send function keys to a legacy DOS program

[MRAB]

On 11/03/2011 00:58, Justin Ezequiel wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> We have an old barcode program (MSDOS and source code unavailable.)
> I've figured out how to populate the fields (by hacking into one of
> the program's resource files.)
> However, we still need to hit the following function keys in sequence.
> F5, F2, F7
> Is there a way to pipe said keys into the program?
>
> I know it's not really a python problem but I got nowhere else to go.
> I've tried other barcode solutions but none give the same output.
>
One (hacky) solution is to use the sendkeys module:

     http://www.rutherfurd.net/python/sendkeys/

First enumerate the windows and get the title and handle of each:

     import win32gui

     def enum_windows(accept=None):
         def callback(handle, data):
             title = win32gui.GetWindowText(handle)
             windows.append((title, handle))
         windows = []
         win32gui.EnumWindows(callback, None)
         return windows

Identify the target window's handle by its title and give that window
the input focus:

     win32gui.SetForegroundWindow(handle)

Then use the sendkeys module to simulate the keypresses.