Yesterday I needed a simple way to automate an install process for a client. The cost savings for me to do this would be substantial. This is both in terms of flight and accommodation costs and administrative costs on their end. The software vendor was pretty unresponsive to our need for a custom install script or ini file. So, I had to get a little bit creative. The creative search led me to AutoIt. AutoIt “is a freeware BASIC-like scripting language designed for automating the Windows GUI and general scripting. It uses a combination of simulated keystrokes, mouse movement and window/control manipulation in order to automate tasks in a way not possible or reliable with other languages (e.g. VBScript and SendKeys). AutoIt is also very small, self-contained and will run on all versions of Windows out-of-the-box with no annoying “runtimes” required!” Let’s take a look at what AutoIt can do for you.
Features:
- Easy to learn BASIC-like syntax
- Simulate keystrokes and mouse movements
- Manipulate windows and processes
- Interact with all standard windows controls
- Scripts can be compiled into standalone executables
- Create Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs)
- COM support
- Regular expressions
- Directly call external DLL and Windows API functions
- Scriptable RunAs functions
- Detailed helpfile and large community-based support forums
- Compatible with Windows 95 / 98 / ME / NT4 / 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista / 2008
- Unicode and x64 support
- Digitally signed for peace of mind
- Works with Windows Vista’s User Account Control (UAC)
It also includes AU3Recorder, which can record and play back your mouse movements. You have to launch this from SciTe, an AutoIt editor. In either case, the suite is impressive. You can automate just about any kind of task using this thing. And you can compile the commands and output it as an exe file. You can handle complex window management and input commands or design a GUI for the user to interact with. And those GUI’s can be very complex. I just had to automatically step through an installation file. And this worked like a charm! Check it out.
