Thanks for the pointers, Alan. It seems perhaps a bit beyond my abilities
for now, but something to keep in mind for the future if I get that far.
And yes, the legal aspects are worth noting, though rest assured my wish for
such a thing is for self-monitoring rather than other-monitoring, though I
can see how it could get used nefariously if not cautious.
Best,
Che
Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 15:54:11 +0100
From: "Alan Gauld" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [Tutor] monitor other running applications with Python?
To: tutor@python.org
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original
"Che M" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
> Hi, searched a bit for this but haven't found much.
> Is it possible to use Python to monitor the use of
> other applications?
Yes, definitely.
> At minimum, I wan't to know that the application was running
Thats fairly easy using OS tools such as ps on Unix.
You can dig a little deeper and use the system APIs such
as the proc fiilesystem or the equivalent in the windows
registry.
> better would be some sense of the use or content, such
> as whether the app was idle or the user was using it,
> or, for a web browser, what URLs were visited and for
> how long, etc.
Thats possible but gets very OS specific and very low level too.
On Windows you can catch Windows events and messages
using some of the raw Win32 API calls from the ctypes module.
(I've never used ctypes for anything this low level but it
should be possible, I''ve certainly done it in C++ and Delphi
on Win 9X). But its messy and fairly deep Windows magic
and you will need to spend a fair bit of time experimenting
and reading the docs on MSDN as well as the Win32 API
help file.
> Ideally I'd like a cross-platforms approach
I doubt if that's possible except at the process monitoring
level. For the kind of detail you want the bgestb you can
do is have a common UI and pluggable modules based
on the OS.
Also beware legal implications. There are issues around
personal privacy, data proptection etc and these vary between
countries (and even states in the US). People are increasingly
wary of Big Brother style monitoring. Detecting inappropriate
use of the internet across a corporate firwall is generally
considered OK but silently monitoring individuals brings you
into murky legal waters.
Finally, take a look at the stuff in the os package and the
syslog module for Unix.
HTH,
--
Alan Gauld
Author of the Learn to Program web site
http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 12:25:17 -0500
From: adam urbas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Tutor] error message questions
To: python tutor <tutor@python.org>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
Hello all,I was wondering if there would be someone who would be able to
give me a list of error messages and their meanings. I've attached this
test.py to illustrate my problem. When I run the program, I am able to
enter all the data, yet it will not calculate.It says:can't multiply
sequence by non-int of type 'str'I really would like to know how to fix
this.I get a similar message with my other one, radiacir.py:can't multiply
sequence by non-int of type 'float'Please help!Thanks in advance,Adam
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Message: 3
Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 12:49:04 -0500
From: adam urbas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [Tutor] trouble with "if"
To: Brian van den Broek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: python tutor <tutor@python.org>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
Thank you for the help Brian. I would like to ask you about these things.
Which one of the examples you gave would be most fool proof.> Date: Wed, 23
May 2007 13:40:09 -0400> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]> CC: tutor@python.org> Subject: Re: [Tutor] trouble
with "if"> > adam urbas said unto the world upon 05/23/2007 01:04 PM:> >
Sorry, I don't think Hotmail has turn off HTML. If it does I> > havn't
been able to find it. I think you're going to have to> > explain your
little bit of text stuff down there at the bottom. I> > have no idea what
most of that means. All my choice things are> > working now though. I
think that is what you were trying to help> > me with. What I used wasif
shape in["1","circle"]:and if shape ==> > "1" or shape =="circle":It works
perfectly fine now.Ya that little> > bit o' code is really puzzling. I
wish I knew more about this> > python deal. I understand the concept, but
not the rules or the> > techniques and things !
of that sort. OK... I've got it... the> > data=raw_input('Feed Me!').
Ok I now understand that bit. Then it> > says Feed Me! and you put 42
(the ultimate answer to life the> > universe, everything). OK, it won't
accept the <type 'str'> bit.> > it doesn't like the "<". Well, I just
removed that bit and it> > said:Feed Me! and I put 42, and it said >>> (I
guess it's> > satisfied now, with the whole feeding). Well if I understood
what> > 'str' meant, then I could probably figure the rest out. Well I> >
have to go do other things so I'll save the rest of this figuring> > out
till later.I shall return,Adam> Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 12:12:16> > -0400>
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> CC:> >
tutor@python.org> Subject: Re: [Tutor] trouble with "if"> > adam> > urbas
said unto the world upon 05/23/2007 11:57 AM:> > > > Hi all,>> > > > > I've
been working with this new program that I wrote. I> > started out > > with
it on a Ti-83, which is much easier to!
program> > than python. Now > > I'm trying to transfer the program t
o python> > but its proving to be quite > > difficult. I'm not sure what
the> > whole indentation thing is for. And > > now I'm having trouble> >
with the if statement things. > > > > #"Circle Data Calculation> >
Program:"> > print "Welcome to the Circle Data Calcuation> > Program."> >
print> > > > #"Menu 1:"> > print "Pick a shape:">> > > print "(NOTE:
You must select the number of the shape and not the> > shape > > itself)">
> print "1 Circle"> > print "2 Square"> > print> > "3 Triangle"> > > >
#"User's Choice:"> > shape=raw_input("> ")>> > > > > #"Select
Given:"> > if shape == 1:> > print> > "Choose the given value:"> >
print "1 radius"> >> > print "2 diameter"> > print "3
circumference"> >> > print "4 area"> > > > #"User's Choice:"> >
given=raw_input("> ")> >> > > > if given == 1:> >
radius=raw_input("Enter Radius:")> >> > diameter=(radius*2)> >
circumference=(diameter*3.14)> >> > area=(radius**2*3.14)> > !
print "Diameter:", diameter> >> > print "Circumference:", circumference>
> print "Area:",> > area> > > > if given == 2:> >
diameter=raw_input("Enter> > Diameter:")> > radius=(diameter/2)> >>
> circumference=(diameter*3.14)> > area=(radius**2*3.14)> >> >
print "Radius:", radius> > print "Circumference:",> >
circumference> > print "Area:", area> > > > if given == 3:>> > >
circumference=raw_input("Enter Circumference:")> >> >
radius=(circumference/3.14/2)> > diameter=(radius*2)> >> >
area=(radius**2*3.14)> > print "Radius:", radius> >> > print
"Diameter:", diameter> > print "Area:", area> > > >> > if given ==
4:> > area=raw_input("Enter Area:")> >> > radius=(area/3.14)> >
> > This is the whole program so> > far, because I haven't quite
finished it > > yet. But I tried to> > get it to display another list of
options after you > > select a> > shape but it just does this.> > > > Pick!
a shape:> > 1 Circle> > 2> > Square> > 3 Triangle> > >1> > >1> > >
>>> > > > I'm not sure why> > it does that but I do know that it is
skipping the > > second list> > of options.> > > > Another of my problems
is that I can't figure> > out how to get it to > > accept two different
inputs for a> > selection. Like I want it to accept > > both the number 1
and> > circle as circle then list the options for > > circle. It won't> >
even accept words. I can only get it to accept > > numbers. It's> > quite
frustrating actually.> > > > Any advice would be greatly> > appreciated.> >
Thanks in advance,> > Adam> > > > > > > Adam,> >> > Could you send plain
text email rather than html, please? At least> > for > me, your code's
indentation is all messed up unless I take> > some steps > to rectify it.>
> The problem is that raw_input> > returns a string, and you are testing >
whether given is equal to> > integers. See if this helps make things
clear:> > >>> data => > raw_input('Feed me!')> Feed me!42> >>>
type(data)> <type 'str'>>> > >>> data == 42> !
False> >>> int(data) == 42> True> >>>> > Best,> >> > Brian vdB > > >
Adam,> > As you can see from the above, the way hotmail is formatting
things > makes the conversation a bit tricky :-) I'm only willing to spend
so > much time trying to sort through it, so I hope what follows helps.> >
>>> data = raw_input("Feed me!")> Feed me!42> > This calls the builtin
function raw_input with a parameter setting the > prompt to "Feed me!" and
assigns the result to data. Since I hit 42 > and then enter,> > >>> data>
'42'> > Notice the quotes around 42. They indicate that the value of data
is a > string. That's what this tells us:> > >>> type(data)> <type 'str'>>
> The string '42' is not the same as the integer 42:> > >>> type(42)>
<type 'int'>> >>> '42' == 42> False> > So, when you had an if test that
was something like:> > if given == 1:> # Do stuff here> > the equality
comparison was never going to work---given was a string > returned by
raw_input and no string is ever equa!
l to an integer.> > What I suggested was taking the string returned by
raw_input and > feeding it to int() to transform it from a string to an
integer, and > allow your if test to stand a chance:> > >>> data =
raw_input("Feed me!")> Feed me!42> >>> if data == 42:> ... print
"Matches!"> ...> >>> data = int(raw_input("Feed me!"))> Feed me!42> >>>
if data == 42:> ... print "Matches!"> ...> Matches!> >>>> > There are
other ways, for instance:> > >>> data = raw_input("Feed me!")> Feed me!42>
>>> if data == '42':> ... print "Matches!"> ...> Matches!> >>>> >
Here, instead of transforming data to an int and then testing for >
equality with 42, I left data as a string and tested for equality with >
the string '42'.> > The way calling int() is a bit better, I think. If the
user enters a > few spaces, then 42 then a few more spaces, that way will
still work:> > >>> data = int(raw_input("Feed me!"))> Feed me! 42> >>>
if data == 42:> ... print "Matches!"> ...> Matches!> >>>> > because> >
>>> int(' 42 ')> 42> >>>> > whereas> > !
>>> ' 42 ' == '42'> False> > > I hope there is some help in there
somewhere :-)> > Brian vdB
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