Re: Anyone else using AutoIt?

[Michele Morgan <mmorgan at noblenet dot org>]

Richard,

It is unfortunate that Millennium doesn't give AutoIt much to work with 
in terms of recognizing what text is on the screen. AutoIt can recognize 
active window titles, but (unless somebody's found a better way) it 
pretty much navigates the screen by keystrokes, which is why AutoIt or 
any macros need to be throughly tested in your own environment and used 
with care.

I would also expect that macros may need tweaking after new releases are 
loaded. The same keystroke that works in one release may change in the next.

After reading your message, though, I discovered that when you're in 
edit mode in a full record, CTRL-HOME will position the cursor in the 
upper left fixed field (we're on 2005LE). If you execute this key 
combination as the first thing in your macro to anchor the cursor, the 
number of tabs or arrows you need to execute to get to the fields you 
want to edit should always be the same.

Hope this helps.

Richard Cotenas wrote:
>     	Thanks for bringing AutoIt to our attention. We've been
> experimenting with different third-party macro programs since we got
> Millennium, so I immediately downloaded a copy of AutoIt. I'm testing it
> with a macro that we used in the character-based interface that we were
> unable to recreate with Millennium macros. It put the receiver's initial
> in field 07 of the order record, puts a "t" (for today's date) in field
> 17, then closes the record and makes the changes permanent. 
> 	I've made a macro that works in AutoIt, but I am not happy with
> it. Unlike the character-based interface, Millennium order record fields
> are not "callable" by number: you have to tab or arrow key down to the
> field, input the data, then tab or arrow key over to the next field,
> input, and so on. The problem with this is you have to program the
> number of tabs or arrow moves into your macro and this depends on where
> the mouse arrow is when you start. This means that the user has to be
> sure that the mouse arrow (cursor, focus, whatever it's called) is in a
> particular place before the macro is invoked--otherwise, it will fail. 
> 	One way around this problem is to have the macro search for the
> field label (the word "Receiver") then position the mouse arrow at the
> input point immediately to the right, send the data, then search for the
> next field label, and so on. To do this, AutoIt would have to have
> something like OCLC's OML "Findtext" function, but I haven't been able
> to find anything like this in the list of functions. 
> 	This may seem like a trivial macro to some, but I use it as an
> "acid test"--it's a series of actions that will never change (your
> initial, today's date, quit and save). You shouldn't have to think about
> it, just hit the hotkey and move on.
>
> Richard 
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Elizabeth Thomsen [mailto:et at noblenet dot org] 
> > Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 1:03 PM
> > Subject: Anyone else using AutoIt?
> >
> > Of course the real reason I'm writing this is that I know 
> > that there are some of you out there who are also using 
> > AutoIt and other GUI macro programs, and I hope you'll submit 
> > some scripts to the Clearinghouse or at least describe them 
> > here so we can get some ideas!
> >
> > Our AutoIt Page:
> > http://www.noblenet.org/swapshop/autoit/
> >
> > AutoIt's AutoIt Page:
> > http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/
> >
> > --
> > Elizabeth Thomsen, Member Services Manager
> > NOBLE: North of Boston Library Exchange
>
>
> --
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--
Michele Morgan, Technical Assistant
North of Boston Library Exchange, Danvers Massachusetts
mmorgan at noblenet dot org
Ph: 978-777-8844
Fax: 978-750-8472