Controls in AutoHotkey
AutoHotkey has some amazing ways to connect to programs! Using Controls in AutoHotkey is a great way to connect to programs with the “older style” / basic controls (So not the Ribbon). In the below videos I walk through many of the ways you can automate connecting to existing programs. One HUGE benefit of these are that they don’t interrupt / take the focus away from the user! In most cases the programs you’re automating do NOT need to be visible or active!
Here is a link to SimpleSpy, the tool Maestrith and I developed based off of this WinSpy Script from Alguimist. (Note: WinSpy is a great tool! It just has a lot of functionality that is probably not used by most people).
Below is a video where I walk through the functionality of using SimpleSpy. Keep in mind, the “controls” you are connecting to are actually the instance of a Class otherwise referred to as ClassNN. While ClassNN is the correct term (NN referring to the number for that parent Class), I found it confusing for the tool not to specify “control” given that is the “key word” used in the AutoHotkey commands. Here is a link to the AutoHotkey source code.
Also note that we have 40 videos in our Intermediate AutoHotkey course covering Controls
SimpleSpy Demonstration
- Intro to Controls in AutoHotkey
- SimpleSpy Demo showing how to use the tool and it’s functionality
- Tutorial Video on: ControlGetText, ControlSetText, ControlSend and ControlSendRaw
- Tutorial Video on: ControlGetFocus, ControlGetPos and ControlFocus
- Tutorial Video on: ControlGet: Selected, Checked, Line, CurrentLine LineCount
- Tutorial Video on: ControlGet: List, Selected, Focused, Column, Count, Count Selected, Count Focused, Count Columns, Choice
- Tutorial Video on: ControlClick (Sending a mouse click to a Control / Button)
- Tutorial Video on: ControlMove (Moving a control)
- Tutorial Video on: Control Check, Control UnCheck on Radio Boxes & Check Boxes
- Tutorial Video on:Controls: Enable, Disable, Hide, and Show
- Tutorial Video on: Adding, Deleting, Hiding and Showing Lists (ListViews, ComboBoxes, etc.)