- 1 year ago
Detecting screen/ application updates with python on windows
To detect screen or application updates on Windows using Python, you can use the pygetwindow
library to capture screen frames and then compare the frames to detect changes. Additionally, you can use the pywin32
library to interact with the Windows API and monitor changes to specific windows or applications. Here's a basic example of how you can achieve this:
- Install the required libraries using pip:
bashpip install pygetwindow pywin32
- Use the following Python code to capture screen frames and compare them:
pythonimport cv2
import numpy as np
import pygetwindow as gw
def get_screen_frame(window_title=None):
# Get the screen frame using pygetwindow
if window_title:
hwnd = gw.getWindowsWithTitle(window_title)[0].hwnd
else:
hwnd = 0
screen = gw.getScreen(hwnd)
frame = np.array(screen.grab().convert('RGB'))
return frame
def compare_frames(frame1, frame2):
# Compare two frames using mean squared error (MSE)
# Returns True if frames are different, otherwise False
mse = np.sum((frame1 - frame2) ** 2) / float(frame1.shape[0] * frame1.shape[1])
return mse > 0
# Example usage:
previous_frame = None
while True:
current_frame = get_screen_frame()
if previous_frame is not None and compare_frames(previous_frame, current_frame):
print("Screen has been updated.")
# Do something when screen updates
previous_frame = current_frame
This code captures the screen frames at regular intervals and compares them using mean squared error (MSE) to detect changes. If the frames are different, it means the screen or application has been updated.
Note: The example above is a basic implementation for illustration purposes. Depending on your specific use case, you may need to fine-tune the comparison method or use other image processing techniques for more accurate detection.
For monitoring specific applications or windows, you can use the pywin32
library to register window hooks and receive notifications when certain events occur. Refer to the official documentation of pywin32
for more information on how to use window hooks.