Opening an exe

[defience]

I need to write a program that will open an exe and check some timings in it.

point to exe
run exe
check time taken between numbers:
123 (08 secs)
341 (1 sec)
444 (09 secs)

What python functions do I need to research to accomplish this? Thanks

[bartonc]

I need to write a program that will open an exe and check some timings in it.

point to exe
run exe
check time taken between numbers:
123 (08 secs)
341 (1 sec)
444 (09 secs)

What python functions do I need to research to accomplish this? Thanks

I use _winreg to find out the path of the exe:

        try:
            ### Read registry for InstaCal path
            instacalKey = _winreg.OpenKey(_winreg.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,
                                        "SOFTWARE\Universal Library")
            self.pmdPath = str(_winreg.QueryValueEx(instacalKey, 'RootDirs')[0])
            instacalKey.Close()
        except WindowsError:
            self.InstaCalBtn.Disable()
            self.pmdPath = ""

then:

    def OnInstaCalButton(self, event):
        os.spawnl(os.P_DETACH, self.pmdPath + "inscal32.exe")

Need more info on the time between numbers, but you might want to check out the time module.

[defience]

Thank you for the reply. I know the path of the exe. Could I do something like this:

import os, sys

pyPath = "C:\python25\app.exe"

As far as the numbers go, the script will need 4 integer variables from 0-1000 and will slow when the right number is crossed and then move on to another series of 0-1000, and continue to loop for a total of 4 times.
Here is a sample C++ code snippet that might help.
ex: system("app.exe 1 1 1 1") was used to call the application.

MaxR = -1.0;
for(i=1; i<1000; i++){
         ... code
    
          system(sRun);

    ....code

    R = ... the elapsed time of the function system().
    if (R > MaxR){
        MaxR = R;
        MaxI = i;
    }
}

printf ("Max(i) = %d  elapsed %.9f  secs \n", MaxI, MaxR);

ex: system("app.exe 1 1 1 1") was used to call the application. Does python have something similar?

[bartonc]

Thank you for the reply. I know the path of the exe. Could I do something like this:

import os, sys

pyPath = "C:\python25\app.exe"

You must use raw strings or unicode strings for windows path names. Otherwise you get "escape" sequences. ie "C:\test" is actually "C:[tab]est".

import os, sys
appPath = r"C:\python25\app.exe"
# or
appPath = u"C:\python25\app.exe"

I prefer raw strings. Boa Construtor uses unicode strings.

[bartonc]

As far as the numbers go, the script will need 4 integer variables from 0-1000 and will slow when the right number is crossed and then move on to another series of 0-1000, and continue to loop for a total of 4 times.
Here is a sample C++ code snippet that might help.
ex: system("app.exe 1 1 1 1") was used to call the application.

MaxR = -1.0;
for(i=1; i<1000; i++){
         ... code
    
          system(sRun);

    ....code

    R = ... the elapsed time of the function system().
    if (R > MaxR){
        MaxR = R;
        MaxI = i;
    }
}

printf ("Max(i) = %d  elapsed %.9f  secs \n", MaxI, MaxR);

ex: system("app.exe 1 1 1 1") was used to call the application. Does python have something similar?

There are a few ways to do this:

from time import time
startTime = time()
for i in xrange(1000):
    # simulate an external process
    for i in range(10000):
        pass

print "Process took %f seconds" % (time() - startTime)

There is a discussion on the timeit module here.

[defience]

There are a few ways to do this:

from time import time
startTime = time()
for i in xrange(1000):
    # simulate an external process
    for i in range(10000):
        pass

print "Process took %f seconds" % (time() - startTime)

There is a discussion on the timeit module here.

Awesome! That's a great start for me. Thank you! I see what you mean about the raw string as I was getting an error message with app.exe.

[bartonc]

Awesome! That's a great start for me. Thank you! I see what you mean about the raw string as I was getting an error message with app.exe.

Go get 'me and have fun! Keep posting,
Barton

[defience]

Ok, so I found a couple of different ways to get python to run the app.exe, but how do I incorporate the timing code to the exe? If I use the following code, it will run, regardless of the app.exe.
Code:

from time import time
startTime = time()
for i in xrange(1000):
       # simulate an external process
for i in range(1000):
     pass

print "Process took %f seconds" % (time() - startTime)

This will run the app.exe
Code:

import subprocess

subprocess.Popen(r"C:\python25\app.exe")

or this one, which will run the timer and then the app.exe. It sometimes gives me a NameError: name 'MZP' is not defined, but I have no idea where that comes from since there is no 'MZP' in the code.
Code:

import os,sys

pyPath=r"C:\python25\python.exe"
appPath=r"C:\python25\app.exe"
os.spawnv(os.P_NOWAIT,pyPath,["python",appPath])

from time import time
startTime = time()
for i in xrange(1000):
    # simulate an external process
    for i in range(10000):
        pass

print "Process took %f seconds" % (time() - startTime)

[bartonc]

Ok, so I found a couple of different ways to get python to run the app.exe, but how do I incorporate the timing code to the exe? If I use the following code, it will run, regardless of the app.exe.

In the 2.4 Python Manuals the section is "6.1.5 Process Management" of the os module documentation. It describes how you may be able to wait for an exit code from the external process.

[dshimer]

import os,sys

pyPath=r"C:\python25\python.exe"
appPath=r"C:\python25\app.exe"
os.spawnv(os.P_NOWAIT,pyPath,["python",appPath])

This seems to me that it would be on the right track except it looks like it would evaluate out to a command line similar to.

C:\python25\pyt hon.exe C:\python25\app .exe

which is just trying to call an executable in python itself or am I missing something? As I play with the spawnv, I would think that you would just want to set a start time, run something like

os.spawnv(os.P_ NOWAIT,appPath,["appname",AnyAr gsForApp])

then check the end time.

[bartonc]

import os,sys

pyPath=r"C:\python25\python.exe"
appPath=r"C:\python25\app.exe"
os.spawnv(os.P_NOWAIT,pyPath,["python",appPath])

This seems to me that it would be on the right track except it looks like it would evaluate out to a command line similar to.

C:\python25\pyt hon.exe C:\python25\app .exe

which is just trying to call an executable in python itself or am I missing something? As I play with the spawnv, I would think that you would just want to set a start time, run something like

os.spawnv(os.P_ NOWAIT,appPath,["appname",AnyAr gsForApp])

then check the end time.

Yep. It is the right track. It's the "os.P_NOWAI T" that is in question.

[dshimer]

Should have put this in before, but for example to run the find command on my /tmp directory and time it

>>> def test():
... 	start=time.time()
... 	os.spawnv(os.P_WAIT,'c:/unix/find.exe',['find','/tmp'])
... 	print time.time()-start
... 
>>> test()
0.950999975204

[dshimer]

Yep. It is the right track. It's the "os.P_NOWAI T" that is in question.

Good call, I didn't even catch that in the original post, I just went by the docs which is why the example works, but the answer was incomplete.

[bartonc]

Good call, I didn't even catch that in the original post, I just went by the docs which is why the example works, but the answer was incomplete.

Great posting, D. I really appreciate all of your input. Thank you,
Barton

[defience]

Thank you both for your replies! One more thing.....how could I do this:

i = 0
for i in range(0,30):
     print i
     i +=1

....have the double digits print out with a space between them:
2 0
2 1
2 2 etc...

Would something like this work? i = 0 0?