looking for macro tool

  • Thread starter Thread starter Simon
  • Start date Start date
S

Simon

I'm looking for a macro type tool but with some particular requirements

We currently have an old (16 bit) app that we use to access our mainframe
systems but an impending upgrade to XP means this won't work anymore.

Our core systems are accessed via what is essentially a windowing
application, with individual systems accessible via child windows. The
tool we currently use is driven by a script and we use it to do bulk
updates/manipulation/extraction of data. The tool accepts input from and
sends output to Office (nominally excel).

I have googled but to date haven't come up with anything that seems to do
quite what we need - plenty of tools will work with windows (launch an app,
open a window, file manipulation, etc) but nothing I've seen so far seems
like a useful alternative

any/all help or advice appreciated

S
 
Simon said:
I'm looking for a macro type tool but with some particular requirements

We currently have an old (16 bit) app that we use to access our mainframe
systems but an impending upgrade to XP means this won't work anymore.

Our core systems are accessed via what is essentially a windowing
application, with individual systems accessible via child windows. The
tool we currently use is driven by a script and we use it to do bulk
updates/manipulation/extraction of data. The tool accepts input from and
sends output to Office (nominally excel).
Click to expand...

I am trying to understand exactly... You want a macro tool that will run
on windows, and can interact with an applications menu's and controls?
If so, take a look at http://www.autohotkey.com/. Otherwise, what would
be the client, the interface to run the macro against, and what
interactions are you looking for? Sorry if I am a bit thick...
 
In our last episode BarryTone wrote:

I am trying to understand exactly... You want a macro tool that will
run
on windows, and can interact with an applications menu's and
controls?
If so, take a look at http://www.autohotkey.com/. Otherwise, what
would be the client, the interface to run the macro against, and what
interactions are you looking for? Sorry if I am a bit thick...
Click to expand...
</snip>

not thick, I just found it difficult to explain (sorry 'bout that). I need
to be able to control the client system. I can find plenty of macro tools
that will work on a window (maximise, minimise, bring to front, etc) but I
need to be able to access the controls within a child window (eg place a
string at row/column coords, wait for specific actions, retrieve scrape
data from a given row/col coords, etc. There can be multiple child windows
visible at any given time. Same deal with office (though this is likely to
be simpler to deal with).

I've had a look at autohotkey (and autoit, and several others) and they
don't appear (to my untrained eye at least - I'm not a programmer) to do
what I want.

S
 
Simon said:
I've had a look at autohotkey (and autoit, and several others) and they
don't appear (to my untrained eye at least - I'm not a programmer) to do
what I want.
Click to expand...

Autohotkey can do what you want. Join the Autohotkey forums and ask any
questions. Chris (the dev) and others (me too) will help you along.
 
In said:
Autohotkey can do what you want. Join the Autohotkey forums and ask
any questions. Chris (the dev) and others (me too) will help you
along.
Click to expand...

many thanks, I'll look into this further (sorry for the slow response, I've
been away for a couple of weeks)

S
 
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