Using AppActivate and Sendkeys in VBA shell command

Question

I want to switch back and forth between application with the shell command in VBA. I am using SendKeys to do stuff in process A then move to process B, then to process A then process B. It works fine for the first iteration. When I use AppActivate to go back to process B, it actually does switch focus back to process B. HOWEVER, it ignores subsequent commands from SendKeys.

Example code:

Sub pastePDF2TXT_v3(pdfName As String, txtName As String)


Dim acrobatID
Dim acrobatInvokeCmd As String
Dim acrobatLocation As String

Dim notepadID

Dim acrobatID2
Dim notepadID2

Debug.Print "here"


acrobatLocation = "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe"

acrobatInvokeCmd = acrobatLocation & " " & pdfName

acrobatID = Shell(acrobatInvokeCmd, 1)
AppActivate acrobatID
SendKeys "^a", True  '^A selects everything already in the pdf file.
SendKeys "^c", True  '^C copies the selection to the clipboard.



notepadID = Shell("NOTEPAD.EXE " & txtName, 1)  ' invoke notepad on the text file.
AppActivate notepadID                           ' set the new app as teh active task.

SendKeys "^a", True  '^A selects everything already in the text file.
SendKeys "^v", True  '^V pastes the new stuff over the top of the old text file (deleting the old stuff)
SendKeys "%{END}", True ' makre sure last line of text file 
SendKeys "{ENTER}", True



AppActivate acrobatID  ' NOTE: APPEARS TO WORK UP TO THIS POINT.

SendKeys "{ENTER}", True  ' NOTE: SECOND APP IGNORES SUBSEQUENT COMMANDS FROM HERE DOWN.
SendKeys "^a", True  '^A selects everything already in the pdf file.
SendKeys "^c", True  '^C copies the selection to the clipboard.
SendKeys "%f", True  'alt f, x to exit Notepad.exe
SendKeys "x", True
'acrobatID.Quit


Debug.Print "start second"

AppActivate notepadID                           ' set the new app as teh active task.


SendKeys "%{END}", True 'Go to end of text file.
SendKeys "^v", True  '^V pastes the new stuff at end of file.
SendKeys "{ENTER}", True

SendKeys "^s", True   

SendKeys "%f", True   'alt f, x to exit Notepad.exe
SendKeys "x", True

notepadID.Quit
acrobatID.Quit

End Sub

Answer 1

I know this question is old, but I have run into this same problem, but I don't think the answer that was chosen is the correct one.

When you call AppActivate, the script goes on halt, waiting for the target application to terminate. After the application is terminated, the script continues. I see no solution to this issue.

EDIT:

I use a batch-file to call CSCRIPT for the AppActivate command, and I notice you are strictly using a VBS file. Try calling CMD as a new window and pass CSCRIPT //NoLogo //B WScript.CreateObject("WSCript.shell").AppActivate("Window Name") as the argument, and see if that bypasses the issue.