Command Line Program Wrapper

lospinoj has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hello, Trying to write a script that will kick of a command line program on Windows and interact with it. That is instead of me reading the screen and responding, I want the script to do that while I just watch. And yes if only there was a module to take the place of the Windows program that'd be way better, but there's not. I've poked around with Win32::Console a bit, but if that's the solution my wee brain's not connecting the dots. Any insights would be most appreciated. J-

Comment on Command Line Program Wrapper

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Re: Command Line Program Wrapper by graff (Chancellor) on Apr 15, 2016 at 17:02 UTC
Sounds like you're looking for Expect.	[reply]
Re: Command Line Program Wrapper by Marshall (Canon) on Apr 15, 2016 at 18:27 UTC
SimonPratt mentioned that this might be an XY problem. To further clarify the terminology, here is one of many links that explain what that is: http://xyproblem.info/. If you back up a bit and explain more about X to us, there may be some really simple solution to the problem. Update: perhaps an example...some of these things ask a fixed set of questions in the same order every time, in that case sometimes all that is needed is a file with "the answers" which gets redirected into the program. It might or might not be necessary to "read the questions".	[reply]
Re: Command Line Program Wrapper by SimonPratt (Friar) on Apr 15, 2016 at 16:18 UTC
What are you trying to do? What application are you trying to interact with? What code have you written (and specific issues you have with it)? Just a bit concerned this might be the beginning of an XY problem	[reply]
Re: Command Line Program Wrapper by NetWallah (Canon) on Apr 15, 2016 at 17:34 UTC
If you are trying to enter text into a console window, the "SendKeys" facility in Win32::GuiTest should fit the bill with minimal hassle. This is not an optical illusion, it just looks like one.	[reply]