Calling wxPython.NotificationMessage every specified time - python-3.x

Question

I have written function to check every user-specified time for updates and if there any, to display notification message about it.
My code:
def show_notification():
notification_bubble = wx.App()
wx.adv.NotificationMessage("", "sample notification").Show()
notification_bubble.MainLoop()
def update():
# retrieve var from newest_porcys_url_imported
first_porcys_url = newest_porcys_url_imported()
# retrieve var from newest_pitchfork_url_imported
first_pitchfork_url = newest_pitchfork_url_imported()
# fetch newest review url with get_porcys_review_url
get_latest_porcys_url_ = get_porcys_review_url()
get_latest_porcys_url = get_latest_porcys_url_[0]
# fetch newest review url with get_pitchfork_review_url
get_latest_pitchfork_url_ = get_pitchfork_review_url()
get_latest_pitchfork_url = get_latest_pitchfork_url_[0]
a = first_porcys_url + ' ' + get_latest_porcys_url
b = first_pitchfork_url + ' ' + get_latest_pitchfork_url
get_datetime = datetime.now()
hour = str(get_datetime.hour)
minutes = str(get_datetime.minute)
f = open('log.txt', 'a')
f.write(hour + ':' + minutes + ' ' + a + ' ' + b + '\n')
f.close()
if first_porcys_url != get_latest_porcys_url or first_pitchfork_url != get_latest_pitchfork_url:
print('new reviews')
f = open('new reviews.txt', 'a')
f.write(hour + ':' + minutes + ' ' + a + ' ' + b + '\n')
f.close()
return True
else:
show_notification()
return False
My problem is that it only displays the notification one time and after that it doesn't do anything, including executing update function. I replaced call_function() with print instruction for testing and everything worked fine, so calling that function is causing troubles.

Answer 1

The Problem is your show_notification() function. The line:
notification_bubble.MainLoop()
will only finish once the window is closed. So what's happening is that once your show_notification() function is called, you go into a loop waiting for the user to close the window. But if he does, then the program exits. So it is impossible to call show_notification() more than once.
wxPython Documentation on MainLoop()
I don't know much about wxPython but I expect that you might have to get into threading.
Threading Tutorial
You would start a new thread for each notification like this:
import threading
def show_notification():
notification_bubble = wx.App()
wx.adv.NotificationMessage("", "sample notification").Show()
notification_bubble.MainLoop()
def update():
# retrieve var from newest_porcys_url_imported
first_porcys_url = newest_porcys_url_imported()
# retrieve var from newest_pitchfork_url_imported
first_pitchfork_url = newest_pitchfork_url_imported()
# fetch newest review url with get_porcys_review_url
get_latest_porcys_url_ = get_porcys_review_url()
get_latest_porcys_url = get_latest_porcys_url_[0]
# fetch newest review url with get_pitchfork_review_url
get_latest_pitchfork_url_ = get_pitchfork_review_url()
get_latest_pitchfork_url = get_latest_pitchfork_url_[0]
a = first_porcys_url + ' ' + get_latest_porcys_url
b = first_pitchfork_url + ' ' + get_latest_pitchfork_url
get_datetime = datetime.now()
hour = str(get_datetime.hour)
minutes = str(get_datetime.minute)
f = open('log.txt', 'a')
f.write(hour + ':' + minutes + ' ' + a + ' ' + b + '\n')
f.close()
if first_porcys_url != get_latest_porcys_url or first_pitchfork_url != get_latest_pitchfork_url:
print('new reviews')
f = open('new reviews.txt', 'a')
f.write(hour + ':' + minutes + ' ' + a + ' ' + b + '\n')
f.close()
return True
else:
notificationThread = threading.Thread(target=show_notification)
# Prepare the thread
notificationThread.daemon = True
# Make shure it will run in the background
notificationThread.start()
# Start the thread
return False
That way, each notification is a background process while your main program can keep on running.
I hope I could help. Have a nice day!

Answer 2

You would have to wrap the whole thing into the mainloop:
This simple app creates a blocking message, if you want a non-blocking or self cancelling message, that is a completely different kettle of fish!
import wx
import time
def Alerts(x):
#Do your stuff here rather than sleeping
time.sleep(2)
dlg = wx.MessageBox("New Message "+str(x),"My message heading",wx.OK | wx.ICON_INFORMATION)
if __name__ == "__main__":
A1 = wx.App()
#This could be a while True loop
for x in range(10):
Alerts(x)
A1.MainLoop()