Hi Guys: Thanks for the info. What process do the VBS scripts run under? Is it the WindowEyes Assembly or something else? A process has it's own space and variables and all that jazz so my external script won't have to worry about stepping on anything running under the WindowEyes Process. I am not so sure about the various VBS apps running concurrently under a single process but that is not relevant to my external script at hand anyway. I have found that WE provides a STA model and my script is running in STA mode by default. So I am in compliance there. Marshalling and syncronization are automatically done for com between the managed process and the OutOfProcess operations. The only communications between my Process, threads, and any of the Global Scripts running under the WE Process? would have to be manually provided by the WE Engine and I dont think it does that. So, if my understanding is correct I am good to go with either a Global or a Associated script without having to worry about Cross Process or threading except within my own Process environment. Does this sound right guys? Rick USA
----- Original Message ----- From: Chip Orange To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 9:34 PM Subject: RE: WE And Global Scripts And Thread Safety Hi Rick, As Ron mentioned, there is no difference between running a script globally or not. It's only about when it's started and nothing else. An application-specific app gets started when the program starts; global apps when WE starts. Everybody gets their own thread at a minimum, and if external, their own process. Chip ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: RicksPlace [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 12:21 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: WE And Global Scripts And Thread Safety Hi BT: Ya, back in the day I wrote a sort of Space Invaders for the first version of the IBM PC using Assembler. Back then we used registers and offsets as well as the basic instruction set available with the IBM assembler for it's PC. I have never mucked with machine code after having to do it a little in school back in the 1960s if I remember. As I read up on processes, threads and apartments I am finding out more about the complexity of the Operating System and how it spins off new processes and the threads associated with a process, marshalling for cross-threading and cross-process operations and how these states can be set within an applications program in vb.net or C#. Prior to this I had only used some of the high-level tools to run threads in the background. Now I am doing a little reading about how sta and mta and the various Threading Class properties and methods impact the operations of a vb.net or CSharp program. It does, however, seem that running a script globally is a thing which might require a solid understanding of the above technicals to avoid some nasty unintended consiquences for end users. Anyway, I'll continue reading up on this subject, try some experiments and see how it relates to a COM server as it were to try and have a solid working understanding of these critical technicals. Thanks for the help guys: Rick USA ----- Original Message ----- From: BT To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 9:35 AM Subject: Re: WE And Global Scripts And Thread Safety Hi Rick, Ron explained it in more detail. The process ID still points to the same window and unless you are monitoring different events, you will get the same result in both cases. Process ID are kind of like window handles but not the same entirely. Ron did a pretty good job in describing it. I use to use all of this when I wrote a DOS screen reader program, back in the easy days of windows programming. It worked really great and the Process ID was captured to keep stacks and such straight forward for calling such things as, Is my screen reader running?...so it does not get loaded twice into memory. Windows has just messed up the ease at getting information from the keyboard and screen mainly because of the layers of children involved... I wrote the entire screen reader program using the MASM utility and all done in machine code... Screen Reader Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2LyRC99Qx0 Part 2 Of Screen Reader Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUy8c1jTt9k Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 9:18 AM Subject: Re: WE And Global Scripts And Thread Safety Hi Bruce, I dont understand could you flesh out the following? You wrote: I think each instance is its own but I may be wrong. When you talk about instance do you mean thread, script, sub or method within a script etc... And do you mean instance in the technical (OOP) sense or as a general term? The only conflict is the process ID which I am sure you are concerned with. OK, I thought each script passed it's ProcessID for the APP it was scripting but what about a Global Script? Are you saying all global scripts run under the same process? If so does each have it's own thread and, in that case, would local variables not located inside a sub be Cross-Threaded and thus available and modifiable by all other scripts running at the same time? Try and see if your instance is different, unless you are looking at the same events then that would create a problem. I dont understand the above. How can I look at my instance? Do you mean thread? and, if so, how do I do that or what tool would be good to use? Your question about events should be handled, I think, by filtering messages somehow as is done in Chip's class if I remember so I dont think you mean script. Also Rick, the Victory Associates software you were going to attempt to work with had a virus inside of it. It is a good thing you did not work with it. Phew! It wouldn't have mattered unless the virus was in the Corporation's software since I dont think RDP would have transmitted the virus unless I downloade software from his machine. In either case I felt bad I couldn't have helped him. Rick USA ----- Original Message ----- From: BT To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 8:12 AM Subject: Re: WE And Global Scripts And Thread Safety Hi Rick, I think each instance is its own but I may be wrong. The only conflict is the process ID which I am sure you are concerned with. Try and see if your instance is different, unless you are looking at the same events then that would create a problem. Also Rick, the Victory Associates software you were going to attempt to work with had a virus inside of it. It is a good thing you did not work with it. Bruce Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 5:31 AM Subject: WE And Global Scripts And Thread Safety Hi Scriptors: Does a Global Script run in it's own process with independent threads? We pass the ProcessID to WE and it can be used for filtering Windows and Messages so I am wondering about whether shared (static) variable or data objects in one Global script could step on shared (static) objects of the same name and signature in another script or Client Application if they are not Windows or Messages. In other words, are Global Scripts thread safe considering shared (static) variables and Data items? I hope this question makes sense. I have an external script that worked well when associated with a particular application but had some problems when I made it a Global Script. I have since pulled out code that used shared items and have made everything instance objects but haven't had time to test it yet. My guess was that I was stepping on my own shared objects since I used the same objects in another application I was looking at and even in other global test scripts I still had running since they were more or less useful. I just would like to know if this is a possibility since resolving it is my responsibility if that is the case, and yours too as scriptors. If each script runs in it's own process independent of each other and independent of the targeted application this might not be a consideration but I dont think that is how it works. WE needs communication among all facets of a session so I am guessing this conceptual model needs consideration but would like to know the real deal so I am not guessing. Rick USA
