Programs...

[rev]

Can I get a general IDEA of what type of windows programs I can make for with this lang? I really like the way this language works and I want to make stuff but im not sure what to make? Any suggestions?

[CyberSlug]

I use AutoIt for personal utilities and easy programs that do not use need a graphical user interface. (There is a GUI project, but I haven't followed its progress).

Ideas:

- Tools that enhance other programs: some tools for TextPad that I need to update

- converting tab-delimited text files to HTML tables

- toggling "Show Hidden Files" without having to go to Folder Options

- Quickly restarting explorer.exe and restoring my tray icons (in Windows XP) when it tells me for the millionth time that the folder I want to delete is "in use" .....

- a favorite util of mine:

; Clipboard "Replace" Utility
; Swap higlighted text with clipboard text when press Ctrl+Alt+V

HotKeySet("#v", "replace");Ctrl+Alt+V keyboard shortcut  
While (1)
   sleep(500);to prevent maxing-out the CPU
WEnd
Func replace()
   $itemOne = ClipGet()
   Send("^c")
   $itemTwo = ClipGet()
   ClipPut($itemOne)
   Send("^v")
   ClipPut($itemTwo)
EndFunc

- another favorite :

; NOTE:  Put compiled version in the Send To menu
;  It copies path(s) to the clipboard
If $CmdLine[0] > 0 Then
  $tmp = ""
  For $i = 1 to $CmdLine[0]
    $tmp = $tmp & $CmdLine[$i] & @CRLF
  Next
  ClipPut( StringTrimRight($tmp,2) )
EndIf

-some more examples:

; Open new Notepad windows cascaded instead of on-top of one another
; 20 October 2003 - CyberSlug

WinSetTitleMatchMode(2) ; need for matching "- Notepad"
WinSetDetectHiddenText(1); I need to give focus to the desktop

If WinExists(" - Notepad")
   $pos = WinGetPos(" - Notepad")
   WinActivate("Program Manager")
   WinWaitActive("Program Manager")
   Run("notepad")
   WinWaitActive(" - Notepad")
   If $pos[0] > 0 Then; prevents bug with minimized windows off screen
      WinMove(" - Notepad", "", $pos[0]+random(20,30), $pos[1]+random(20,40))
   EndIf
Else
; simply launch first instance of program
   Run("notepad")
EndIf

Basically lots of small things that help me easily get around annoyances in applications. Oh, yeah, and helping generate help files

Oops, the code on that last one is old--I haven't updated it since I used a compiled version of the script.

Edited January 28, 2004 by CyberSlug

[trids]

You can also ..

• Use it to monitor a setup and provide inputs and modifications automagically - so that all rollouts of a package are consistent.
• Streamline repetitive tasks like collecting virus-update logs from machines on a network - so the network admin can audit at a glance.
• Automate the test-cycle for new software, by generating and monitoring more combinations of input than can be processed by sane humans.
• Write cool formatting scripts to standardise layouts of SQL stored procedures (for example) by driving a regular expression editor like TextPad.
• Have fun with recursion - be your own crash test dummy - lol!
• Write all sorts of scriptlets to test your personal theories on things like sorting algorithms, neural networks, game-playing (partnering and/or automation)

.. might add more later. Just came up with an idea to script

[Valik]

- Quickly restarting explorer.exe and restoring my tray icons (in Windows XP) when it tells me for the millionth time that the folder I want to delete is "in use" .....

I use Sysinternals Process Explorer and find the handle to the folder I'm trying to delete, then I just close that handle. It's kind of risky, but so far, keeping my handle closing to something that simple, I haven't had any problems... (Plus you don't have to restart Explorer at all, just don't close something that looks system-ish or you might crash your PC )

[Nutster]

I have written AutoIt scripts to:

• Set my display mode to 256 colour (for some of my games)
• Set my display mode back to 24 bit colour (for everything else)
• Automate the running of a program 84 times: 21 environment files applied to 4 different design models, filling in questions as they appear.
• Demonstrate how to use aspects of a program by moving the mouse pointer around and clicking buttons and typing text.