/learnpython/comments/7lzocc/sendkeys_not_working_python_3/, it seems it is just available for python 2.7

The download contains in setup.py

    ext_modules=[
        Extension("_sendkeys", ["_sendkeys.c"],
            libraries=['user32','kernel32']),
    ],

, so indeed there seems to be some part missing in the current installation for python 2.7

Just found:
https://github.com/bruderstein/PythonScript/blob/stable_python27/PythonLib/full_dll/_sendkeys.pyd
, but not the counterpart for x64. Additionally it doesn't make sense to include sendkeys.py for the minimal build under https://github.com/bruderstein/PythonScript/blob/stable_python27/PythonLib/min/SendKeys.py if _sendkeys.pyd is not available in this configuration.

Maybe https://code.google.com/archive/p/sendkeys-ctypes/downloads is a python only replacement which works for x86, x64 and also for the minimal package.

@sasumner Did you use the x64 bit version of 1.5.4?

[sasumner]

@sasumner Did you use the x64 bit version of 1.5.4?

No; was using 32-bit.

[chcg]

@sasumner Just tried it with 32bit and it worked fine for me. Is _sendkeys.pyd available in your N++ plugins\PythonScript\lib dir?

Python 2.7.18 (v2.7.18:8d21aa21f2, Apr 20 2020, 13:19:08) [MSC v.1500 32 bit (Intel)]
Initialisation took 63ms
Ready.
>>> import SendKeys

Have you changed the configuration which python installation is preferred?

[sasumner]

No; was using 32-bit.

I'm actually using both 32 and 64-bit, so sometimes it gets confusing. :-)
Sorry for that.

Clarification:

• with 32-bit: no errors with import SendKeys
• with 64-bit: import SendKeys yields the ImportError: No module named _sendkeys error this issue was opened with.

Is _sendkeys.pyd available in your N++ plugins\PythonScript\lib dir?

• with 32-bit: YES
• with 64-bit: NO

Have you changed the configuration which python installation is preferred?

No; I have no independent Python 2.7 on my machine.

[chcg]

@sasumner That makes much more sense and is matching with my findings from the code :-)
Could you test if adding _sendkeys.py from https://code.google.com/archive/p/sendkeys-ctypes/downloads to your x64 version is working fine for you. And do you have a testscript using Sendkeys? Maybe I could make a unittest from it to check it automatically in the future.

[sasumner]

@chcg In the future, having SendKeys available with PS 3.x will be important to me, as part of a "full" install of PythonScript. I see that the import fails under the current 3.0.5alpha (64 bit). Will SendKeys be something that will be available in PS 3 (real release, non-alpha)?

[chcg]

@sasumner Added a python3 adapted version of SendKeys also to master for 3.0.x version.

[sasumner]

@chcg said:

And do you have a testscript using Sendkeys? Maybe I could make a unittest from it to check it automatically in the future.

I use SendKeys for two main reasons.

1. autodismiss for notepad.messageBox()

Example:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

from Npp import notepad
import threading
import SendKeys as sk

def msg_box_auto_dismiss(message, title='', flags_to_add_to_ok=None, secs_to_dismiss_after=3.0):
    # don't try to do a multiple button message box with this!
    user_dismissed = False
    if secs_to_dismiss_after > 0:
        def sendEnter():
            if not user_dismissed:
                sk.SendKeys("{ENTER}")
        timer = threading.Timer(secs_to_dismiss_after, sendEnter)
    flags = MESSAGEBOXFLAGS.OK
    if flags_to_add_to_ok != None: flags |= flags_to_add_to_ok   # can add .ICON* items (e.g. MESSAGEBOXFLAGS.ICONINFORMATION)
    if secs_to_dismiss_after > 0:
        timer.start()
        message += '\r\n' * 6 + 'This box will auto-close in {} seconds'.format(secs_to_dismiss_after)
    retval = notepad.messageBox(message, title, flags)
    user_dismissed = True
    return retval

msg_box_auto_dismiss("Press OK ... or don't")

2. I use the notepad.prompt() box as a UI sometimes. (It is not a good general-purpose UI, but resorting to something like Tk is overkill.)

Example:

notepad.prompt('Enter your info:\r\n(put an "x" inside the [  ] to select)', '', 'first name:\r\nlast name:\r\n[  ]blue-eyes  [  ]green-eyes  [  ]brown-eyes  [  ]other')

which produces:

However, that is annoying because the "prompt" call leaves all text selected. If I do this instead:

threading.Timer(0.25, lambda : sk.SendKeys('{END}')).start()
notepad.prompt('Enter your info:\r\n(put an "x" inside the [  ] to select)', '', 'first name:\r\nlast name:\r\n[  ]blue-eyes  [  ]green-eyes  [  ]brown-eyes  [  ]other')

then I obtain:

which is better, but still not great because the user input caret will be left after the r in "other" (as shown). So I adjust it still further to be sk.SendKeys('{UP}{UP}{END}'), which finally gives me what is best (the user input caret after the : in the first name: text:

Note: This "SendKeys" adaptation would be eliminated if there was a notepad.messageBoxEx() function which would allow me to (a) cancel the default-text being auto-selected and (b) specify the desired caret position. Perhaps I should have requested that as a feature, instead of my SendKeys complaint. :-)

[chcg]

Fixed with https://github.com/bruderstein/PythonScript/releases/tag/v2.0.0 and also in the python3 alpha versions.

@sasumner Feel free to add a new request for the messagebox.