Wait for Image and Focus

[DmytroU]

Hello fellow forum members,

I'm facing a challenge with a particular task that involves waiting for an image to appear and then focusing on it for a specific duration.

Here's the scenario: I have a program that searches for a specific image within a given environment. Once the image is found, the program needs to wait for a certain period of time (let's say 10 seconds) to ensure that the image remains unchanged. If the image changes during this time, the program should restart the search. However, if the image remains the same for the entire duration, the program should proceed with the next set of instructions.

I'm struggling with the implementation of the waiting period and the conditional check for image changes. Does anyone have any recommendations or ideas on how to approach this problem? Perhaps you've encountered a similar situation in your projects and can provide some guidance?

Any help or insights would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time and expertise!

Best regards,

Dmytro

[MichaelAnnis]

It's not possible in PAD because you would have to capture the first image to compare to the second image.  If you don't know what the first image is supposed to be before clicking "Run", then I don't think you can do it.  So, I asked GPT for free software that can compare two image files and tell is if there are differences.  This was it's response:

Yes, there are several free tools available that can compare images to determine if they are identical. Here are a few options:

1. ImageMagick: ImageMagick is a powerful, open-source software suite that allows for image conversion, editing, and comparison. Using its 'compare' function, you can programmatically compare two images and get a numerical indication of how different they are. It's available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

2. Beyond Compare: Beyond Compare is a multi-platform utility that combines directory compare and file compare functions in one package. It can compare a wide variety of files, including images. However, note that it's only free for a 30-day trial, after which you'd need to purchase a license.

3. DiffImg: DiffImg is a simple image comparison tool that takes two images as input and outputs the difference between them as a third image. It's open source and available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

4. OpenCV: OpenCV is a library of programming functions mainly aimed at real-time computer vision. It has Python, Java, and C++ interfaces and supports Windows, Linux, Mac OS, iOS, and Android. OpenCV can be used to compare two images.

For your specific use case, since you're working with Power Automate Desktop, you may want to use a tool that can be easily integrated into your workflow. ImageMagick might be a good option because it can be used from the command line, which you could call from Power Automate Desktop. You would need to write a small script that uses ImageMagick to compare the two screenshots, and then you could use the output of that script to decide whether to proceed with your program or restart the search.

Remember, when comparing images, the images must be identical in size and format for the comparison to work correctly. Also, be aware that if the screenshot includes a timestamp or other changing element, the comparison may always return that the images are different. You might need to crop the screenshots or otherwise prepare them so that only the relevant part of the image is compared.

Best of luck!