Handling VBA popup message boxes in Microsoft Excel - excel

Question

I'm required to automate an Excel file with Python, the problem is that the Excel has macro in it , when clicking on a macro button it presents a popup:
The popup message box itself has a button that I must click to proceed.
I've tried with both Win32com and Win32 API libraries in Python but I was unable to find any solution in the documentation.
my code is as follows :
ms_excel_app = win32.gencache.EnsureDispatch('Excel.Application')
ms_excel_app.Visible = True
ms_excel_app.DisplayAlerts = False
template_file = r"C:\Templates_for_test\macro_test.xlsm"
ms_excel_file =ms_excel_app.Workbooks.Open(template_file)
ms_excel_file.DisplayAlerts = False
excel_sheet = ms_excel_file.ActiveSheet
# Opening a template file
ms_excel_file = ms_excel_app.Workbooks.Open(template_file)
spread_sheet = ms_excel_file.ActiveSheet
# Click on 'Current date and time' macro button
ms_excel_app.Application.Run("Sheet1.CommandButton1_Click")
# TODO verify verify timestamp and click ok- popup appears verify date and time format : dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm:ss
timestamp_message = time.strftime("%d/%m/%Y %H:%M:%S")
what I'm trying to do is to identify the popup in the screenshot and click on the 'OK' button

Answer 1

A bit late, just post a solution since I faced the same case.
The message box gets Excel application stuck and accordingly blocks your main process. So, a general solution:
start a child thread to listen to the message box -> close it once found
do your main work with the Excel file
stop the child thread when everything is finished
As you're using pywin32, it can also be used to catch and close message box. A Thread class to do the job:
# ButtonClicker.py
import time
from threading import Thread, Event
import win32gui, win32con
class ButtonClicker(Thread):
def __init__(self, title:str, interval:int):
Thread.__init__(self)
self._title = title
self._interval = interval
self._stop_event = Event()
def stop(self):
'''Stop thread.'''
self._stop_event.set()
#property
def stopped(self):
return self._stop_event.is_set()
def run(self):
while not self.stopped:
try:
time.sleep(self._interval)
self._close_msgbox()
except Exception as e:
print(e, flush=True)
def _close_msgbox(self):
# find the top window by title
hwnd = win32gui.FindWindow(None, self._title)
if not hwnd: return
# find child button
h_btn = win32gui.FindWindowEx(hwnd, None,'Button', None)
if not h_btn: return
# show text
text = win32gui.GetWindowText(h_btn)
print(text)
# click button
win32gui.PostMessage(h_btn, win32con.WM_LBUTTONDOWN, None, None)
time.sleep(0.2)
win32gui.PostMessage(h_btn, win32con.WM_LBUTTONUP, None, None)
time.sleep(0.2)
Finally, your code may look like:
from ButtonClicker import ButtonClicker
# 1. start a child thread
# ButtonClicker instance tries to catch window with specified `title` at a user defined frequency.
# In your case, the default title for Excel message box is `Microsoft Excel`.
listener = ButtonClicker("Microsoft Excel", 3)
listener.start()
# 2. do your work with Excel file as before
# though it might be blocked by message box, the concurrent child thread will close it
ms_excel_app = win32.gencache.EnsureDispatch('Excel.Application')
ms_excel_app.Visible = True
ms_excel_app.DisplayAlerts = False
template_file = r"C:\Templates_for_test\macro_test.xlsm"
...
# 3. close the child thread finally
listener.stop()