AutoItX personal dilemma

[GizmoC]

Hello

This post might be a bit wordy, but I would really appreciate the feedback of the experts here.

A little backstory first. I am a college senior with typical "college level" programming experiance. Formally, I have been only taught Java. I've taught myself a little bit of C#/.NET and LUA too. I learn mainly by looking at other code, searching forums, asking, etc.

I would consider myself a "hobbyist" programmer. Every once in a while I get a strange idea, and try to create a program for it. Most of the time I have absolutely no clue how to begin implementing my idea in code - but slowly I learn. Infact, this is exactly how I discovered AutoIt!

After just 1 day of finding AutoIt, I've already created a bot for my game! Its a nice feeling. AutoIt is awesome.

My dilemma is with AutoItX.

AutoItX is a cool concept. It allows you to bring the power of AutoIt to the programming language of your choice. You see, after I created my AutoIt bot, I thought about creating the same bot in .NET using AutoItX. I am having a REALLY hard time with this. Here are some of the issues I am facing:

1) There is no implementation in AutoItX for TimerInt() and TimerBegin() (dunno why). So I have to do it myself.

2) MsgBox() is also not implemented in AutoItX. Yes, I know that every language has its own "MessageBox" object. But AutoIt's MsgBox has the feature where it somehow returns "focus" back to the monitered process.. but .NET's MessageBox() doesnt do that, it stalls the program. (I hope I am making sense).

I am guessing I have to manually shift focus back to the monitered process (maybe using Win32?).

etc

And now for the most important point of my post

Anyway, after I encountered these hurdles... it got me thinking. The beauty of AutoIt is that it makes the whole "Win32" aspect very transparent. While creating an AutoIt script, I dont have to worry about WindowHandles, Process swithcing, and all that Win32'ish stuff, right?

Please correct me if I am wrong!

On the other hand, AutoItX is not like that. If you are using AutoItX in a language of your choice... you again have to concern yourself with all "inner workings" of the OS.

Am I making sense?

By now you are wondering what the hell is the point of my post.

Well you see, my intention was to use AutoItX exclusively henceforth... but the more I think about it, I realise that creating a script in AutoItX/.NET would be MUCH harder that solely using AutoIt. More importantly, AutoItX kinda defeats the purpose of AutoIt in the first place (that is, the purpose being to not let the programmar worry about the inner workings of Win32)

So I really dont understand what is the purpose of AutoItX. I mean, in what kinds of situation should I use AutoItX instead of AutoIt.

Is it ok if I give up on AutoItX?

[GizmoC]

I think you will be basted in short order. The fact that you "don't get it" is not a reflection on the product. Others may be inclined to describe the product worthiness. I would enlighten you to your ineptitude. The fact that .NET makes it so difficult to work outside it's borders is a reflection of it's shortcoming. If .NET wants to "manage" everything... it's a never ending battle. They ignored Windows interaction, and since it is what you know... their ignorance is your faulty foundation. So... Should you "give up on" .NET?

LAr.

You misunderstood. Yes, I know I may not "get it". And thats why I made this post. I want to understand.

If you re-read my above post, you'll see that I want to know if my understand of AutoItX and AutoIt is right...

[GizmoC]

First, I have to apologize... I understand AutoItX, but do not use it often. I assumed the documentation was more extensive. Now, I see your wonderment. Alot is not explained. Perhaps reading the AutoItX forum will give you better clues...

Lar.

Ok, I have a couple of questions for you

1) "The beauty of AutoIt is that it makes the whole "Win32" aspect very transparent. While creating an AutoIt script, I dont have to worry about WindowHandles, Process swithcing, and all that Win32'ish stuff, right?"

Do you agree with this statement?

As I've said, my experiance with AutoIt is very limited (just one day!). But am already enjoying playing with it. Can you give me your personal take on what AutoIt is?

2) Well you see, my intention was to use AutoItX exclusively henceforth... but the more I think about it, I realise that creating a script in AutoItX/.NET would be MUCH harder that solely using AutoIt. More importantly, AutoItX kinda defeats the purpose of AutoIt in the first place (that is, the purpose being to not let the programmar worry about the inner workings of Win32)

- Do you agree that AutoItX is "harder" to use than AutoIt?

- Is there any reason a person would want to create something in .NET/AutoItX instead of AutoIt? (I am just trying to understand).

- Would you agree that AutoItX "dilutes" some of the power of AutoIt by making the programmer worry about things like Process Switching, Window handles, threads, etc.