What's wrong on using Popen's communicate method?

[Terry Reedy]

On 7/3/2019 7:57 PM, jfong at ms4.hinet.net wrote:
> I have the test0.py below. I expect to see 'abcd' showing in the notepad window:
> ---------
> import subprocess as sp
> p0 = sp.Popen('notepad.exe', stdin=sp.PIPE)
> p0.communicate(input=b'abcd')
> ---------
> But nothing happens. The notepad is completely empty. What have I missed?
> 
> --Jach
> 
> PS. I am using python 3.4 on Windows Vista

Upgrade to 3.7 or 3.8 to get hundreds of bug fixes, let alone new 
features.  Both subprocess and multiprocessing have gotten fixes.

subprocess is meant for running an external program in batch mode.  It 
receives the one input byte string, sends output, and closes.  For 
interaction, try multiprocessing.

Or do what IDLE does, which is to open a two-way socket to the parent 
program.  (Managing this is not fun.)  IDLE was initially written before 
multiprocessing.  It has been suggested to me that it should switch to 
multiprocessing.  (But last I read, multiprocessing and tkinter (tcl/tk) 
do not play well together on macOS.)

If the subprocess runs a gui, the user should be able to switch focus by 
clicking on a subprocess window.


-- 
Terry Jan Reedy