how to get information of a running prog in python

[Dan Upton]

On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 11:02 PM, Jimmy <mcknight0219 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On May 13, 10:36 am, "Dan Upton" <up... at virginia.edu> wrote:
>
>
> > On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 10:19 PM, Jimmy <mcknight0... at gmail.com> wrote:
>  > > Well, i know it may be a little non-python thing, however, I can think
>  > >  of no place better to post this question :)
>  >
>  > >  can anyone tell me, in python, how to obtain some information of a
>  > >  running program?
>  > >  paticularly, if i am playing some music in audacious or other media
>  > >  player, how can i get the the name and some other info of current
>  > >  playing song? It seems that audicious doesn't output on run-time
>  > >  --
>  > >  http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
>  >
>
> > In most cases, you'll probably need some sort of API, either in the
>  > program itself or through some sort of plugin, that lets external
>  > programs query it.  For instance, there are some plugins to WinAmp
>  > that allow external programs (like Last.FM or Mog-O-Matic) to see what
>  > track is currently playing.  You may also be able to do something like
>  > get the window title (again, WinAmp's title bar usually includes the
>  > artist and title) and parse it out.  I don't really know that there's
>  > anything specific to Python for accessing these though, and it may
>  > vary depending on media player.
>  >
>  > Just my two cents...
>  >
>  > -dan
>
>  thanks!
>
>  In linux, I am always obfuscated by sort of APIs. Like how to get
>  title information of a running program?
>  where am I supposed to find these APIs
>

In the documentation for each application?  Somebody a little more
familiar with the specific apps you're interested in might be able to
help you more, especially in the case of open-source programs that
usually have developer communities.  Also, you can find some
information (although I don't know that it'll be enough to help you)
in files in /proc/$pid on Linux -- type 'man proc' in your shell to
see what you can get out of it and if anything looks helpful for you.