Answered Questions On: Interprocess Communication

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Table Of Contents (Interprocess Communication)

  • Does Tcl Support "SendKey" And "SendMessage" (For Controlling Other Windows Applications)?
  • Using Exec To Capture A Child Processes Stdout And Stderr
  • How Does One Tcl Interpreter Access Variables/Values In Another (Tcl Interpreter)?
  • How Do I Pass A Variable/Value To A Child Interpreter?
  • Calling COMMAND.COM/cmd.exe With Exec (Or WinUtils::Shell/Launch) Under DOS/Windows
  • Problems Running Exe/Com Files - Using Exec - In Windows

See Also

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Does Tcl Support "SendKey" And "SendMessage" (For Controlling Other Windows Applications)?

2003-09-22:

Does Tcl includes the ability to control other applications, e.g. notepad? Other programming languages provide commands like Sendkey (VB) or Sendmessage (VC). So I can executing notepad, putting text into textbox and saving that in a file. That's all possible because of controlling menuoptions by sending Windows-Messages ... It is possible in Tcl too?

RS: See tcom for COM support, but not sure whether Notepad understands that..

JPT: You could also try cwind (https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/5019 ). I've used it once and it did the (simple) job I had to do.

Using Exec To Capture A Child Processes Stdout And Stderr

2003-09-26:

I want to make a frontend to gcc in tcl.

if {[catch {exec gcc -c $Compiler_Flags $Filename} Result]} {
    puts $Result
    exit 1
}

I want to map gcc's output messages to stdout and stderr, while the command runs. I could direct it to a file, but we'll proberbly be running this frontend, several persons at the same time.

RS: Experiment with

eval exec [list gcc ... > @stdout 2> @ stderr $Compiler_Flags [list $Filename]

xx: bgexec from blt allows the redirection of stdout and stderr to tcl-variables

How Does One Tcl Interpreter Access Variables/Values In Another (Tcl Interpreter)?

2003-08-26:

INTERCOMMUNICATION

You start two wish-interpreters, wish1 and wish2. In wish1 you create a variable:

% set x(val1) 0
0

My question: How can I make x accessable for wish2?

See Tequila. It will handle the communication transparently and seamless, anytime wither interpreter update a connected variable the change is immediately visible in the other.

Thanks for all solutions or ideas! PB

FW: What OS are you using? Do you mean multiple executions of one interpreter, or a slave interpreter within one application? Are you developing cross-platform?

If you mean multiple applications, you're in luck by using Tcl, which is very strong for inter-application communication. Tk has a built-in send command, and the comm package provides similar functionality via sockets that works cross-platform.

It's even easier with slave interpreters - just look at the interp page to find out how to send commands to a slave interp.

PB: I'm using XP for this project and primarily I try to find an easy concept for an applications conversation and interp is my favorite now. Thank you...

FW: So does that mean you're using slave interpreters or separate applications?

PB: (curios?) I use slave interps althought separate applications would be better. therefore better because if master interp has a problem, slaves will have a problem too. sure, there are possibilities to catch and handle such cases, but that costs a lot of time and time is money. on the other side I have a problem to exchange common data using separate applications because they run in different environments.

FW: Thanks for clarifying. Just use [interp eval] to run commands within the slaves. If and when you start using separate applications, I'd use the comm package (based on the venerable send) for inter-app communication.

How Do I Pass A Variable/Value To A Child Interpreter?

2004-02-04:

Hi, does someone knows if I can access a variable in child-interp-context?

proc change_dir { __dir } {
    interp create child
    interp eval child {cd $__dir}
    ...
}

I know, in interp child $__dir does not exists. Is there a way to put a value from invoking interp into child-interp? Perhaps with interp alias? PB

RS: In your case it's even easier, just substitute the variable before calling interp eval:

interp eval child [list cd $__dir] ;# :-)

Calling COMMAND.COM/cmd.exe With Exec (Or WinUtils::Shell/Launch) Under DOS/Windows

2003-08-04:

when I am using below systax executing in tcl/tk, then I am getting error. Syntax is

set dirinfo [exec command.com/c dir]

Error I am getting, when I am executing this is

invalid command name "command.com/c"

How can I execute this? Could you please suggest me.

lv: does DOS bat magic help?

RS: Put a space between the filename command.com and the switch /c. DOS shells can do without the space, but Tcl requires whitespace between words.

Problems Running Exe/Com Files - Using Exec - In Windows

2003-07-30:

I am facing some problems in tcl/tk windows version I am using tcl/tk 8.4.4.0 version on win 98. When I am using exec then I am getting errors. Example:

set msg [ exec c:\cssplit.exe]

where cssplit is C program and cssplit.exe executable file, when executing this, it's giving error "child process exited abnormally while executing exec cssplit". when I am executing batch files then it's giving

couldn't execute test-spec.bat no such file or directory

, but file is existing, not only this what ever I give with exec command all are getting errors. Could you please suggest me to execute this command.

lv: I suspect that the problem here is that cssplit is either producing output on stderr or returning a non-zero return code. See catch for a way to account for these two alternatives. Note that it is easier to answer a question when you show us exactly what you type and what the output in return is, than when someone tries to summarize; in cases of errors, more information is likely to be beneficial...

Peter Newman 2004-10-29: exec under Windows is usually way too complicated and confusing. It does heaps of things (like trying to capture the called processes stdout and stderr), which 99% of the time aren't necessary. A MUCH simpler alternative are the winutils ::shell and ::launch commands. Just feed them the filespec and any parameters, and they'll run the file - much as if you'd clicked on it from Windows Explorer, or called it from the command prompt. Feed it a .html file for example, and it'll automatically launch your default web browser. Another nice touch is that it accepts/requires filespecs in standard Tcl format (with forward slashes). So you don't have to bother converting them. Forget exec (and hours of grief); just use winutils.