Automating an Application

[namchris]

Hi all,

Hope someone can help me - I'm trying to create some sort of way of getting a computer we have to automatically click a button on an application so that the computer can be left unattended.

Basically, the computer sits there and downloads RSS feeds and sends them to a scrolling screen. However, before the application sends the data, it needs to be told to download the feed (via a button press), and then a further button press tells it to send the results to the screen. Is there a way to script AutoIt to automatically launch the programme and click those buttons when Windows starts up? I've tried using Macro Recording programs, but most of them just seem to record absolute mouse movements, which are no good as the window position seems to change each time the programme is launched for some unfathomable reason.

Thanks

[NerdFencer]

Use Run to launch the program (you can find how to use this in the AutoIt Documentation)

You can then use WinWaitActive to wait for the window to appear

After that, you can either...

use ControlClick to click the desired button

or...

Use WinMove to set the window position an MouseClick to click the button

[JohnOne]

Yes, it is usually pretty simple to do, depending on the application.

You should start by looking in the helpfiles and reading up on functions like Run(), ShellExecute(), WinGetHandle(), ControlClick() and the suggested functions in their documentation.