Brickoneer Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 (edited) Hey guys, My entire program is based off automating a website... but it is running a bit slow. So I thought that it would speed up a LOT if I could bypass IE and communicate on the port level. But I don't know where to start! A great portion of my script relies on the IE.au3 tools, so it is a major rewrite. Cutting IE out of the loop would make my script run much faster, wouldn't it? I looked at http.au3 and got it to access a page... but it returned only the first 10-14 characters of the page. Any ideas what's wrong? Anyway... can someone point me in the direction I need to go? I'm clueless. :"> Many thanks, Brick Edited November 11, 2007 by Brickoneer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsaltyDS Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 Hey guys,My entire program is based off automating a website... but it is running a bit slow. So I thought that it would speed up a LOT if I could bypass IE and communicate on the port level.Not.But I don't know where to start! A great portion of my script relies on the IE.au3 tools, so it is a major rewrite. Cutting IE out of the loop would make my script run much faster, wouldn't it?Not.I looked at http.au3 and got it to access a page... but it returned only the first 10-14 characters of the page. Any ideas what's wrong?Anyway... can someone point me in the direction I need to go? I'm clueless. :"> Many thanks,BrickMost web pages these days use forms, frames, various scripting engines, perhaps dynamic .aspx pages, etc. How do intend to reproduce all that outside of a purpose built browser like Firefox or IE? Is the site you work with so basic you can do without the full interpretive functionality of a real browser?Your only option right now for automation with AutoIt is IE. It's possible, but unlikely (especially since you couldn't even get HTTP.au3 to read a single full page), you could create a better IE UDF than Dale did, but if you can't just stick with IE.au3.As for slowness, that is more likely a problem with your code than the IE UDF. Exactly what is slow about it? What code performs the part you find 'slow'? Valuater's AutoIt 1-2-3, Class... Is now in Session!For those who want somebody to write the script for them: RentACoder"Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced." -- Geek's corollary to Clarke's law Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaleHohm Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 Not.Not.It's possible you could create a better IE UDF than Dale didNot! As PsaltyDS said, it all depends on what is perceived to be slow. It is going to take the same amount of time to download bytes regardless. One of the things that takes a browser some time, because it is incredibly complex, it page composition - this means layout control, processing of client-side script, dynamic HTML etc. If your needs do not require any of this and don't require authentication, cookies, certificates, ssl etc that the browser handles for you, then you can communicate at the port level or with HTTP.au3. Part of what has made the HTTP protocol so successful is that it IS very simple - you can communicate with a web server on port 80 with just a few strategic characters to download a file.All that said, understanding what is perceived to be slow, there may be ways to optimize your use of IE.au3 that will greatly increase your throughput... on the other hand, you can also do it in the background with an invisible IE window and then perhaps you don't care how long it takes... For me I always consider whether an extra 5 hours coding to save say, 5 minutes per run really saves me time...Dale Free Internet Tools: DebugBar, AutoIt IE Builder, HTTP UDF, MODIV2, IE Developer Toolbar, IEDocMon, Fiddler, HTML Validator, WGet, curl MSDN docs: InternetExplorer Object, Document Object, Overviews and Tutorials, DHTML Objects, DHTML Events, WinHttpRequest, XmlHttpRequest, Cross-Frame Scripting, Office object model Automate input type=file (Related) Alternative to _IECreateEmbedded? better: _IECreatePseudoEmbedded Better Better? IE.au3 issues with Vista - Workarounds SciTe Debug mode - it's magic: #AutoIt3Wrapper_run_debug_mode=Y Doesn't work needs to be ripped out of the troubleshooting lexicon. It means that what you tried did not produce the results you expected. It begs the questions 1) what did you try?, 2) what did you expect? and 3) what happened instead? Reproducer: a small (the smallest?) piece of stand-alone code that demonstrates your trouble Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsaltyDS Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 ... For me I always consider whether an extra 5 hours coding to save say, 5 minutes per run really saves me time...DaleOf course, 5 hours of coding to save yourself 5 minutes of run time does get you mad huge Geek Points! Valuater's AutoIt 1-2-3, Class... Is now in Session!For those who want somebody to write the script for them: RentACoder"Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced." -- Geek's corollary to Clarke's law Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brickoneer Posted November 11, 2007 Author Share Posted November 11, 2007 (edited) Thanks for the replies guys. I'm not exactly sure what is causing the slow down, but I'm assuming bypassing the rendering would at least improve preformance. The pages I would be trying to automate are table-intensive PHP sites, so the most complicated thing I'd have to deal with is a PHP session ID. Also, I've heard that tables are tough on the browsers load time, so cutting out the rendering might be extra-helpful here. But should I be trying to figure out the http.au3 or go straight down to the TCP functions and do it from there? Thanks, brick [edit] If I did save 5 minutes at runtime, I only need to use the program 70 times to make that 5 hours back. But of course since I have 0 experience with low-level stuff... it will probably be a couple hundred hours of work. Edited November 11, 2007 by Brickoneer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaleHohm Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 I'm not exactly sure what is causing the slow downIf you set out to solve problems without first understanding them, you're doomed to solving the wrong problems. Code is as life.Dale Free Internet Tools: DebugBar, AutoIt IE Builder, HTTP UDF, MODIV2, IE Developer Toolbar, IEDocMon, Fiddler, HTML Validator, WGet, curl MSDN docs: InternetExplorer Object, Document Object, Overviews and Tutorials, DHTML Objects, DHTML Events, WinHttpRequest, XmlHttpRequest, Cross-Frame Scripting, Office object model Automate input type=file (Related) Alternative to _IECreateEmbedded? better: _IECreatePseudoEmbedded Better Better? IE.au3 issues with Vista - Workarounds SciTe Debug mode - it's magic: #AutoIt3Wrapper_run_debug_mode=Y Doesn't work needs to be ripped out of the troubleshooting lexicon. It means that what you tried did not produce the results you expected. It begs the questions 1) what did you try?, 2) what did you expect? and 3) what happened instead? Reproducer: a small (the smallest?) piece of stand-alone code that demonstrates your trouble Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsaltyDS Posted November 12, 2007 Share Posted November 12, 2007 Code is as life.DaleAs Dale dons his +300 Helm of Geekiness®... Valuater's AutoIt 1-2-3, Class... Is now in Session!For those who want somebody to write the script for them: RentACoder"Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced." -- Geek's corollary to Clarke's law Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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