Question

I had the tskill operation working fine through a python script when using Python 2.7 but when I switched to 2.5 this code fails.

import os
import time
import win32com.client
os.startfile('cmd')
shell = win32com.client.Dispatch("WScript.Shell")
shell.AppActivate('Administrator:C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe')
time.sleep(2)
shell.SendKeys('tskill java + {ENTER}')
time.sleep(2)
shell.Sendkeys('tskill javaw + {ENTER}')
#shell.SendKeys('exit + {ENTER}')

I use os.startfile to run a python script that opens and runs the application(It’s a graphics tool).

Note: The application is already running by the time this script is called, hence I don’t need to open it here.

Can some one please tell me how to close an application successfully using this or similar method on Python 2.5. Thanks for the help!

Answer 1

I don’t have tskill on my system, but I think it’s similar to taskkill /F /FI "IMAGENAME eq java*". Anyway, here’s how to call a normal console application in the background (i.e. a hidden window) using the subprocess module (tested in Python 2.5.2, but using taskkill instead):

import subprocess

def tskill(*args):
    si = subprocess.STARTUPINFO()
    si.dwFlags |= subprocess.STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW
    command = ('tskill',) + args
    rc = subprocess.call(command, startupinfo=si)
    return rc == 0

if tskill('java') and tskill('javaw'):
    #success

I used call because it only matters whether the call succeeds or fails, but in general you can use subprocess.PIPE to capture stdout and stderr using subprocess.Popen.

Edit: How to kill a process started with the subprocess module

command = ['path/to/executable', 'arg0', 'arg1', '...']
p = subprocess.Popen(command)
#do something

#kill if it's still alive
if p.poll() is None: 
    p.kill()