Opening an exe

I need to write a program that will open an exe and check some timings in it.

point to exe
run exe
check time taken between numbers:
123 (08 secs)
341 (1 sec)
444 (09 secs)

What python functions do I need to research to accomplish this? Thanks

I use _winreg to find out the path of the exe: then: Need more info on the time between numbers, but you might want to check out the time module.

Thank you for the reply. I know the path of the exe. Could I do something like this:

As far as the numbers go, the script will need 4 integer variables from 0-1000 and will slow when the right number is crossed and then move on to another series of 0-1000, and continue to loop for a total of 4 times.
Here is a sample C++ code snippet that might help.
ex: system("app.exe1 1 1 1") was used to call the application.

ex: system("app.exe1 1 1 1") was used to call the application. Does python have something similar?

Thank you for the reply. I know the path of the exe. Could I do something like this:

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1. import os, sys
2.  
3. pyPath = "C:\python25\app.exe"
4.  

You must use raw strings or unicode strings for windows path names. Otherwise you get "escape" sequences. ie "C:\test" is actually "C:[tab]est".
I prefer raw strings. Boa Construtor uses unicode strings.

As far as the numbers go, the script will need 4 integer variables from 0-1000 and will slow when the right number is crossed and then move on to another series of 0-1000, and continue to loop for a total of 4 times.
Here is a sample C++ code snippet that might help.
ex: system("app.exe1 1 1 1") was used to call the application.

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1. MaxR = -1.0;
2. for(i=1; i<1000; i++){
3.          ... code
4.  
5.           system(sRun);
6.  
7.     ....code
8.  
9.     R = ... the elapsed time of the function system().
10.     if (R > MaxR){
11.         MaxR = R;
12.         MaxI = i;
13.     }
14. }
15.  
16. printf ("Max(i) = %d  elapsed %.9f  secs \n", MaxI, MaxR);
17.  

ex: system("app.exe1 1 1 1") was used to call the application. Does python have something similar?

There are a few ways to do this:
There is a discussion on the timeit module here.

There are a few ways to do this:

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1. from time import time
2. startTime = time()
3. for i in xrange(1000):
4.     # simulate an external process
5.     for i in range(10000):
6.         pass
7.  
8. print "Process took %f seconds" % (time() - startTime)

There is a discussion on the timeit module here.

Awesome! That's a great start for me. Thank you! I see what you mean about the raw string as I was getting an error message with app.exe.

Awesome! That's a great start for me. Thank you! I see what you mean about the raw string as I was getting an error message with app.exe.

Go get 'me and have fun! Keep posting,
Barton

Ok, so I found a couple of different ways to get python to run the app.exe, but how do I incorporate the timing code to the exe? If I use the following code, it will run, regardless of the app.exe.
Code:
This will run the app.exe
Code:
or this one, which will run the timer and then the app.exe. It sometimes gives me a NameError: name 'MZP' is not defined, but I have no idea where that comes from since there is no 'MZP' in the code.
Code:

Ok, so I found a couple of different ways to get python to run the app.exe, but how do I incorporate the timing code to the exe? If I use the following code, it will run, regardless of the app.exe.

In the 2.4 Python Manuals the section is "6.1.5 Process Management" of the os module documentation. It describes how you may be able to wait for an exit code from the external process.

This seems to me that it would be on the right track except it looks like it would evaluate out to a command line similar to.

C:\python25\python.exe C:\python25\app.exe

which is just trying to call an executable in python itself or am I missing something? As I play with the spawnv, I would think that you would just want to set a start time, run something like

os.spawnv(os.P_NOWAIT,appPath,["appname",AnyArgsForApp])

then check the end time.

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1. import os,sys
2.  
3. pyPath=r"C:\python25\python.exe"
4. appPath=r"C:\python25\app.exe"
5. os.spawnv(os.P_NOWAIT,pyPath,["python",appPath])
6.  

This seems to me that it would be on the right track except it looks like it would evaluate out to a command line similar to.

C:\python25\python.exe C:\python25\app.exe

which is just trying to call an executable in python itself or am I missing something? As I play with the spawnv, I would think that you would just want to set a start time, run something like

os.spawnv(os.P_NOWAIT,appPath,["appname",AnyArgsForApp])

then check the end time.

Yep. It is the right track. It's the "os.P_NOWAIT" that is in question.

Should have put this in before, but for example to run the find command on my /tmp directory and time it

Yep. It is the right track. It's the "os.P_NOWAIT" that is in question.

Good call, I didn't even catch that in the original post, I just went by the docs which is why the example works, but the answer was incomplete.

Good call, I didn't even catch that in the original post, I just went by the docs which is why the example works, but the answer was incomplete.

Great posting, D. I really appreciate all of your input. Thank you,
Barton

Thank you both for your replies! One more thing.....how could I do this:
....have the double digits print out with a space between them:
2 0
2 1
2 2 etc...

Would something like this work? i = 0 0?

Thank you both for your replies! One more thing.....how could I do this:

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1. i = 0
2. for i in range(0,30):
3.      print i
4.      i +=1 
5.  

....have the double digits print out with a space between them:
2 0
2 1
2 2 etc...

Would something like this work? i = 0 0?

I'll agree with bartonc that I'm not totally positive what you are trying to accomplish, but a quick review of for and range may help.

You don't need to set i=0 because in the
a start of 0 is implied, though if you need to reset it you can just say
range is just creating a list of numbers, each member of which gets evaluated as i during the loop. so it has always seemed to me to be dangerous to modify it inside the loop. Though there may be good reasons to do so.

To reproduce the output you listed
though I didn't take it to 30.

The 2 in the example was just a reference to numbers in the twenties,ie
20
21
22
but I want them to print out with a space:
2 0
2 1
2 2

In the single digit numbers do you still need 2 numbers? For example...
0 0
0 1
0 2

Just in case, this may not be pretty because I have one foot out the door, but.

Not pretty?? I think it's beautiful ;) Thanks again to the both of you! I really appreciate your knowledge.

This is my last hang up with this......trying to get the app.exe to run with every number in range.

C:\python25>app.exe 0 0 1
C:\python25>app.exe 0 0 2

I guess I need to somehow loop the app.exe as well?

This is my last hang up with this......trying to get the app.exe to run with every number in range.

C:\python25>app.exe 0 0 1
C:\python25>app.exe 0 0 2

I guess I need to somehow loop the app.exe as well?

I haven't read the docs so there may be a way to pass args to app.exe in the call. Also, I haven't really been following along too well and you haven't posted a lot of working code of your own. One possible way to do this might be: