win32com.goermezer.de – Page 10 – Automation of Applications with Python for Windows

10/02/2017

Executing Javascript function in a web page in IE

The following code executes a Javascript function on a web page using IE and COM.

import win32com.client, pythoncom
from time import sleep

ie=win32com.client.Dispatch('internetexplorer.application')
ie.Visible=1
ie.Navigate('http://www.cpplab.com/Articles/JSCalls/TestPage/JSCallTestPage.htm')
sleep(5) # Give it time to get there.

id=ie.Document.Script._oleobj_.GetIDsOfNames('Multiply') # 'Multiply' is the function name.
#5 and 2 below are the parameters passed to the function 'Multiply'.
res=ie.Document.Script._oleobj_.Invoke(id, 0, pythoncom.DISPATCH_METHOD, True, 5, 2)

10/02/2017

Creating multiple instances of IE COM browser objects.

The following code allows you to create more than one IE browser session and interact with each different one.

# Use the makepy utility for the "Microsoft Internet Controls (1.1)"

# object library to get early binding.
from win32com.client import Dispatch
import pythoncom

ie1 = pythoncom.CoCreateInstance("InternetExplorer.Application", None,\
pythoncom.CLSCTX_SERVER,
pythoncom.IID_IDispatch)
ie1 = Dispatch(ie1)

ie2 = pythoncom.CoCreateInstance("InternetExplorer.Application", None,\
pythoncom.CLSCTX_SERVER,
pythoncom.IID_IDispatch)
ie2 = Dispatch(ie2)

# and so on.....

10/02/2017

Printing Webpages from Internet Explorer with Python

This script calls the webpage www.heise.de in Internet Explorer and prints it to the standard printer.

Attention: use the makepy.py utility (C:\\Python23\\Lib\\site-packages\\win32com\\client\\) on the “Microsoft Internet Controls (1.1)” object library to get early binding !!! Otherwise you cannot print !

# print a webpage in Internet Explorer (COM Example)
# Attention: use the makepy utility for the "Microsoft Internet Controls (1.1)"
# object library to get early binding !!!

from win32com.client import Dispatch
from time import sleep

ie = Dispatch(“InternetExplorer.Application”)
ie.Visible = 1
ie.Navigate(“http://www.heise.de”)
if ie.Busy:
sleep(2)
# print the current IE document without prompting the user for the printerdialog
ie.ExecWB(win32com.client.constants.OLECMDID_PRINT, \
win32com.client.constants.OLECMDEXECOPT_DONTPROMPTUSER)

10/02/2017

Print the Volume of a body from CATIA V5

try:
    import win32com.client
except: 
    print "Ooops Pywin32 needed !" 
app=win32com.client.Dispatch('CATIA.Application') 
doc=app.ActiveDocument.Product 
a=doc.Analyze.Volume 
print "The Volume is: ", a

10/02/2017

Generating BOM (bill of material) from CATIA V5

To test this sample you should have installed Pywin32 and start CATIA V5 before running this script.

import win32com.client 
catapp = win32com.client.Dispatch("CATIA.Application") 
doc=catapp.ActiveDocument.Product
product_count = doc.Products.Count 
print "This example prints all Parts and subproducts of \
  a CATProduct up to the 2nd level." 
for products in range(product_count): 
  products = products + 1 
  print doc.Products.Item(products).Name, ":" 
  part_count = doc.Products.Item(products).Products.Count 
  for parts in range(part_count): 
    parts = parts +1 
    print " ", doc.Products.Item(products).Products.Item(parts).Name
For a HTML-generated Bill of materialyou should better use the BOM-generation from CATIA V5:
import win32com.client 
catapp = win32com.client.Dispatch("CATIA.Application") 
doc=catapp.ActiveDocument.Product
doc.Product.ExtractBOM(2, "c:\BOM.html")

10/02/2017

CATIA V4 and CATPart to VRML Converter

A CATPart to VRML Batchconverter:

The next example uses the \"CATIA V5 Interfaces Object Library\" to
connect to CATIA V5, open a CATPart and export it to VRML. You can do
that with other formats like IGES, STEP, … too (if you have the
licence).

You need Python and Pywin for this example and have also running CATIA V5:

# Demo for converting a CATPart to VRML
# Please start CATIA V5 before running this script

from win32com.client.dynamic import Dispatch
catapp = Dispatch("CATIA.Application")
catapp.Documents.Open("D:\work\Testmodell.CATPart")
catapp.ActiveDocument.ExportData('D:\work\Testmodell.wrl', 'wrl')

A CATIA V4 model to VRML Batchconverter:

You can`t do this interactive in CATIA V5 but with Python. Simply
open a CATIA V4 model and export it to VRML (I did this with R14):

# Demo for converting a CATIA V4 model to VRML
# Please start CATIA V5 before running this script

# Demo for converting a CATIA V4 model to VRML
# Please start CATIA V5 before running this script
from win32com.client.dynamic import Dispatch
catapp = Dispatch("CATIA.Application")
catapp.Documents.Open("D:\work\Testmodell.model")
catapp.ActiveDocument.ExportData('D:\work\Testmodell.wrl', 'wrl')

10/02/2017

Two instances of Windows Explorer (other example)

Another example which creates two Microsoft Internet Explorer instances.

import win32process, win32com.client, time 
from win32com.client import gencache
ie_tlb = gencache.EnsureModule("{EAB22AC0-30C1-11CF-A7EB-0000C05BAE0B}", 0, 1, 1)

def createNewIEProcess():
  """Create new IE process and return WebBrowser2 IDisp to it.
     a work-around for win32com.client.Dispatch("InternetExplorer.App.."),
     which will NOT create a new process
     @return new WebBrowser2 instance
  """
  si = win32process.STARTUPINFO()
  dmy, dmy, newIEprocId, dmy = win32process.CreateProcess(r"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe", None, None, None, 0, 0, None, None, si )
  time.sleep(1.0)
  for idx in range(10):
    for shellWnd in ie_tlb.ShellWindows():
      dmy, processId = win32process.GetWindowThreadProcessId(shellWnd.HWND)
      if processId == newIEprocId:
        return shellWnd

ie1 = createNewIEProcess()
ie1.Top, ie1.Left, ie1.Height, ie1.Width = 0, 0, 50, 50

10/02/2017

CATIA V5/DMU Navigator-Programming with Python

Ifyou want to automate CATIA V5 or DMU Navigator with Python you need Pywin32 and Python for Windows or Activestates ActivePython for Windows. Python is free software and you can develop professional applications with all advantages of Python for CATIA V5 or DMU Navigator.

To develop a small application which interacts to CATIA V5 you only have to download your prefered Python Distribution for Windows and can start developing applications for CATIA V5 or DMU Navigator (this should be running when testing the application).

If you have done that you can test it with this source code:

import win32com.client
a = win32com.client.Dispatch('catia.application')
doc=a.ActiveDocument.Product
for i in range(doc.Products.Count):
    print 'Part Number:', doc.Products.Item(i+1).PartNumber

This small example prints out the part names of a loaded CATProduct.

DMU Navigator

If you want to automate DMU Navigator, you can use this dispatch string:

import win32com.client
# Following doesn`t work with CATIA V5 R16 and later
a = win32com.client.Dispatch('DMU.application')

Other examples can be found in the script collection.

Important notes

If you want to use early binding for the CATIA V5 object libraries you can use the Makepy utility from Pythonwin. After that every object and its methods will be usable from the pulldown menu while typing and you can have a performance advantage. You should use makepy for every object library which you want to use e.g. “ProductStructure Object Library” for working with CATProducts). But not for the “CATIA V5 Interfaces Objekt Library”!

If you do that every application which uses early binding for the “CATIA V5 Interfaces Objekt Library” will not work ! A workaround is not to use makepy for the “CATIA V5 Interfaces Objekt Library” or use explicit late binding “(import win32com.client.dynamic as the first line).

For starting developing applications with Python for CATIA V5 you should use the manual V5Automation.chm which you can find in the bin-directory of CATIA V5. You will see that you can develop Python applications in the same way like VB with the builtin VB editor.

If you have problems to access the COM Interface from CATIA V5 (eg. no object libraries from CATIA V5 in makepy) please check whether CATIA V5 was registrated as a COM server. If not you can do that with cnext.exe /regserver in the CATIA V5 bin-directory. Then everything should work well…

More on Microsofts Component Object Model (COM) and Python

More information for developing with Python for COM applications with Pywin32 you can find in this excellent book.

Python Programming on Win32
by Mark Hammond, Andy Robinson
ISBN: 1-56592-621-8
652 pages. January 2000.

10/02/2017

How to automate CATIA V5 with Python on Windows

If you want to automate CATIA V5 with Python you need Pywin32 and
Python for Windows. Python is free software and you can develop
professional applications with all advantages of Python for CATIA V5.
And you can deploy your applications as a standard Windows executable
what you cannot do with the builtin Macro language VB.

For developing a small application which interacts to CATIA V5 you
only have to download Python for Windows and Pywin32 from Marc Hammond
(please see the Download section). CATIA V5 must be also installed and should be running when testing the application.

If you have done that you can test it with this source code:

import win32com.client
a = win32com.client.Dispatch('catia.application')
doc=a.ActiveDocument.Product
for i in range(doc.Products.Count):
    print 'Part Number:', doc.Products.Item(i+1).PartNumber

It prints out the part names of a loaded CATProduct. Other examples can be found in the script collection.

Hint: You can automate DMU Navigator as well as CATIA V5 with this Dispatch string:

a = win32com.client.Dispatch(‘DMU.application’)

Important notes:

If you want to use early binding for the CATIA V5 object libraries
you can use the Makepy utility from Pythonwin. After that every object
and its methods will be usable from the pulldown menu while typing and
you can have a performance advantage. You should use makepy for every
object library which you want to use e.g. “ProductStructure Object
Library” for working with CATProducts). Not for the “CATIA V5 Interfaces Objekt Library”!

But if you have done that stupidly, every application which uses early binding for the
“CATIA V5 Interfaces Objekt Library” will not work ! A workaround
is not to use makepy for the “CATIA V5 Interfaces Objekt Library”
or use explicit late binding “(import win32com.client.dynamic as the
first line).

For starting developing applications with Python for CATIA V5 you should use the manual V5Automation.chm
which you can find in the bin-directory of CATIA V5. You will see that
you can develop Python applications in the same way like VB with the
builtin VB editor.

If you have problems to access the COM Interface from CATIA V5 (eg.
no object libraries from CATIA V5 in makepy) please check whether CATIA
V5 was registrated as a COM server. If not you can do that with cnext.exe /regserver in the CATIA V5 bin-directory. Then everything should work well…

More information for developing with Python for COM applications
with Pywin32 you can find in this excellent book. A whole example
Chapter about COM Programming with Python/Pywin32 can be found here.

Python Programming on Win32
by Mark Hammond, Andy Robinson
ISBN: 1-56592-621-8
652 pages. January 2000.

10/02/2017

Automating Microsoft Project

This script shows how to automate Microsoft Project.

import win32com.client
doc = 'C:\\Project1.mpp'
try:
     mpp = win32com.client.Dispatch("MSProject.Application")
     mpp.Visible = 1
     try:
          mpp.FileOpen(doc)
          proj = mpp.ActiveProject
          print
proj.BuiltinDocumentProperties(11), ",",
proj.BuiltinDocumentProperties(12)
     except Exception, e:
          print "Error", e
     mpp.FileSave()
     mpp.Quit()
except Exception, e:
     print "Error opening file",e