I'm hoping someone can give some information on the "textComparisonOption_RegularExpression" option to the WaitForText1 method (Reflection 14). The usage doesn't seem documented whatsoever.

I have a case where text may appear in column 1 or 2 (don't know until it does) and need some way of using that method to know when the specific text appears--but since it can be in either column there's no way to use it to determine if it's there reliably.  I'm hoping there's a regexp method that will help by letting me specify column 1, and determining if the text is there. (ie, " my_text" (leading space) and "my_text" (no leading space) would both result in "true".

-Daniel

Hi Daniel, 

unfortunately there is no out of the box method to achieve this.

Here is a Function that you can use to search a portion of the screen, either a rectangular portion or a portion that wraps around at the end of line.

Private Function myWaitForStringInArea(myString As String, ByRef startRow As Integer, ByRef startCol As Integer, ByRef endRow As Integer, ByRef endCol As Integer, ByRef BlockOrStream As Boolean, ByRef Timeout As Long) As Boolean

    Dim TextInSearchRegion As String, StringFound As Integer, SetTimeout As Long
    StartTime = Timer

    StringFound = 0
    SetTimeout = Timeout

    Do While Timer - StartTime < (SetTimeout / 1000)
        TextInSearchRegion = ThisIbmScreen.GetTextEx(startRow, startCol, endRow, endCol, BlockOrStream, GetTextWrap_Off, GetTextAttr_Any, GetTextFlags_None)
        StringFound = InStr(1, UCase(TextInSearchRegion), UCase(myString))
        If StringFound > 0 Then
            If BlockOrStream = 0 Then
                absolutePosition = startRow * ThisIbmScreen.columns + startCol + StringFound
                startRow = CInt(absolutePosition / ThisIbmScreen.columns)
                startCol = (absolutePosition Mod 80) - 1
            Else
                relativePosition = startRow * (endCol - startCol + 1)
                startRow = startRow + CInt((StringFound) / (endCol - startCol + 1))
                startCol = startCol + CInt((StringFound) Mod (endCol - startCol + 1)) - 1
            End If
            Timeout = (Timer - StartTime) * 1000
            myWaitForStringInArea = True
            Exit Do
        Else
            myWaitForStringInArea = False
        End If
    Loop
    If myWaitForStringInArea = False Then
        startRow = 0
        startCol = 0
        Timeout = 0
    End If
End Function

To use this function you provide the text you are looking for, the area in which you want to wait for the text, whether it's a block (rectangular) or not (then it's stream) and a timeout in milliseconds.

The function returns True if the text is found in the search area. If the text is found, the position of the string you are waiting for is returned in the startRow and startCol parameter variables and the duration of the wait is returned in the timeout parameter.

If the text is not found, then the function returns False, and the startRow, endRow and Timeout parameter are all returned as 0.

Here is a sample call from inside a routine. If sets the search area to row 5 from column 2 to 3 and checks that for for a "d" anywhere in that area 

:
:
:
Dim myString As String

Dim startRow As Integer
Dim startCol As Integer
Dim endRow As Integer
Dim endCol As Integer
Dim Block As Boolean 'True == Rectangular area, False == Stream with wrapping at end of line
Dim Timeout As Long
Dim Found As Boolean

' ThisIbmScreen.SendControlKey ControlKeyCode_Transmit

startRow = 10
startCol = 2
endRow = 10
endCol = 3
myString = "d"
Block = True
Timeout = 10000

Found = myWaitForStringInArea(myString, startRow, startCol, endRow, endCol, Block, Timeout)

If Found = True Then
    MsgBox "Found Text string " & Chr$(34) & myString & Chr$(34) & " at Row: " & startRow& " Col: " & startCol & " in " & Timeout & "msec"
Else
    MsgBox "Text did not appear before the wait timed out"
End If

:
:

If you need something similar in the legacy Reflection COM api, then you can follow the same logic to create your own custom WaitForMyCondition,