WSorich Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 (edited) Hi, I am trying to automate a series of tedious data exporting steps. I have gone ahead and created steps for sending key strokes and clicking controls etc, but I get to a particular screen with a list which has an almost random number of tables listed. I'd like to be able to query the list of items in the window presented by the application so I can figure out how many lines I need to move through the list before selecting. The window (screenshot attached) is some sort of scrollable list view, where the format is like this... (Tickbox) Item information blah blah blah (Tickbox) new item name blah blah When I use the info tool, I can get a handle, but I cant seem to use any function to read any text info from the window. Any hints on approaches on how to read the data out of this window, (with a short sample code) would be appreciated. Cheers. Edited March 15, 2012 by WSorich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSorich Posted March 15, 2012 Author Share Posted March 15, 2012 Just thought of something, Just wanted to add that I have used AU3Info to try and get info on the window tick boxes or list items, but the only thing that AU3info identifies is the handle of the outside of the window frame. Is it possible to pull apart the window handle further to get to the line items within the list? Does anyone know how to do this? Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnOne Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Am I correct in assuming window info tool will give you a handle to the window, but not a handle or specific information on its controls, such as the one you are trying to get info on? If so, then it is most likely the case, that this window does not use standard windows controls, and basically means you can not get the info you want in a standard clean and safe fashion using Autoit3. AutoIt Absolute Beginners Require a serial Pause Script Video Tutorials by Morthawt ipify Monkey's are, like, natures humans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSorich Posted March 15, 2012 Author Share Posted March 15, 2012 (edited) Thanks for your reply John. I have added the "Summary" information from AU3Info below, as I'm not 100% sure if your thinking the same as I am as to what information I can get. Between your comments and the information below, I can see that there is some "Control" information, but I dont know how to extract anything from this. I have tried using functions like ControlSend($ImpWizWinTitle,"","[NAME:gridTables]", "{DOWN 20}") And this allows me to move the cursor in the list, but I have no idea on how to extract the information at the cursor location to see what I'm pointing to. expandcollapse popup>>>> Window <<<< Title: Import and Export Wizard Class: WindowsForms10.Window.8.app.0.141b42a_r15_ad1 Position: 557, 58 Size: 566, 579 Style: 0x16CF0000 ExStyle: 0x00050100 Handle: 0x0000000000040824 >>>> Control <<<< Class: WindowsForms10.Window.8.app.0.141b42a_r15_ad1 Instance: 8 ClassnameNN: WindowsForms10.Window.8.app.0.141b42a_r15_ad18 Name: gridTables Advanced (Class): [NAME:gridTables] ID: 329926 Text: Position: 16, 86 Size: 518, 364 ControlClick Coords: 206, 301 Style: 0x56210000 ExStyle: 0x00000200 Handle: 0x00000000000508C6 >>>> Mouse <<<< Position: 787, 475 Cursor ID: 0 Color: 0xFFFFFF >>>> StatusBar <<<< >>>> ToolsBar <<<< >>>> Visible Text <<<< Choose one or more tables and views to copy. Select Source Tables and Views &Edit Mappings... &Preview... &Tables and views: &Help &Finish >>| &Next > < &Back Cancel >>>> Hidden Text <<<< 0 Edited March 15, 2012 by WSorich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnOne Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 rather similar to this thread AutoIt Absolute Beginners Require a serial Pause Script Video Tutorials by Morthawt ipify Monkey's are, like, natures humans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSorich Posted March 19, 2012 Author Share Posted March 19, 2012 (edited) Agreed that the alternate thread seems to be similar. A couple of things that I would like to know though, 1. Is there a way to determine the "type" of listbox / combo box / grid I am dealing with here? 2. Isnt there a standard way that windows requires application developers to create a window structure 3. Once the window is created, isnt there a standard way that windows requires the structure to appear so it can be interpreted and displayed? 4. Cant we grab the window handle and determine where the information in that window is? 5. Couldnt we then "read" that structure and grab the text? Edited March 19, 2012 by WSorich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSorich Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 Well, there has been some progress towards being able to read the text being displayed in the screen I attached in my first post.I have come across a tool that has helped me identify more information about the window where the data is presented.The tool was written to replace UISpy from Microsoft. The new tool is called "UIAVerify2.0".When I use this tool, I can drill down into the window and actually see the data in the row and column I need.All I need to do now, is decode what the data is telling me to a way I can access it in AutoIT.The sequence of images I have attached here show;1. Visual UI - Grid control info.jpg - Top level at which I can determine information through AU3Info, and for which I can also get from AutoIT commands.2. Visual UI - Grid control - Column #2 info.jpg - Next level down where I cannot determine how to get information3. Visual UI.jpg - Lowest level, indicating the actual data I need to read. Cannot determine how to retrieve even though UIAVerify seems to find it easily.Any help would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruud Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 (edited) Hello WSorich,It seems you're more persistent than I am I tried the UIAVerify2.0-Tool you mentioned, and get similar results - the text I need is found and shown in the left panel.I thought I'd try something crazy: to use autoit to read the text from UIAVerify instead of from the actual target window.Using AU3Info and pointing it to UIAVerify, however, the text I read in the left panel is also not shown in AU3Info. The text is selectable in UIAVerify, but not copyable either, so it seems that workaround is a dead end.------edit:by pointing AU3info at the right panel of UIAVerify, I can get to the text. So I could use AutoIt to alternately (1) control the target application, and (2) read the needed information from UIAVerify.It's cumbersome, but works. Help with finding a more direct way is still appreciated.-------Cheers,Ruud Edited March 23, 2012 by Ruud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSorich Posted March 24, 2012 Author Share Posted March 24, 2012 (edited) Lol. Now that is something I didn't think of, but for my purposes, I am trying to construct a stand alone application for this task.Yes, I am persistent, as I am curious as to how these things work. It would seem that I don't have enough knowledge to break through to a complete solution, but I'll keep putting it out there in the hopes that another small piece of the puzzle is filled in by somebody and we can sort this out.My current question is about the screenshot from UIA verify.1. How can I use AutoIT to go from either a window handle or control handle down to the next level in the tree, and then the next etc as is shown by UIA Verify.Cheers, Wal. Edited March 24, 2012 by WSorich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruud Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 (edited) That'd be my question too. Still, I cannot believe that we'd be the first with such an issue - there must have been heaps of people with that question before. So - where are they and how do we get them to answer Edited March 27, 2012 by Ruud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnOne Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 You are correct, there have been many, I suspect they accepted that Autoit simply cannot do this withnone standard windows controls most of the time.If it were me, I'd be trying to figure out how this "UIA verify" does it, rather than why autoit cannot.I've always been of the thought that you would need to use the language the control was developed inwhich is probably not c++. AutoIt Absolute Beginners Require a serial Pause Script Video Tutorials by Morthawt ipify Monkey's are, like, natures humans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSorich Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 Looking at the UIAVerify package, it seems like this may have UI automation functions that you can call, and that the front end that I was using is a way to test/retrieve the information needed to access the window controls/information. This seems much like the information that AU3Info provides for you to use AutoITs functions to access the windows controls etc. So it looks like it would be possible to use the UIAverify interface to the windows information from within an AutoIT script. Here are the list of files in the UIAverify package. Interop.UIAutomationClient.dll IQueryString.dll SampleDriver.exe UIAComWrapper.dll uialoggerxml.dll UIALogging.dll uiverify.config VisualUIAVerify.exe WUIATestLibrary.dll I'll start investigating how we can call functions in the UIAverify package to retrieve information using AutoIT... without having to actually run UIAverify.. This is the same idea, but a more direct approach than Ruud initially suggested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruud Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Good work - keep us posted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruud Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 I tried viewing the functions inside these dll's (using DLL export viewer) - but no functions were shown in any of the files.Now admittedly I'm new to dll-calls, but I have been able to successfully interface with the from python (I tried porting my project to python and access AutoIt from there). Then again, DLL export viewer DOES show the functions when pointing it to FastFind.dll.Does anyone know what to make of this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Autolaser Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 @Ruud, look at the dotNET DLL-Exporter http://www.autoit.de/index.php?page=Thread&postID=110596#post110596 Regards Autolaser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruud Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 (edited) @Autolaser: Danke fuer den Hinweis!@WSorich: In a german-language AutoIt forum, a program ("dotNet DLL-Exporter") was posted to convert VB.Net or C# DLL files to C++ DLL files that can be used with AutoIt; it is post #20 under Autolaser's link. Seems helpful - if not here then at least somewhere down the road. MS Visual Studio is needed btw for it to work.To both:I am not sure if this conversion is needed on the files that we have here; even though dotNet DLL-Exporter showed some functions in the original DLL files (see screenshot 1), after there are still 0 functions after the conversion in each DLL file according to DLL export viewer (screenshot2). Below is a part of the *.il-file for the particular DLL i was working on here; all other files are in the attached ZIP, for those that are interested.I guess I'll try to play around a bit more, see if I can use the classes defined in these files, etc.Thanks so far!---------uiacomwrapper.ilexpandcollapse popup// Microsoft (R) .NET Framework IL Disassembler. Version 3.5.30729.1 // Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. // Metadata version: v2.0.50727 .module extern UIAutomationCore.dll .assembly extern mscorlib { .publickeytoken = (B7 7A 5C 56 19 34 E0 89 ) // .zV.4.. .ver 2:0:0:0 } .assembly extern Interop.UIAutomationClient { .ver 1:0:0:0 } .assembly extern WindowsBase { .publickeytoken = (31 BF 38 56 AD 36 4E 35 ) // 1.8V.6N5 .ver 3:0:0:0 } .assembly extern System { .publickeytoken = (B7 7A 5C 56 19 34 E0 89 ) // .zV.4.. .ver 2:0:0:0 } .assembly extern Accessibility { .publickeytoken = (B0 3F 5F 7F 11 D5 0A 3A ) // .?_....: .ver 2:0:0:0 } .assembly UIAComWrapper { .custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Runtime.InteropServices.GuidAttribute::.ctor(string) = ( 01 00 24 37 34 66 32 64 62 33 64 2D 31 35 36 61 // ..$74f2db3d-156a 2D 34 31 36 30 2D 61 34 30 31 2D 30 31 31 66 36 // -4160-a401-011f6 30 31 65 31 62 35 36 00 00 ) // 01e1b56.. .custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.InternalsVisibleToAttribute::.ctor(string) = ( 01 00 12 55 49 41 43 6F 6D 57 72 61 70 70 65 72 // ...UIAComWrapper 54 65 73 74 73 00 00 ) // Tests.. .custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComVisibleAttribute::.ctor(bool) = ( 01 00 00 00 00 ) .custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Reflection.AssemblyFileVersionAttribute::.ctor(string) = ( 01 00 07 31 2E 30 2E 30 2E 30 00 00 ) // ...1.0.0.0.. // --- The following custom attribute is added automatically, do not uncomment ------- // .custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Diagnostics.DebuggableAttribute::.ctor(valuetype [mscorlib]System.Diagnostics.DebuggableAttribute/DebuggingModes) = ( 01 00 07 01 00 00 00 00 ) .custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CompilationRelaxationsAttribute::.ctor(int32) = ( 01 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 ) .custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Runtime.CompilerServices.RuntimeCompatibilityAttribute::.ctor() = ( 01 00 01 00 54 02 16 57 72 61 70 4E 6F 6E 45 78 // ....T..WrapNonEx 63 65 70 74 69 6F 6E 54 68 72 6F 77 73 01 ) // ceptionThrows. .custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Reflection.AssemblyTitleAttribute::.ctor(string) = ( 01 00 0D 55 49 41 43 6F 6D 57 72 61 70 70 65 72 // ...UIAComWrapper 00 00 ) .custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Reflection.AssemblyDescriptionAttribute::.ctor(string) = ( 01 00 00 00 00 ) .custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Reflection.AssemblyConfigurationAttribute::.ctor(string) = ( 01 00 00 00 00 ) .custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Reflection.AssemblyCompanyAttribute::.ctor(string) = ( 01 00 00 00 00 ) .custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Reflection.AssemblyProductAttribute::.ctor(string) = ( 01 00 0D 55 49 41 43 6F 6D 57 72 61 70 70 65 72 // ...UIAComWrapper 00 00 ) .custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Reflection.AssemblyCopyrightAttribute::.ctor(string) = ( 01 00 28 43 6F 70 79 72 69 67 68 74 20 C2 A9 20 // ..(Copyright .. 20 32 30 30 39 20 4D 69 63 72 6F 73 6F 66 74 20 // 2009 Microsoft 43 6F 72 70 6F 72 61 74 69 6F 6E 00 00 ) // Corporation.. .custom instance void [mscorlib]System.Reflection.AssemblyTrademarkAttribute::.ctor(string) = ( 01 00 00 00 00 ) .hash algorithm 0x00008004 .ver 1:0:0:0 } .module UIAComWrapper.dll // MVID: {49AEADE1-0284-4B66-869E-F9F24A7E9E7D} .imagebase 0x00400000 .file alignment 0x00000200 .stackreserve 0x00100000 .subsystem 0x0003 // WINDOWS_CUI .corflags 0x00000002 .vtfixup [1] int32 fromunmanaged at VT_01 .data VT_01 = int32(0) .vtfixup [1] int32 fromunmanaged at VT_02 .data VT_02 = int32(0) .vtfixup [1] int32 fromunmanaged at VT_03 .data VT_03 = int32(0) .vtfixup [1] int32 fromunmanaged at VT_04 .data VT_04 = int32(0) .vtfixup [1] int32 fromunmanaged at VT_05 .data VT_05 = int32(0) .vtfixup [1] int32 fromunmanaged at VT_06 .data VT_06 = int32(0) .vtfixup [1] int32 fromunmanaged at VT_07 .data VT_07 = int32(0) .vtfixup [1] int32 fromunmanaged at VT_08 .data VT_08 = int32(0) .vtfixup [1] int32 fromunmanaged at VT_09 .data VT_09 = int32(0) .vtfixup [1] int32 fromunmanaged at VT_10 .data VT_10 = int32(0) .vtfixup [1] int32 fromunmanaged at VT_11 .data VT_11 = int32(0) .vtfixup [1] int32 fromunmanaged at VT_12 .data VT_12 = int32(0) // ILONLY // Image base: 0x003A0000 // =============== CLASS MEMBERS DECLARATION =================== .class public auto ansi beforefieldinit System.Windows.Automation.BasePattern extends [mscorlib]System.Object { .field assembly class System.Windows.Automation.AutomationElement _el .field assembly bool _cached .method assembly hidebysig specialname rtspecialname instance void .ctor(class System.Windows.Automation.AutomationElement el, bool cached) cil managed { // Code size 37 (0x25) .maxstack 8 IL_0000: ldarg.0 IL_0001: call instance void [mscorlib]System.Object::.ctor() IL_0006: nop IL_0007: nop IL_0008: ldarg.1 IL_0009: ldnull IL_000a: call bool System.Windows.Automation.AutomationElement::op_Inequality(class System.Windows.Automation.AutomationElement, class System.Windows.Automation.AutomationElement) IL_000f: call void [System]System.Diagnostics.Debug::Assert(bool) IL_0014: nop IL_0015: ldarg.0 IL_0016: ldarg.1 IL_0017: stfld class System.Windows.Automation.AutomationElement System.Windows.Automation.BasePattern::_el IL_001c: ldarg.0 IL_001d: ldarg.2 IL_001e: stfld bool System.Windows.Automation.BasePattern::_cached IL_0023: nop IL_0024: ret } // end of method BasePattern::.ctor } // end of class System.Windows.Automation.BasePattern .class public auto ansi beforefieldinit System.Windows.Automation.GridPattern extends System.Windows.Automation.BasePattern { .class sequential ansi sealed nested public beforefieldinit GridPatternInformation extends [mscorlib]System.ValueType { .field private class System.Windows.Automation.AutomationElement _el .field private bool _isCached .method assembly hidebysig specialname rtspecialname instance void .ctor(class System.Windows.Automation.AutomationElement element, bool isCached) cil managed { // Code size 16 (0x10) .maxstack 8 IL_0000: nop IL_0001: ldarg.0 (...)UIAVerify_Dlls_after.7zUIAVerify_Dlls_before.7z Edited April 1, 2012 by Ruud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSorich Posted April 2, 2012 Author Share Posted April 2, 2012 (edited) Hi, I've been on a break in the past few days, but I have the following link for UIAVerify which I will explore to see if there is additional information available.http://uiautomationverify.codeplex.com/I noticed that there is a link which has a document "HowToUseUIAVerify" and there seems to be some VB code also, so maybe that will help some. Edited April 2, 2012 by WSorich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruud Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 I've been trying several things in the last days but the DLLs are not opening up to me I'm afraid. I'd love to hear about your progress, if you're having any Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSorich Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 Hello, It seems as though the source code for UIAVerify is available at http://uiautomationverify.codeplex.com/SourceControl/list/changesetsThe projects seem to be Visual Studio Visual C#. Although I dont have the Visual Studio suite, I'm looking into the code to see how to interface to it.Still going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnOne Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 Look at the visual express range which are free to use. AutoIt Absolute Beginners Require a serial Pause Script Video Tutorials by Morthawt ipify Monkey's are, like, natures humans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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