1905russell

@Eathshine and @junkew - will definitely look at all that and I'm looking forward to it, once all tax returns are completed.

@junkew - Exactly, to demonstrate concepts of (data collection and) automation. I have a patented system that needs demonstrating in all its forms. Calc looked like another way to display the system because it has a pseudo tape which is what I was looking for. I figured that using MS calc.exe would allow me the same manipulating privileges as notepad and other MS utilities. I guessed wrong. I've discovered when using MScalc that ControlSend: ‘-‘ sends ‘-‘ ‘/’ sends ‘/’ ‘=’sends ‘=’ ‘+’ sends ‘=’ ‘*’ sends 8 I looped all the ASCII codes and observed that none pushed the "+" button. This is strange because the physical keystroke "+" sends "+" I can always calculate the approximate location of the "+" button and push it that way. I'm in the middle of tax-time and will get back to this when I can or when its over (Canada April30). Thanks for the feedback everyone.

@Danyfirex thanks for replying so quickly and for the enhanced script but both the '+' and '{Enter}' are still not recognized. Does this work for you? I'm using Calculator Version 10.1803.711.1000 I'm going to fiddle with this script because it should work? @alienclone Yep, I know the are Autoit calculators on the forums but this one every Windows user already has and it's very sophisticated and if Autoit can manipulate it then there is much potential to expand its use.

Danyfirex's script is very cool. Remember I’m an accountant not a programmer and its tax-time and this is distracting me. Using Danyfirex's script above, how do I ControlSend an operator like “+” or “-“ without it being ignored? Also, I want to read the result value displayed, without using OCR. Is it possible? ControlGetText returns “Calculator” (same as visible text, using AWI) Am I asking too much?

@UEZ I have always been in awe of your work and was blown away by the fact that you would take an interest in assisting me by expanding on Chimp’s code with your brilliance. I’m so excited and have ants in my pants to get back home to watch them march in my mini-movie. This week, if time allows, I hope to revisit the museum of your inspirer in St Petersburg. He was innovating rock star with his art, as you are with yours. Thank you so much.

Yes Yes this will work – Chimp you’re a Champ. Unfortunately I’m away from my main computer for a week and am now using a limited laptop. I’m going to massage your script to run in my mini-movie but I can see that for sure it will work. Thanks to you, my weeks of frustration and going bananas (pun intended) are over. I can’t wait to get back home to modify your code. Thanks again and Abadabadaba

Thanks Subz - I truly appreciate this - I had not found this before. I'll go through these examples and maybe I'll figure out something. I know UEZ is the animation expert and he could whip up something in seconds. There are others who are also pretty good but alas I think they find it infra dig to deal with me the accountant.

Well obviously the above requested information I provided produced no help at all. So I tried to get a function written via Upwork/Freelancer (in Autoit or an exe) and I was ripped off by being charged for hours and hours (by mistake I was told) and nothing was ever produced. Upwork/Freelancer refunded me everything they had automatically taken from my credit card. I know there are Autoit members that can do this easily. It’s for illustration purposes, please. There are many examples of code out there written in #C and other languages and the “marching ants” concept has been around for decades. I have put together code using two approaches to create dash rectangles (with a hole) using forum snippets but they are static without animation. One uses _WinAPI_ExtCreatePen with $PS_DASH and the other uses _WinAPI_LineDDA. I have also tried to simply use splash image (and text) and then speed up the movie but it looks awful. I’m not a programmer. I will donate again to Autoit or I will pay someone to help me please. My email for this project is rl@transaxy.com

Thanks for the quick response JLogan3o13 - I'm just looking for the effect. I'm making a little movie to illustrate a software system that I have finally received the US patent for. The movie uses a bunch of HotKeySets to fake what I can't program (while capturing the screen sequences). This dash-rectangle would be HotkeySet to display at a selected x,y on top of any image displayed until HotKeySet turns it off and the recorded scene capture is over. Am I making sense?

Hello wise people of the forums – long time since I’ve asked for assistance – it’s me, the Autoit dabbling accountant who is not a programmer (my standard disclaimer). Is there somewhere in the forums that I can find a snippet that creates a moving dashstyle rectangle, similar to the one displayed when copying (“^C”) in excel? I’ve searched, but surprisingly could not find. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Unless @DesktopHeight > 1000 you will be passing a negative coordinate. 1000 is the indent from the bottom so probably @DesktopHeight -1000 = a negative coord Hope this helps Good luck

So sorry about that - all these years I've associated your strange spiky photo with the book “the prisoner of Zenda”. Please forgive me.

Zenda what can I say, you have gone beyond the call of duty (we now have two versions). I now understand what you did and why you did it, for both versions. Even if somehow I figured out that I was using ArrayDisplay in the wrong place, I obviously would never have known about using GuiCtrlSendToDummy to “trick” the array out into ArrayDisplay. Anyway, I’ve learned much. Great, so now I can continue until I hit the next brick wall. Thanks again and adieu until next time…

Thank you Zenda this is quite amazing, never in a million years would I be able to do anything like this. I whizzed through everything and will look at it slowly in the morning. You’ve given me lots of homework to do but I promise I’ll do it. Thank you BrewManNH and Dicatorofthe USA for you contributions. I had looked at GuiRegisterMsg in the past but I guess I need a good refresher course. What threw me was that ArrayDisplay returned element values to the title but nothing else? I’ll go through Zenda’s marvelous script tomorrow but in the mean time can you easily see a reason why on the third attempt at a combo selection, Autoit encounters a problem and needs to close? Maybe I’ll figure this out tomorrow. Thanks again and as usual, you guys always come through.

Hi all, I've been away from Autoit for awhile but now I'm back trying to progress the accounting project I stopped and started several years ago. I've spent nearly two days trying to figure out this problem but alas I'm completely stumped. After the $aReadThisShelf array is created all elements can be accessed, however not to _ArrayDisplay(). _ArrayDisplay() hangs for a short period and then returns blank and the array is gone. What have I done to screw this up? All help will be most appreciated. As always I have to give this disclaimer - Please remember I'm an accountant and not a programmer Here's the code #include <ComboConstants.au3> #include <GUIConstantsEx.au3> #include <WindowsConstants.au3> #include <Array.au3> Opt('MustDeclareVars', 1) Global $hCombo, $sThisShelf Global $sMyTesterFile = "Tester.ini" GUICreate("", 395, 78, 292, 124, $WS_POPUPWINDOW) $hCombo = GUICtrlCreateCombo("", 16, 24, 176, 25, BitOR($CBS_DROPDOWN, $CBS_DROPDOWNLIST, $CBS_AUTOHSCROLL)) GUISetState(@SW_SHOW) Local $var = IniReadSectionNames($sMyTesterFile) Local $VenArray[$var[0] + 1] For $i = 1 To UBound($var) - 1 $VenArray[$i] = $var[$i] GUICtrlSetData(-1, $VenArray[$i]) Next GUIRegisterMsg($WM_COMMAND, "WM_COMMAND") While 1 Local $nMsg $nMsg = GUIGetMsg() Switch $nMsg Case $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE Exit EndSwitch WEnd Func WM_COMMAND($hWnd, $iMsg, $iwParam, $ilParam) ;#forceref $hWnd, $iMsg Local $hWndFrom, $iIDFrom, $iCode, $hWndCombo If Not IsHWnd($hCombo) Then $hWndCombo = GUICtrlGetHandle($hCombo) $hWndFrom = $ilParam $iIDFrom = BitAND($iwParam, 0xFFFF) $iCode = BitShift($iwParam, 16) Switch $hWndFrom Case $hCombo, $hWndCombo Switch $iCode Case $CBN_SELCHANGE $sThisShelf = GUICtrlRead($hCombo) Local $aReadThisShelf = IniReadSection($sMyTesterFile, $sThisShelf) _ArrayDisplay($aReadThisShelf, $sThisShelf & " has " & $aReadThisShelf[0][0] & " elements");here's the problem????? EndSwitch EndSwitch Return $GUI_RUNDEFMSG EndFunc ;==>WM_COMMAND Here's the tester.ini file [SHELF#1] Key1=Books Key2=paper Key3=shirts Key4=hats Key5=suits Key6=paperclips Key7=staples Key8=pens Key9=pencils Key11=erasers [SHELF#2] Key1=glasses Key2=plates Key3=saucers [SHELF#3] Key1=spoons Key2=knives Key3=bowls