Adobe Acrobat hanging wxPython Demo

wxPython Users
1

I was wondering if anyone else had noticed that the Adobe Acrobat control was preventing python from exiting in the wxPython demo after exit? We can reproduce it here on several machines.

Our environments:
     Adobe Acrobat 6.0 (but also seen with version 5.0, as well as other controls)

     Python 2.2.2, Windows 2000, wxPython 2.3.3.1, win32all 152
     Python 2.3, Windows 2000, wxPython 2.4.1.2, win32all 155
     Python 2.2.2, Windows XP Home, wxPython 2.4.1.2, win32all 156
     Python 2.3.2, Windows XP Home, wxPython 2.4.2.4u, win32all 157
     Python 2.3.2, Windows XP Pro, wxPython 2.4.2.4u, win32all 157
     Python 2.3, Windows XP Pro, wxPython 2.4.2.4, win32all 157

To reproduce:
     Start wxPython Demo
     Open "ActiveXWrapper_Acrobat" under "Objects using an external library"
     Open a valid PDF file under Acrobat
     Close the demo.

Notes:
     If you select a different demo before closing the demo above, then python does not hang.
     If you do not open a PDF file, it closes without hanging python.

Before I file a bug report, I want to make sure other people are experiencing the same problem, and that it is not just a problem with my configuration. We found this same problem in our application, and tracked it back to some combination of wxPython and win32com, where I quickly got lost in the details of COM. Any help, insight, or fixes will be most appreciated!

Thanks,
-Shane Holloway

2

I was wondering if anyone else had noticed that the Adobe Acrobat
control was preventing python from exiting in the wxPython demo after
exit? We can reproduce it here on several machines.

   This may not be the problem but I often have the Adobe Acrobat browser
plugin appearing to hang because it has displayed an upgrade dialog behind
the current window. Try looking for a dialog, both visually and with a tool
like Spy in case it is invisible.

   Another possibility is that there is still a positive reference count on
a COM object. You should be able to find discussion on this through google.

   Neil

3

Thanks for responding Neil.

Neil Hodgson wrote:

   This may not be the problem but I often have the Adobe Acrobat browser
plugin appearing to hang because it has displayed an upgrade dialog behind
the current window. Try looking for a dialog, both visually and with a tool
like Spy in case it is invisible.

Yes, I too had thought the same thing. There are no windows open for Adobe in our tests. We checked and rechecked that after having the same experiences with PDFs and web browsers.

   Another possibility is that there is still a positive reference count on
a COM object. You should be able to find discussion on this through google.

The interesting thing is that we are invoking the Adobe PDF viewer control the same way we invoke Excel, Internet Explorer, Flash, Quicktime, and Real Player controls. The latter control exit correctly, but the Adobe PDF view does not. We have also seen a few proprietary controls (AlarmWorX and GraphWorX) as well as WinMedia exhibit the same behavior as Adobe PDF Viewer.

So, I was wondering if we could duplicate that behavior on other machines with the Adobe control in the wxPython demo, fix that, and then I can apply what we learned to our other controls. =)

Thanks,
-Shane Holloway

4

Shane Holloway (IEEE) wrote:

Thanks for responding Neil.

Neil Hodgson wrote:

   This may not be the problem but I often have the Adobe Acrobat browser
plugin appearing to hang because it has displayed an upgrade dialog behind
the current window. Try looking for a dialog, both visually and with a tool
like Spy in case it is invisible.

Yes, I too had thought the same thing. There are no windows open for Adobe in our tests. We checked and rechecked that after having the same experiences with PDFs and web browsers.

FWIW, I too have bad experiences with the Acrobat plugin on a wide range of computers, Windows versions and browser types.

···

--
Yours,

Andrei

=====
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5

Shane Holloway (IEEE) wrote:

Before I file a bug report, I want to make sure other people are experiencing the same problem, and that it is not just a problem with my configuration. We found this same problem in our application, and tracked it back to some combination of wxPython and win32com, where I quickly got lost in the details of COM.

Unfortunatly I have the same problem: lack of COM, win32com, etc.
skills. What we currently have is a contrib that I hacked at until it
happened to work so I included it eventhough I don't understand all of
it. :frowning:

What we really need is somebody with the right skills who knows what he
is doing to overhaul the whole ActiveXWrapper thing, or perhaps throw it
away and start over[1], but that person hasn't stepped forward yet.

[1] Perhaps with the new version of wxActiveX:
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~blackpaw1/wxactivex.html

···

--
Robin Dunn
Software Craftsman
http://wxPython.org Java give you jitters? Relax with wxPython!

6

Robin Dunn wrote:

Shane Holloway (IEEE) wrote:

Before I file a bug report, I want to make sure other people are experiencing the same problem, and that it is not just a problem with my configuration. We found this same problem in our application, and tracked it back to some combination of wxPython and win32com, where I quickly got lost in the details of COM.

Unfortunatly I have the same problem: lack of COM, win32com, etc.
skills. What we currently have is a contrib that I hacked at until it
happened to work so I included it eventhough I don't understand all of
it. :frowning:

What we really need is somebody with the right skills who knows what he
is doing to overhaul the whole ActiveXWrapper thing, or perhaps throw it
away and start over[1], but that person hasn't stepped forward yet.

Thanks for the info. I'll puzzle over how to solve this problem.