Always on top msgbox

[taveren]

Long time user, first time poster.  I'm not sure what to search on to find my answer (perused various part of the FAQ), so if it has been answered already, politely point me in the direction, please.

I have a script that mostly takes actions directed by the status of pixels on the screen.  For debugging purposes, I'd like to print out to a msgbox (or similar object) information as the script is running.  Initially, I was using MsgBox to pop up the info, but then the screen loses focus.  

One of the things that is important is that I need to keep the screen I care about "in-focus" so all the pixel data, key presses, mouse clicks etc are acted on that screen as opposed to the "debug msgbox data window."  

To go into a little more detail, right now, I use FileWrite to write the debug data out to a file that I can peruse it.  But, it isn't something I view in real time.  Ideally, I'm looking to see if there is already some AutoIt function that exists where I can do something similar to a FileWrite to this "debug msgbox data window."  Every time I call to write to it, either the old data scrolls off or disappears (doesn't really matter ultimately).  

I've looked at the splashText function, but it appears to make the window I'm working on lose focus.  

Any ideas or tips would be greatly appreciated.

[MikahS]

You'll most likely need to create a GUI yourself, so that you may update the control that has the debug info or overwrite it. Have a look at this topic as it gives some ideas on how to keep this window in the back, which would allow everything to keep functioning even as you update the debug info in your GUI. 

Try scripting this and post it if you hit a snag, we'd be more than happy to help on it. 

EDIT: Welcome to the AutoIt forum @taveren!

Edited June 25, 2015 by MikahS
welcome

[water]

Did you have a look at the Debug UDF that comes with AutoIt?

[UEZ]

You can set the MsgBox window topmost!

Example:

#include <MsgBoxConstants.au3>
MsgBox($MB_TOPMOST, "MsgBox Demo", "I'm topmost")

 

[guiltyking]

Remarks

The flag parameter can be a combination of the following values: ? could not do it, then decided below.

_MsgBox_OnTop(0, "Example", "MagBox() on Top.")

Func _MsgBox_OnTop($iFlag, $sTitle, $sText, $iTimeOut = 0, $hHandle = -1)
    If $hHandle = -1 Then
        $hHandle = WinGetHandle(AutoItWinGetTitle())
        WinSetOnTop($hHandle, "", 1)
    EndIf
    Return MsgBox($iFlag, $sTitle, $sText, $iTimeOut, $hHandle)
EndFunc   ;==>_MsgBox_OnTop

Edited March 24, 2016 by guiltyking
code fault

[mikell]

Considering all the requirements mentioned in post #1, a tooltip (non-blocking and no-focus) seems a much better solution than a msgbox

Edited March 24, 2016 by mikell
link