Complete script noob needs help

[Tweed]

Greetings All

First you should know that I am a complete scripting noob (I just delved into this yesterday) and my question will probably sound dumb to you so I apologize in advance. So I am trying to get a process to end when I press ESC. I am not looking for anything fancy, just have the script watch the process and if ESC is entered the process will end and the script will stop. From looking at other peoples scripts I have cobbled together the below but I believe something is wrong with my loop and I am unsure how to proceed. Currently the script runs but just closes right after it's run without doing anything. Any assistance would be much appreciated. 

HotKeySet("{ESC}", "Terminate")

sleep(100)

Func Terminate()

    ProcessClose ( "notepad.exe" )

    Exit 0

EndFunc

[orbs]

hello Tweed, welcome to AutoIt and to the forum!

your script does exactly what you asked of it: register a hotkey, wait for 100ms, then exit. you are NOT asking your script to do anything else, like wait in idle, for example:

HotKeySet("{ESC}", "Terminate")

While True
    ; do something here - this is where your main action should be
    sleep(100) ; this is just here to keep the CPU from burning
WEnd

Func Terminate()
    ProcessClose ( "notepad.exe" )
    Exit 0
EndFunc

also, when you post code to the forum, use the code tags - that makes your script much more readable. use the "A" button (tooltip: "Code") on the toolbar menu.

Edited June 22, 2014 by orbs

[JohnOne]

something is wrong with my loop

Indeed there is.

It's missing.

[Tweed]

Hmmm how about how I changed it...would that work?

hello Tweed, welcome to AutoIt and to the forum!

your script does exactly what you asked of it: register a hotkey, wait for 100ms, then exit. you are NOT asking your script to do anything else, like wait in idle, for example:

HotKeySet("{ESC}", "Terminate")

While True
    ProcessExists(notepad.exe)
    sleep(100) ; this is just here to keep the CPU from burning
WEnd

Func Terminate()
    ProcessClose ( "notepad.exe" )
    Exit 0
EndFunc

also, when you post code to the forum, use the code tags - that makes your script much more readable. use the "A" button (tooltip: "Code") on the toolbar menu.

[Geir1983]

You did not really change anything by adding the ProcessExists.. What was the intention, exit script if it does not exist?

[orbs]

other than being a syntax error, that won't give you anything. the line you add just computes the existence of notepad.exe, but it does not DO anything with it.

[Tweed]

You did not really change anything by adding the ProcessExists.. What was the intention, exit script if it does not exist?

No...I want it to do nothing at all unless I press ESC...then if I press ESC to end the process "Notepad.exe"

Currently I run it, its jumps up for a split second and ends...looking for it to keep going until I press ESC.

Edited June 22, 2014 by Tweed

[JohnOne]

No...I want it to do nothing at all unless I press ESC...then if I press ESC to end the process "Notepad.exe"

Currently I run it, its jumps up for a split second and ends...looking for it to keep going until I press ESC.

That's exactly what orbs' script does.

[orbs]

then you don't need it. ProcessClose() will fail if the target process does not exist, but it will not crush your script. your script will exit as planned no matter the result of ProcessClose(), so preliminary check is redundant.

do you mean you want your script to accept the Esc key only when notepad is running?

[JohnOne]

HotKeySet("{ESC}", "Terminate")

While True
    ;ProcessExists(notepad.exe)
    sleep(100) ; this is just here to keep the CPU from burning
WEnd

Func Terminate()
    ProcessClose ( "notepad.exe" )
    ;Exit 0
EndFunc

[Tweed]

That's exactly what orbs' script does.

Oh LOL sorry...I thought he was asking me to insert something into his script hehe spent the last couple hours searching for what to put in it...didn't realize that was what I was looking for. Also just saw your sig...reading it now.

[orbs]

Oh LOL sorry...I thought he was asking me to insert something into his script hehe spent the last couple hours searching for what to put in it...didn't realize that was what I was looking for. Also just saw your sig...reading it now.

 

sorry for confusing you. the point was that the main action of your script is actually doing nothing in a loop. it is more common that a script is actually doing something, which may be interrupted by a hot key.