catching WM_TIMER message

[Tim Golden]

On 20/09/2010 16:15, Greg Miller wrote:
> I'm trying to get the following code converted to Python.......and am
> stuck
>
> if(GetMessage(&msg.NULL,NULL,NULL))
> {
>       if(msg.message == WM_TIMER)
>       {
>            TranslateMEssage(&msg);
>            DispatchMessage(&msg);
>       }
> }
>
> I think GetMessage is a canned C or C++ function, and I'm not sure how
> to catch a message from WM_TIMER.  Anyone who could help me get this
> loop converted to Python I would really appreciate it!!!!

Goodness. You're going in at the deep end, slightly.

What you're seeing there is a typical part of the standard
Windows message loop which retrieves messages from the
message queue of a Window (or thread) and then dispatches
as your code does above. You *can* do this in Python, either
using core Python only and making use of the ctypes module,
or by employing the pywin32 packages which wrap the functions
above.

There's a thread-based example here which uses ctypes:

 
http://timgolden.me.uk/python/win32_how_do_i/catch_system_wide_hotkeys.html

It should be readily adaptable to a WM_TIMER situation.

Or you can see a (more complex) window-based example here which
uses the pywin32 package:

   http://timgolden.me.uk/python/win32_how_do_i/detect-device-insertion.html

If all you needed was the simplest code to catch a WM_TIMER
message then the earlier example is probably a better fit.
If this is part of a wider setup involving windows and other
messages then you'll need (something like) the latter.

TJG