I'm new to Python and I figured I'd make a simple autoclicker as a cool starter project.
I want a user to be able to specify a click interval and then turn the automatic clicking on and off with a hotkey.
I am aware of Ctrl-C, and you'll see that in my current code, but I want the program to work so that the hotkey doesn't have to be activated in the python window.
import pyautogui, sys
print("Press Ctrl + C to quit.")
interval = float(input("Please give me an interval for between clicks in seconds: "))
try:
while True:
pyautogui.click()
except KeyboardInterrupt:
print("\n")
Do I need to make a tkinter message box to make the switch or can I use a hotkey?
Thanks for the help.
Update
import multiprocessing
import time
import pyHook, pyautogui, pythoncom
import queue
click_interval = float(input("Please give an interval between clicks in seconds: "))
class AutoClicker(multiprocessing.Process):
def __init__(self, queue, interval):
multiprocessing.Process.__init__(self)
self.queue = queue
self.click_interval = click_interval
def run(self):
while True:
try:
task = self.queue.get(block=False)
if task == "Start":
print("Clicking...")
pyautogui.click(interval == click_interval)
except task == "Exit":
print("Exiting")
self.queue.task_done()
break
return
def OnKeyboardEvent(event):
key = event.Key
if key == "F3":
print("Starting auto clicker")
# Start consumers
queue.put("Start")
queue.join
elif key == "F4":
print("Stopping auto clicker")
# Add exit message to queue
queue.put("Exit")
# Wait for all of the tasks to finish
queue.join()
# return True to pass the event to other handlers
return True
if __name__ == '__main__':
# Establish communication queues
queue = multiprocessing.JoinableQueue()
# create a hook manager
hm = pyHook.HookManager()
# watch for all mouse events
hm.KeyDown = OnKeyboardEvent
# set the hook
hm.HookKeyboard()
# wait forever
pythoncom.PumpMessages()
AutoClicker.run(self)
First of all if you want to monitor global input outside the Python window you will need pyHook or something similar. It will allow you to monitor keyboard events. I chose to act upon the F3 and F4 key-presses, which are used for starting and stopping the autoclicker.
To accomplish what you've asked, the best way I'm aware of is to create a process which will do the clicking, and to communicate with it through the use of a Queue. When the F4 key is pressed, it will add an "Exit" string to the queue. The autoclicker will recognize this and then return.
Before the F4 key has been pressed, the queue will remain empty and the queue.Empty exception will continually occur. This will execute a single mouse click.
import multiprocessing
import time
import pyHook, pyautogui, pythoncom
import queue
class AutoClicker(multiprocessing.Process):
def __init__(self, queue, interval):
multiprocessing.Process.__init__(self)
self.queue = queue
self.click_interval = interval
def run(self):
while True:
try:
task = self.queue.get(block=False)
if task == "Exit":
print("Exiting")
self.queue.task_done()
break
except queue.Empty:
time.sleep(self.click_interval)
print("Clicking...")
pyautogui.click()
return
def OnKeyboardEvent(event):
key = event.Key
if key == "F3":
print("Starting auto clicker")
# Start consumers
clicker = AutoClicker(queue, 0.1)
clicker.start()
elif key == "F4":
print("Stopping auto clicker")
# Add exit message to queue
queue.put("Exit")
# Wait for all of the tasks to finish
queue.join()
# return True to pass the event to other handlers
return True
if __name__ == '__main__':
# Establish communication queues
queue = multiprocessing.JoinableQueue()
# create a hook manager
hm = pyHook.HookManager()
# watch for all mouse events
hm.KeyDown = OnKeyboardEvent
# set the hook
hm.HookKeyboard()
# wait forever
pythoncom.PumpMessages()
Keep in mind this implementation is far from perfect, but hopefully it's helpful as a starting point.
Why can't I use a simple while loop or if/else statement?
A while loop is blocking, which means when the loop is running it blocks all other code from executing.
So once the clicker loop starts it will be stuck in that loop indefinitely. You can't check for F4 key presses while this is happening because the loop will block any other code from executing (ie. the code that checks for key-presses). Since we want the auto-clicker clicks and the key-press checks to occur simultaneously, they need to be separate processes (so they don't block each other).
The main process which checks for key presses needs to be able to communicate somehow with the auto-clicker process. So when the F4 key is pressed we want the clicking process to exit. Using a queue is one way to communicate (there are others). The auto-clicker can continuously check the queue from inside the while loop. When we want to stop the clicking we can add an "Exit" string to the queue from the main process. The next time the clicker process reads the queue it will see this and break.
Related
I am using pynput's keyboard.Listener and have joined the thread.
def main():
with Listener(on_release=checkSPress) as listener:
listener.join() # keep on listening
def checkSPress(key):
if 'char' in dir(key):
if key.char == 's':
print("Starting ...")
main()
After the s key is pressed I want it to terminate the listener and run things in the main thread. I want to this because after the s key is pressed I create a GUI but it throws an error that the QApplication must be created inside main thread. Is there a way I can go back to the main thread and run the function or terminate the listener entirely (I'm fairly new to threading and pynput.)
You just need to return False from callback to stop Listner. Just try:
if key.char == 's':
print("Starting ...")
return False
I am making a program that toggles on and off by a certain key on the keyboard (using pynput). I placed the keyboard listener loop in the first thread, and the action loop in the second.
The problem is that after I start the code, it doesn't listen to the keyboard immediately, only after 9-10 seconds have passed. And sometimes it refuses to react to Esc button, and sometimes it works. How to fix the lag? Is the code ok?
from threading import Thread
from pynput import keyboard
import time
flag = False
kill = False
def on_press(key):
global flag
global kill
if key == keyboard.KeyCode.from_char('a'):
print('pressed A')
flag = not flag
if key == keyboard.Key.esc:
kill = True
return False
def thr2():
print('joining...')
with keyboard.Listener(on_press=on_press) as listen:
listen.join()
def thr1():
while True:
if kill:
break
if flag:
print('looping....')
time.sleep(0.4)
if __name__ == "__main__":
thread1 = Thread(target=thr1)
thread2 = Thread(target=thr2)
thread1.start()
thread2.start()
It looks like the actual delay is coming from the pynput keyboard.Listener context handler itself. I can't tell you whats happening under the hood but the delay is not coming from the way you are managing your threads.
# pynput library creating keyboard.Listener thread causes the delay
with keyboard.Listener(on_press=on_press) as listen:
print('listen thread created') # This does not happen until after the delay
listen.join()
You may want to rephrase the question so that it is specific to pynput keyboard.Listener
Here is a solution that works nicely with multiprocessing:
import sys
from pynput import keyboard
from time import sleep
from multiprocessing import Process, Event
from functools import partial
def thr2(kill_event, flag_event):
def on_press(kill_event, flag_event, key):
if key == keyboard.KeyCode.from_char('a'):
print('pressed A')
if flag_event.is_set():
flag_event.clear()
else:
flag_event.set()
if key == keyboard.Key.esc:
print('esc')
kill_event.set()
sys.exit(0)
with keyboard.Listener(on_press=partial(on_press, kill_event, flag_event)) as listen:
listen.join()
def thr1(kill_event, flag_event):
while True:
if kill_event.is_set():
print('kill')
sys.exit(0)
if flag_event.is_set():
print('looping....')
sleep(0.4)
if __name__ == "__main__":
kill_event = Event()
flag_event = Event()
thread1 = Process(target=thr1, args=(kill_event, flag_event))
thread2 = Process(target=thr2, args=(kill_event, flag_event))
thread1.start()
thread2.start()
thread1.join() # Join processes here to avoid main process exit
thread2.join()
After some research on how to properly ask a thread to stop, I am stuck into an unexpected behavior.
I am working on a personal project. My aim is to run a program on a RaspberryPi dedicated to domotics.
My code is structured as below:
a first thread is dedicated to scheduling : everyday at the same hour, I send a signal on GPIO output
a second thread is dedicated to monitoring keyboard for manual events
whenever a specific key is pressed, I want to start a new thread that is dedicated to another routine just like my first thread
Here is how I proceed:
import schedule
from pynput import keyboard
import threading
first_thread = threading.Thread(target=heating, name="heating")
second_thread = threading.Thread(target=keyboard, name="keyboard")
first_thread.start()
second_thread.start()
stop_event = threading.Event()
My heating routine is defined by:
def heating():
def job():
GPIO.output(4,GPIO.HIGH)
return
schedule.every().day.at("01:00").do(job)
while True:
schedule.run_pending()
time.sleep(0.5)
My keyboard monitor is defined as follow:
def keyboard():
def on_press(key):
if key == keyboard.Key.f4:
shutter_thread = threading.Thread(name="shutter", target=shutter, args=(stop_event,))
shutter_thread.start()
if key == keyboard.Key.f5:
stop_event.set()
with keyboard.Listener(on_press=on_press,on_release=on_release) as listener:
listener.join()
My shutter thread target is similar to the heating one:
def shutter(stop_event):
def open():
GPIO.output(6,GPIO.HIGH)
return
t = threading.currentThread()
schedule.every().day.at("22:00").do(open)
while not stop_event.is_set():
schedule.run_pending()
time.sleep(0.5)
Problem is everytime I press the key to start my shutter thread, the shutter routine is called but:
the job within my shutter routine is executed twice
the job within the first thread is also now executed twice every time it is on schedule !
once I press the key to ask the shutter thread to stop, the heating (first) thread come back to its original (and correct) behaviour, but the shutter thread does not stop
I have no idea why starting this new thread yields such modification in the behaviour of the other thread. And why my stopping event is not working ?
What am I doing wrong ?
Since you are using the schedule framework for managing tasks a clean solution would be to use the same framework's API for canceling jobs (instead of using threading.Event). That way tasks management remains within schedule and user interaction is handled by threading.
def keyboard():
tasks = []
def on_press(key):
if key == keyboard.Key.f4:
# Shutter task.
tasks.append(
schedule.every().day.at("22:00").do(lambda: GPIO.output(6,GPIO.HIGH))
)
if key == keyboard.Key.f5:
schedule.cancel_job(tasks.pop(-1))
with keyboard.Listener(on_press=on_press,on_release=on_release) as listener:
listener.join()
# Heating task.
schedule.every().day.at("01:00").do(lambda: GPIO.output(4,GPIO.HIGH))
# Start keyboard listener.
ui = threading.Thread(target=keyboard)
ui.start()
while True:
schedule.run_pending()
time.sleep(0.5)
Even if a_guest solution is a clean one, I can share a second solution for those who can face a similar situation.
A working solution is to define a specific scheduler in the different threads instead of using the default one.
Illustration:
def heating():
def job():
GPIO.output(4,GPIO.HIGH)
return
heat_sched = schedule.Scheduler()
heat_sched.every().day.at("01:00").do(job)
while True:
heat_sched.run_pending()
time.sleep(1)
def shutter(stop_event):
def open():
GPIO.output(6,GPIO.HIGH)
return
shutter_sched = schedule.Scheduler()
shutter_sched.every().day.at("22:00").do(open)
while True:
if not stop_event.is_set():
shutter_sched.run_pending()
time.sleep(0.5)
else:
shutter_sched.clear()
return
I'm using Selenium Webdriver in my program in order to try and automate something. I am then parsing th resulting page, and checking for a specific element in the page. If the page doesn't have the specific element, then I use sched.scheduler to re-automate the task, by having the user click a button (in the Tkinter GUI). The button runs a function, which schedules a task for sched.scheduler, and has the task be sent to a function in which I created a new process from the multiprocessing module.
This is basically what it is:
import time
import sched
from multiprocessing import Process
#the function needs to run for the first time, then waits for user input if an error shows up
#if it's the second time around, the worker function runs the scheduler
global first_time_happening
first_time_happening = True
terminate = False
scheduler = sched.scheduler(time.time, time.sleep)
def worker():
#insert some working process here using selenium webdriver
print("Worker happened!")
global first_time_happening
if first_time_happening:
first_time_happening = False
elif not first_time_happening:
global relay_to_timer
relay_to_timer = scheduler.enter(5, 2, timer)
scheduler.run()
def process():
p = Process(target=worker)
#p.daemon = True
p.start()
def timer():
if not terminate:
global relay_to_process
relay_to_process = scheduler.enter(5, 2, process)
scheduler.run()
if terminate:
scheduler.cancel(relay_to_process)
scheduler.cancel(relay_to_timer)
def quit_button():
global terminate
terminate = True
if scheduler.empty:
print("The line is empty")
elif not scheduler.empty:
print("Something in the queue!")
while not scheduler.empty:
scheduler.cancel(relay_to_process)
scheduler.cancel(relay_to_timer)
worker()
#simulating where the GUI asks a question, person presses a button, and the button redirects them
#to function worker()
worker()
#simulating a user press the quit button
quit_button()
It keeps running even after I "hit" quit (or call the quit function in this case). I keep getting the queue is empty, but I'm not sure why it isn't working? Any help is appreciated, thanks!!
The scheduler keeps running even with an empty queue just in case somebody (presumably another thread) entered something again. I believe the way to make it end is to raise an exception (whether from the action or delay function) -- .run will propagate it and you can catch it.
To wit...
class AllDoneException(Exception): pass
def worker():
#insert some working process here using selenium webdriver
print("Worker happened!")
global first_time_happening
if first_time_happening:
first_time_happening = False
elif not first_time_happening:
global relay_to_timer
relay_to_timer = scheduler.enter(5, 2, timer)
try:
scheduler.run()
except AllDoneException:
pass
and in function timer
if terminate:
raise AllDoneException
So I'm trying to utilize msvcrt.getch() to make an option to quit(without using KeyBoardInterrupt) anywhere in the program.
My code currently looks like this:
import msvcrt
import sys
print("Press q at any time to quit")
while True:
pressedKey = msvcrt.getch()
if pressedKey == 'q':
sys.exit()
else:
# do some setup
if myvar == "string":
try:
# do stuff
except:
# do stuff
else:
#do stuff
How do I run the while loop to detect the keypress of q at the same time as I'm running the other (the # do stuff blocks)?
That way, if the user goes ahead with the program, they it'll only run it once. But if they hit q, then the program will quit.
You could read keys in a separate thread or (better) use msvcrt.kbhit() as #martineau suggested:
#!/usr/bin/env python
import msvcrt
from Queue import Empty, Queue
from threading import Thread
def read_keys(queue):
for key in iter(msvcrt.getch, 'q'): # until `q`
queue.put(key)
queue.put(None) # signal the end
q = Queue()
t = Thread(target=read_keys, args=[q])
t.daemon = True # die if the program exits
t.start()
while True:
try:
key = q.get_nowait() # doesn't block
except Empty:
key = Empty
else:
if key is None: # end
break
# do stuff
If I wanted to do something in the main code when the second thread detected a certain keypress, how would I act on that?
You do not react to the key press in the main thread until code reaches q.get_nowait() again i.e., you won't notice the key press until "do stuff" finishes the current iteration of the loop. If you need to do something that may take a long time then you might need to run it in yet another thread (start new thread or use a thread pool if blocking at some point is acceptable).