Managing the error flag property in AutoItX?

[daluu]

AutoIt script has an @error macro/flag that gets set when some functions are called that fail. And one can check that flag's value after function call to see if it failed or not.

In AutoItX, the help file shows oAutoIt.error() or in some language's COM interface just oAutoIt.error w/o the parenthesis. I know that works.

But I was just recently wondering, how do you reset that flag if it doesn't auto-reset once you check the flag and continue onwards to other commands in your program/application and/or ignore the failure.

In the AutoIt script function reference, I see SetError() function:

https://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/docs/functions/SetError.htm

just skimming over the AutoItX help file, I didn't notice an equivalent to SetError, unless I overlooked some section. So is there an equivalent to set/reset @error in AutoItX?

Or is it simply something like

oAutoIt.error(0) or oAutoIt.error = 0

Can someone clarify?

[daluu]

Hmm...105 views, but no comments on behavior? I guess no AutoItX user ever had to worry about @error being reset for subsequent commands.

Guess I'll have to try and experiment sometime and then post my findings here.

[water]

I'Ve never used AutoItX but I think doing a quick test is the easiest method to answer this question.

I would start with

oAutoIt.error = 0

[daluu]

Well, it looks like neither oAutoIt.error = 0 nor oAutoIt.error(0) work.

Logically, off the top of my head, I don't know of any other syntax one would normally use to reset the flag in AutoItX. I hope that's not a limitation the developers left out of AutoItX compared to AutoIt. If you can't reset the flag, then what's the point of the flag, in the cases where the user wants to do exception/error handling of "I don't care if there's a (benign) error, continue with next AutoIt command I'm about to run". Which one can typically do in programming languages & in Selenium by catching Selenium exceptions and ignoring them. But here, the flag stays set unlike Selenium exceptions once caught. I need to reset that flag.

FYI, I tested in both Python and VBScript for resetting the flag. Since VBScript is usually default for dealing with COM, even the AutoItX examples are in VBScript, I'll post my test snippet:

Set oAutoIt = WScript.CreateObject("AutoItX3.Control")
WScript.Echo oAutoIt.error 'should be 0
oAutoIt.ControlGetText "[active]","","[ID:33]"
WScript.Echo oAutoIt.error 'should be 1
If oAutoIt.error = 1 Then
    WScript.Echo "trying to reset error flag"
    oAutoIt.error = 0
    oAutoIt.error(0)
End If
WScript.Echo oAutoIt.error 'should be 0
WScript.Quit

You get output like this:

0
1
trying to reset error flag
c:\Temp\auerr.vbs(7, 2) Microsoft VBScript runtime error: Wrong number of arguments or invalid property assignment: 'oAutoIt.error'
c:\Temp\auerr.vbs(8, 2) Microsoft VBScript runtime error: Object doesn't support this property or method: 'oAutoIt.error'

 

It appears the damn flag is read only. How to write to it?

 

Edited February 11, 2015 by daluu

[water]

There is a function: SetError. But I'm not sure it is available with AutoItX.

[daluu]

I know that function is in AutoIt, didn't see mention of it in AutoItX. Gave it a try with oAutoIt.SetError(0) and oAutoIt.SetError 0, gave similar errors. Guess that's not available under AutoItX.

But I saw the remark under SetError function: https://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/docs/functions/SetError.htm

Hopefully that means that although the flag is set when there is error when next function is called, it gets reset to zero automatically, so that when you check the flag again, it is with respect to the last function called. Wish the AutoIt team at least updated the AutoItX help doc to mention that behavior for the error property as all that is noted is:

"Status of the error flag (equivalent to the @error macro in AutoIt v3)"

that's too basic. Do I have to consult the main AutoIt documentation to correlate everything else about the macro flag, sigh.

[BrewManNH]

Wouldn't you use something like SetLastError to set the error condition? And then use GetLastError to read it?

[daluu]

Wouldn't you use something like SetLastError to set the error condition? And then use GetLastError to read it?

 

Well, the question of this thread was about checking the AutoIt error flag, that is set by AutoIt, and then resetting later (but sounds like AutoIt will auto-reset so that be ok, something I overlooked before). I don't know if but doubt SetLastError will modify AutoIt's error flag. Or has someone actually tried that out? By the way, those are C/C++ functions of win32 API, I don't know how that translates to COM. This thread was in reference to COM.