Getting started with AutoIt3 using the SciTE editor

Open an AutoIt3 script:

Open the windows explorer and go to the Autoit3 program subdirectory examples, C:\Program Files\AutoIt3\Examples\English, and open msgbox.au3 by double clicking on it, or right mouse click and select Edit. SciTE will open and show you the script. As you can see, all different word types have their own color for better readability. Now if you want to run this script, just press F5.The script will start and show a messagebox.

 

Starting a New AutoIt3 script:

To start a new script, go to your Windows Explorer and do a Right mouse click/New/AutoIt v3 Script and give it the name you want.
Now double click this new file and SciTE will open:

 

Let’s make the below program:

; This is my first script MsgBox(0, "My First Script!", "Hello World!")

You will see that when you type the editor will suggest keywords or functions. you can either select one or just keep on typing.
In this example you type Ms and hit Enter or Tab to select MsgBox

Then type ( and a tooltip will be shown which assists you with the parameters:

 

Run an AutoIt3 script:

Now just type the rest: 0, "My First Script!", "Hello World!") When done Hit F5 or Alt+F5 for Beta which will Run this program for you.

 

Run Errors :

When AutoIt3 detects errors in your script, it will show the Error in the Output Plane of the SciTE editor and you just double-click the red error line in the output window and SciTE will jump to the line in the code that contains the error:

 

Syntax Check the whole script

Ctrl+F5 will run Tylo's AutoIt3 Syntax Checker, which will syntax check the whole script or

F5 will run Tylo's Au3Check and when no errors/warnings found run AutoIt3.exe.

Again just double click on the error and SciTE will jump to the line containing the error.

 

Compile an AutoIt3 script:

You can create an executable (.exe) of your script by hitting F7 or Alt+F7 for Beta. SciTE will run the AUT2EXE program for you to create the program.
You can also Hit Ctrl+F7 to "Compile your script with options" and change compile options like the compression or Program Icon, but also the program resource information like Programversion, Legalcopyright and additional fields. see here for more info.

Anytime you want to learn more about a Function or Keyword:
just hit F1 and the Helpfile will open at the correct page.