Develop Reference

How to change username of job in print queue using python & win32print

I am trying to change the user of a print job in the queue, as I want to create it on a service account but send the job to another users follow-me printing queue. I'm using the win32 module in python. Here is an example of my code:
from win32 import win32print
JOB_INFO_LEVEL = 2
pclExample = open("sample.pcl")
printer_name = win32print.GetDefaultPrinter()
hPrinter = win32print.OpenPrinter(printer_name)
try:
jobID = win32print.StartDocPrinter(hPrinter, 1, ("PCL Data test", None, "RAW"))
# Here we try to change the user by extracting the job and then setting it again
jobInfoDict = win32print.GetJob(hPrinter, jobID , JOB_INFO_LEVEL )
jobInfoDict["pUserName"] = "exampleUser"
win32print.SetJob(hPrinter, jobID , JOB_INFO_LEVEL , jobInfoDict , win32print.JOB_CONTROL_RESUME )
try:
win32print.StartPagePrinter(hPrinter)
win32print.WritePrinter(hPrinter, pclExample)
win32print.EndPagePrinter(hPrinter)
finally:
win32print.EndDocPrinter(hPrinter)
finally:
win32print.ClosePrinter(hPrinter)
The problem is I get an error at the win32print.SetJob() line. If JOB_INFO_LEVEL is set to 1, then I get the following error:
(1804, 'SetJob', 'The specified datatype is invalid.')
This is a known bug to do with how the C++ works in the background (Issue here).
If JOB_INFO_LEVEL is set to 2, then I get the following error:
(1798, 'SetJob', 'The print processor is unknown.')
However, this is the processor that came from win32print.GetJob(). Without trying to change the user this prints fine, so I'm not sure what is wrong.
Any help would be hugely appreciated! :)
EDIT:
Using Python 3.8.5 and Pywin32 303

At the beginning I thought it was a misunderstanding (I was also a bit skeptical about the bug report), mainly because of the following paragraph (which apparently seems to be wrong) from [MS.Docs]: SetJob function (emphasis is mine):
The following members of a JOB_INFO_1, JOB_INFO_2, or JOB_INFO_4 structure are ignored on a call to SetJob: JobId, pPrinterName, pMachineName, pUserName, pDrivername, Size, Submitted, Time, and TotalPages.
But I did some tests and ran into the problem. The problem is as described in the bug: filling JOB_INFO_* string members (which are LPTSTRs) with char* data.
Submitted [GitHub]: mhammond/pywin32 - Fix: win32print.SetJob sending ANSI to UNICODE API (and none of the 2 errors pops up). It was merged to main on 220331.
When testing the fix, I was able to change various properties of an existing job, I was amazed that it didn't have to be valid data (like below), I'm a bit curious to see what would happen when the job would be executed (as now I don't have a connection to a printer):
Change pUserName to str(random.randint(0, 10000)) to make sure it changes on each script run (PrintScreens taken separately and assembled in Paint):
Ways to go further:
Wait for a new PyWin32 version (containing this fix) to be released. This is the recommended approach, but it will also take more time (and it's unclear when it will happen)
Get the sources, either:
from main
from b303 (last stable branch), and apply the (above) patch(1)
build the module (.pyd) and copy it in the PyWin32's site-packages directory on your Python installation(s). Faster, but it requires some deeper knowledge, and maintenance might become a nightmare
Footnotes
#1: Check [SO]: Run / Debug a Django application's UnitTests from the mouse right click context menu in PyCharm Community Edition? (#CristiFati's answer) (Patching UTRunner section) for how to apply patches (on Win).

server name reachability in dnspython

I am currently trying to find a way to check whether or not the name servers can respond to either TCP or UDP packets.
My idea behind that was, to get all the name servers from a website (for example google.com), store them in a list, and then try to send TCP and UDP messages to all of them.
Although I am getting the name servers, my interpreter shows a problem when I am trying to make a query on udp(check udpPacket on the code) saying:
"TypeError: coercing to Unicode: need string or buffer, NS found"
I am new in Python(coming from C and C++) and I am guessing this is just incompatible types.
I checked dnspython's documentation and could not find what kind of type NS is (probably it's a type by itself) and why it cannot be passed as an argument.
What do you think the problem is? Is there maybe a better way to solve that kind of problem?
def getNSResults(url):
#create an empty list where we can store all the nameservers we found
nameServers = []
nameServers = dns.resolver.query(url,dns.rdatatype.NS, raise_on_no_answer=False)
#create a dictionary where based on all the nameservers.
#1st label refers to the ns name of our url that we inserted.
#2nd label shows wether or not we received a UDP response or not.
#3rd label shows wether or not we received a TCP response or not.
results = {}
for nameServer in nameServers:
#make a dns ns query, acts as a dumb message since whatever we send we just care of what we get back
query = dns.message.make_query(dns.name.from_text(url), dns.rdatatype.ANY)
query.flags |= dns.flags.AD
query.find_rrset(query.additional, dns.name.root, 65535, dns.rdatatype.OPT, create=True, force_unique=True)
#try sending a udp packet to see if it's listening on UDP
udpPacket = dns.query.udp(query,nameServer)
#try sending a tcp packet to see if it's listening on TCP
tcpPacket = dns.query.tcp(None,nameServer)
#add the results in a dictionary and return it, to be checked later by the user.
results.update({"nsName" == nameServer, "receivedUDPPacket" == isNotNone(udpPacket),"receivedTCPPacket" == isNotNone(tcpPacket)})
Thanks in advance!

Looking at your code, I see some DNS problems, some Python problems, and some dnspython problems. Let's see if we can't learn something together.
DNS
First, the parameter to your function getNSResults is called url. When you send DNS queries, you query for a domain name. A URL is something totally different (e.g. https://example.com/index.html). I would rename url to something like domain_name, domain, or name. For more on the difference between URLs and domain names, see https://www.copahost.com/blog/domain-vs-url/.
Second, let's talk about what you're trying to do.
i am currently trying to find a way to check wether or not the name servers can respond to either tcp or udp packets.
My idea behind that was, to get all the name servers from a website (for example google.com), store them in a list, and then, try to send tcp and udp messages to all of them.
That sounds like a great approach. I think you might be missing a few details here. so let me explain the steps you can take to do this:
Do an NS query for a domain name. You already have this step in your code. What you'll actually get from that query is just another domain name (or multiple domain names). For example, if you run dig +short NS google.com, you'll get this output:
ns3.google.com.
ns1.google.com.
ns4.google.com.
ns2.google.com.
At this step, we have a list of one or more names of authoritative servers. Now we need an IP address to use to send them queries. So we'll do a type A query for each of the names we got from step 1.
Now we have a list of IP addresses. We can send a DNS query over UDP and one over TCP to see if they're supported.
Python
For the most part, your Python syntax is okay.
The biggest red flag I see is the following code:
results.update({"nsName" == nameServer,
"receivedUDPPacket" == isNotNone(udpPacket),
"receivedTCPPacket" == isNotNone(tcpPacket)})
Let's break this down a bit.
First, you have results, which is a dict.
Then you have this:
{"nsName" == nameServer,
"receivedUDPPacket" == isNotNone(udpPacket),
"receivedTCPPacket" == isNotNone(tcpPacket)}
which is a set of bools.
What I think you meant to do was something like this:
results.update({
"nsName": nameServer,
"receivedUDPPacket": true,
"receivedTCPPacket": true
})
Function and variables names in Python are usually written in lowercase, with words separated by underscores (e.g. my_variable, def my_function()). Class names are usually upper camel case (e.g. class MyClass).
None of this is required, you can name your stuff however you want, plenty of super popular libraries and builtins break this convention, just figured I'd throw it out there because it can be helpful when reading Python code.
dnspython
When you're not sure about the types of things, or what attributes things have, remember these four friends, all builtin to Python:
1. pdb
2. dir
3. type
4. print
pdb is a Python debugger. Just import pdb, and the put pdb.set_trace() where you want to break. Your code will stop there, and then you can check out the values of all the variables.
dir will return the attributes and methods of whatever you pass to it. Example: print(dir(udpPacket)).
type will return the type of an object.
print as you probably already know, will print out stuff so you can see it.
I'm going to leave this part for you to test out.
Run dir() on everything if you don't know what it is.
I also should probably mention help(), which is super useful for built-in stuff.
The summary for this section is that sometimes documentation isn't all there, or hard to find, especially when you're new to a language/library/whatever.
So you have to figure stuff out on your own, and that means using all the tools I've just mentioned, looking at the source code, things like that.
Summary
I hope this was helpful. I know it's a lot, it's probably too much, but just be patient and know that DNS and Python are some very useful and fun things to learn about.
I went ahead and wrote something up that is a start at what I think you're hoping to achieve.
I recommend walking through the whole thing and making sure you understand what's going on.
If you don't understand something, remember pdb and dir (and there's always Google, SO, etc).
import dns.resolver
import dns.message
import dns.rdatatype
import json
import sys
def check_tcp_and_udp_support(name):
# this will give me the first default system resolver from /etc/resolv.conf
# (or Windows registry)
where = dns.resolver.Resolver().nameservers[0]
q = dns.message.make_query(name, dns.rdatatype.NS)
ns_response = dns.query.udp(q, where)
ns_names = [t.target.to_text() for ans in ns_response.answer for t in ans]
# this code is the same as the one-liner above
# ns_names = []
# for ans in ns_response.answer:
# for t in ans:
# ns_names.append(t.target.to_text())
results = {}
for ns_name in ns_names:
# do type A lookup for nameserver
q = dns.message.make_query(ns_name, dns.rdatatype.A)
response = dns.query.udp(q, where)
nameserver_ips = [item.address for ans in response.answer for item in ans.items if ans.rdtype == dns.rdatatype.A]
# now send queries to the nameserver IPs
for nameserver_ip in nameserver_ips:
q = dns.message.make_query('example.com.', dns.rdatatype.A)
try:
udp_response = dns.query.udp(q, nameserver_ip)
supports_udp = True
except dns.exception.Timeout:
supports_udp = False
try:
tcp_response = dns.query.tcp(q, nameserver_ip)
supports_tcp = True
except dns.exception.Timeout:
supports_tcp = True
results[nameserver_ip] = {
'supports_udp': supports_udp,
'supports_tcp': supports_tcp
}
return results
def main():
results = check_tcp_and_udp_support('google.com')
# this is just fancy JSON printing
# you could do print(results) instead
json.dump(results, sys.stdout, indent=4)
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
Again, I hope this is helpful. It's hard when I don't know exactly what's going on in your head, but this is what I've got for you.

Modifying HTTPS response packet on the fly with mitmproxy

I am trying to implement an mitmproxy addon script, in order to tamper with a particular https packet data - which is by the way decrypted on the fly through mitmproxy's certificate injection.
I am following this Stack Overflow answer to a rather similar question, as well as this tutorial from the mitmproxy docs, but without any success so far.
The packet I'm targeting comes from https://api.example.com/api/v1/user/info.
Now here is the whole python script I wrote so as to tamper with this packet data, based upon the aforementioned sources :
from mitmproxy import ctx
class RespModif:
def _init_(self):
self.num = 0
def response(self, flow):
ctx.log.info("RespModif triggered")
if flow.request.url == "https://api.example.com/api/v1/user/info":
ctx.log.info("RespModif triggered -- In the if statement")
self.num = self.num + 1
ctx.log.info("RespModif -- Proceeded to %d response modifications "
"of the targetted URLs" % self.num)
addons = [
RespModif()
]
Checking out the events log, I'm able to see that the first log information ("RespModif triggered") is being reported onto the log, but the two other log infos (done from inside the if statement) are never reported, which means I think that the if statement does never succeed.
Is there something wrong with my code ?
How can I get the if statement to succeed ?
PS: The target URL is definitely correct, plus I'm using it with a registered account from the client application that is being sniffed with mitmproxy.

Have you tried to use pretty_url attribute ?
Something like :
if flow.request.pretty_url == "https://api.example.com/api/v1/user/info":
....
pretty_url attribute handles full domain name whereas url only deals with corresponding ip address.
Also logging the content of pretty_url should allow to see what exact URL is going through and give more visibility as to what the code is actually doing.

Pyro requests goes to the wrong nameserver (when there are multiple ones)

I have the following case:
Two servers running each their own name server (NS)
Each of these servers has the same object registering with a different URI. The URI includes the local server's hostname to make it unique
A third server, the client, tries to target the right server to query information available only that server
Please note that all of these 3 servers can communicate with each other.
My questions and issues:
The requests from the third server always goes to the first server, no matter what; except when I shutdown the first NS. Is there something definitely wrong with that I'm doing? I guess I do, but I can't figure it out...
Is running separate nameservers the root cause? What would be the alternative if this not allowed? I run multiple name servers for redundancy as some other upcoming operations can run on any of the two first servers. When I list the content of each name server (locally on each server), I get the right registration (which includes the hostname).
Is the use of Pyro4.config.NS_HOST parameter wrong, see below the usage in the code? What would be the alternative?
My configuration:
Pyro 4-4.63-1.1
Python 2.7.13
Linux OpenSuse (kernel version 4.4.92)
The test code is listed below. I got rid of the details like try blocks and imports, etc...
My server skeleton code (which runs on the first two servers):
daemon = Pyro4.Daemon(local_ip_address)
ns = Pyro4.locateNS()
uri = daemon.register(TestObject())
ns.register("test.object#%s" % socket.gethostname(), uri)
daemon.requestLoop()
The local_ip_address is the one supplied below by the user to contact the correct name server (on the correct server).
The name server is started on each of the first tow servers as follows:
python -m Pyro4.naming -n local_ip_address
The local_ip_address is the same as above.
My client skeleton code (which runs on the third server):
target_server_hostname = user_provided_hostname
target_server_ip = user_provided_ip
Pyro4.config.NS_HOST = target_server_ip
uri = "test.object#%s" % target_server_hostname
proxy = Pyro4.Proxy(uri)
proxy._pyroTimeout = my_timeout
proxy._pyroMaxRetries = my_retries
rc, reason = proxy.testAction(target_server_hostname)
if rc != 0:
print reason
else:
print "Hostname matches"
If more information is required, please let me know.
Djurdjura.

I think figured it out. Hope this will be useful to anyone else looking for a similar use case.
You just need to specify where to look for the name server itself. The client code becomes something like the following:
target_server_hostname = user_provided_hostname
target_server_ip = user_provided_ip
# The following statement finds the correct name server
ns = Pyro4.locateNS(host=target_server_ip)
name = "test.object#%s" % target_server_hostname
uri = ns.lookup(name)
proxy = Pyro4.Proxy(uri)
proxy._pyroTimeout = my_timeout
proxy._pyroMaxRetries = my_retries
rc, reason = proxy.testAction(target_server_hostname)
if rc != 0:
print reason
else:
print "Hostname matches"
In my case, I guess the alternative would be using a single common name server running on ... the third server (the client server). This server is always on and ready before the other ones. I didn't try this approach one yet.
Regards.
D.
PS. Thanks Irmen for your answer.

How to catch specific Postgres exceptions in Python psycopg2

Default psycopg2 error messages are too broad. Most of the time it simply throws:
psycopg2.OperationalError
without any additional information. So it is hard to guess, what was the real reason of the error - either incorrect user credentials, or simply the fact the server is not running. So, I need some more appropriate error handling, like error codes in pymysql library.
I've seen this page, but it does not help. When I do
except Exception as err:
print(err.pgcode)
it always prints None. And as for errorcodes it is simply undefined. I tried to import it, but failed. So, I need some help.

For anyone looking a quick answer:
Short Answer
import traceback # Just to show the full traceback
from psycopg2 import errors
InFailedSqlTransaction = errors.lookup('25P02')
try:
feed = self._create_feed(data)
except InFailedSqlTransaction:
traceback.print_exc()
self._cr.rollback()
pass # Continue / throw ...
Long Answer
Go to psycopg2 -> erros.py you will find the lookup function lookup(code).
Go to psycopg2\_psycopg\__init__.py in sqlstate_errors you will find all codes to add as string into the lookup function.

This is not an answer to the question but merely my thoughts that don't fit in a comment. This is a scenario in which I think setting pgcode in the exception object would be helpful but, unfortunately, it is not the case.
I'm implementing a pg_isready-like Python script to test if a Postgres service is running on the given address and port (e.g., localhost and 49136). The address and port may or may not be used by any other program.
pg_isready internally calls internal_ping(). Pay attention to the comment of Here begins the interesting part of "ping": determine the cause...:
/*
* Here begins the interesting part of "ping": determine the cause of the
* failure in sufficient detail to decide what to return. We do not want
* to report that the server is not up just because we didn't have a valid
* password, for example. In fact, any sort of authentication request
* implies the server is up. (We need this check since the libpq side of
* things might have pulled the plug on the connection before getting an
* error as such from the postmaster.)
*/
if (conn->auth_req_received)
return PQPING_OK;
So pg_isready also uses the fact that an error of invalid authentication on connection means the connection itself is already successful, so the service is up, too. Therefore, I can implement it as follows:
ready = True
try:
psycopg2.connect(
host=address,
port=port,
password=password,
connect_timeout=timeout,
)
except psycopg2.OperationalError as ex:
ready = ("fe_sendauth: no password supplied" in except_msg)
However, when the exception psycopg2.OperationalError is caught, ex.pgcode is None. Therefore, I can't use the error codes to compare and see if the exception is about authentication/authorization. I'll have to check if the exception has a certain message (as #dhke pointed out in the comment), which I think is kind of fragile because the error message may be changed in the future release but the error codes are much less likely to be changed, I think.