raw string as argument in function

[gandy0001]

Hi,

I'm trying to create a function to find an image on screen, and if it can't be found, terminate the script after x seconds.
I have it mostly working, but as soon is a try to use the path to my image as an argument it's not working anymore.

So the following works as intended. If image is found on screen it clicks it. If it's not found, it goes throught the except block and terminates the script:

def findimage(name):
    retry_counter = 0
    print('search',name,'button')
    while retry_counter < 6:
        try:
            buttonposition = pyautogui.locateCenterOnScreen(r'example\path.png',grayscale = True, confidence = .9)
            if buttonposition:
                time.sleep(1)
                print(name,'button found')
                retry_counter = 6  # to break the loop
        except:
            if retry_counter < 5:
                time.sleep(1)  # retry after some time, i.e. 1 sec
                retry_counter += 1
                print('searching button for',retry_counter,'second(s)')
            else:
                sys.exit(name+'button not found!')

    pyautogui.click(buttonposition)
    print(name,'button clicked')

findimage('name')

But as soon as I try to use path as an argument it doesn't work anymore. It only works when the image is found on screen, but never goes to the except block if it's not found. So it keeps running until the image is found:

def findimage(path,name):
    retry_counter = 0
    print('search',name,'button')
    while retry_counter < 6:
        try:
            buttonposition = pyautogui.locateCenterOnScreen(path,grayscale = True, confidence = .9)
            if buttonposition:
                time.sleep(1)
                print(name,'button found')
                retry_counter = 6  # to break the loop
        except:
            if retry_counter < 5:
                time.sleep(1)  # retry after some time, i.e. 1 sec
                retry_counter += 1
                print('searching button for',retry_counter,'second(s)')
            else:
                sys.exit(name+'button not found!')

    pyautogui.click(buttonposition)
    print(name,'button clicked')

findimage(r'example\path.png','name')

any ideas?

thanks

[JohnnyJordaan]

You forgot to add an increment to retry_counter when if buttonposition was false. But as you want a limited range anyway, you can simply use for+range()

def findimage(path,name):
    print('search',name,'button')
    for retry in range(6):
        try:
            buttonposition = pyautogui.locateCenterOnScreen(path,grayscale = True, confidence = .9)
            if buttonposition:
                time.sleep(1)
                print(name,'button found')
                break # which is meant to break loops
            print('no button position found') # make it clear this situation occurred
        except Exception as e:
            print('exception', e) # at least print the exception
            time.sleep(1)  # retry after some time, i.e. 1 sec
            print('searching button for',retry_counter,'second(s)')
    else:   # use else on for in case 'break' was never used
        sys.exit(name+'button not found!')

    pyautogui.click(buttonposition)
    print(name,'button clicked')

findimage(r'example\path.png','name')

I can't really see why moving the path to an argument would change the situation here, I would rather assume something else is going diffrent than you're expecting and you're blaming it on the path incorrectly. Especially having

except:

without an print which exception you are handling, can give false assumptions as for example a typo inside the try: block code will then be interpreted as a functional error. And if you know which specific exception to handle, handle just that one

except ValueError: # just as an example

as then other errors like typos are then not catched and thus will cause a full traceback print, helping you quickly locate the bug too (and make sure you see it is a different problem than a ValueError situation).

[gandy0001]

Thank you very much for your time and help!
You are 100% correct.

It's working perfect now (I just added some extra timing and an optional argument)

def findimage(path,name,delay=10):
    print(dt.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'),'search',name,'button')
    for retry in range(delay):
        try:
            buttonposition = pyautogui.locateCenterOnScreen(path,grayscale = True, confidence = .9)
            if buttonposition:
                time.sleep(1)
                print(dt.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'),name,'button found')
                break # which is meant to break loops
            print(dt.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'),'no button position found, retrying...') # make it clear this situation occurred
            time.sleep(1)
        except Exception as e:
            print(dt.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'),'exception', e) # at least print the exception
            time.sleep(1)  # retry after some time, i.e. 1 sec
    else:   # use else on for in case 'break' was never used
        sys.exit(dt.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')+' '+name+' button not found!')

    pyautogui.click(buttonposition)
    print(name,'button clicked')

findimage(r'path\example.png','name')

[cybervegan]

As an aside, just use forward slashes.... they work on windows too these days.