Non-MS Office automation

[tfovid]

Hello,

I am trying to learn automation under Windows but I don't know where to
start. Beside some very basic DOS batch files and the Windows Script
Host, I don't know much about this and I am not interested in buying
software either (e.g. Winbatch, .NET). I've read some stuff about OLE,
ActiveX, MFC and what not but ended up even more confused...

I know that the Windows Scrip Host can do a (limited) number of tasks
with MS-Office applications. However I want to generalize the
automation to any kind of software. Here is a typical situation: I want
to open a non-MS-office program (e.g. Photoshop, Firefox or MATLAB), do
some stuff (open file, save, type text, execute, etc.) and close. How
to do/program these kind of tasks to run automatically? Can it be done
using DOS scripts? How about C++? Once again, I am more interested in
programming/customizing the automation myself than using automation
software that just records my actions...

Thanks.

Amine

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hi,

I know that the Windows Scrip Host can do a (limited) number of tasks
with MS-Office applications. However I want to generalize the
automation to any kind of software. Here is a typical situation: I want
to open a non-MS-office program (e.g. Photoshop, Firefox or MATLAB), do
some stuff (open file, save, type text, execute, etc.) and close. How
to do/program these kind of tasks to run automatically?

There's no generic way to do this, nor can you necessarily do it with just any
application. You can automate Office apps to a fairly high degree because they
"expose" objects, properties and methods (basically "things" you can do
something to, settings you can apply to the things and actions you can direct
the things to do).

Can it be done
using DOS scripts?

Only to the extent that the applications allow it.
What do you mean by DOS scripts? VBScript? Yes, it can "drive" apps that
expose themselves to automation.

Yes. And Visual Basic. And others, including the individual Office apps that
support VBA.