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Running Scripts from the Command Line

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Scripts using the Scripting API can be run from the command line without a Pulsonix graphical user interface.

Running Pulsonix without an interface

In a command prompt, Pulsonix can be passed several different flags when launched to change the behaviour of the application. One of these flags is -hidden, which makes the application launch and run without a graphical user interface. This also decreases Pulsonix start-up time.

To run Pulsonix invisibly, navigate to the folder containing Pulsonix.exe and open a command prompt, then use the command pulsonix.exe -hidden. The application will not be closed until the associated command prompt is closed.

Scripting API

The Scripting API is available if:

  1. The scripting server has been started in the Scripting Dashboard or configured to automatically start.
  2. An instance of Pulsonix is running on the computer, either with a graphical interface (as it normally would be), or in “hidden” mode described above.

To run a script which uses the Scripting API, you must first run Pulsonix and then proceed with API calls. Running Pulsonix can be done as part of a secondary batch script or within the script itself.

Below is an example of a script using the Pulsonix Python client which automatically opens Pulsonix if necessary. Any Python script can be invoked from the command line.

import psutil, subprocess, time, win32pipe, pywintypes, pulsonix

PULSONIX_PATH = None # E.g. r"C:\ProgramFiles\Pulsonix 14.0\Pulsonix.exe"
DETACHED_PROCESS = 0x00000008
CREATE_NEW_PROCESS_GROUP = 0x00000200

def is_process_running(process_name):
    for process in psutil.process_iter(['name']):
        if process.info['name'] == process_name:
            return True
    return False

def wait_for_pipe():
    for i in range(10):
        try:
            # Always throws if the pipe isn't available
            win32pipe.WaitNamedPipe(pulsonix.psxutils.PIPE_PATH, 1000)
            return True
        except pywintypes.error as e:
            if e.winerror != 2: # 2 == FILE_NOT_FOUND
                raise # Unexpected: re-raise
        time.sleep(1)
    return False

def ensure_pulsonix_is_running():
    if PULSONIX_PATH is None:
        print("Please provide the location of Pulsonix.exe in PULSONIX_PATH.")
        quit(1)
    if is_process_running("Pulsonix.exe"):
        print("Pulsonix is already running.")
		return True
    subprocess.Popen([PULSONIX_PATH, "-hidden"])
    return wait_for_pipe()

if not ensure_pulsonix_is_running():
    print("Failed to ensure Pulsonix is running...")
    quit(1)
print(f"Pulsonix version: {pulsonix.GetVersion()}")
pulsonix.QuitApp()

Scripting Overview | Running Python scripts | Getting started with Python scripting | Python scripting FAQ

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