UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers

Hello everybody,

I am using Windows 10 and cygwin/bash.

I need to write a script in bash which simulates opening of a program and then press some keys such as F5, ENTER and ALT+F4.

I have written a VBScript which does the job

Code:

Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.AppActivate "Program"
WshShell.SendKeys "{F5}"
WshShell.SendKeys "{ENTER}"
WshShell.SendKeys "{ENTER}"
WScript.Sleep 8000
WshShell.AppActivate "Program"
WshShell.SendKeys "%{F4}"

but I need to use bash because the file I need to open is on the network.

I have no clue how to that with bash, any help is appreciated.

Thanks. Supernono06

Help me out - why shouldn't windows be able to open a file on the network?

BASH is poorly suited to this, almost nothing in Windows is designed using the UNIX process model. Your bash script will be a thin wrapper around whatever external utility you find which allows you to generate arbitrary keypresses (and odds are, that utility will be flagged and deleted by your antivirus).

Why not vbscript if you're really on win10?

I have a batch file calling the vbscript, and when it is on shared directory I got
"CMD does not support UNC paths as current directories"

MS Windows has three kinds of directory paths which partly overlap and partly don't and almost no programs implement all of them.

BASH would be no help here, as in UNIX, there's only one kind of path and network filesystems are the responsibility of the operating system, not the shell.

MS fortunately made a few kludges to join different kinds of paths together when your app needs a specific kind.

You should be able to turn a shared folder into a drive letter CMD can use, via something like

Code:

net use Z: \\computer_name\share_name /PERSISTENT:YES

That might even be a permanent mapping, unless you do

Code:

net use Z: /delete

Thank you Corona688, I will try this. I also had in mind to use pushd/popd, probably net use does the same?

pushd/popd is just a wrapper made around cd, it doesn't possess the magical ability to convert a network path into a local one. Altering the universe like that is an operating system feature. You have to ask Windows to do what you want.