SimpleSpy is a very simple tool to help you work with Controls in AutoHotkey
Many older programs have Controls (ClassNN) that AutoHotkey can programatically interact with. SimpleSpy makes it easy to find the Control and use it in your AutoHotkey code
Update to SimpleSpy- A great tool for examining older programs
The key idea of the video is that SimpleSpy is a powerful tool called AutoHotKey that allows for automation and customization of various programs and controls.
- 00:00 😂 Someone criticized the use of Notepad in our Intro to AutoHotKey course, but the speaker finds it amusing because older programs still need to be automated in companies like Corporate America.
- 00:58 💡 SimpleSpy is an amazing tool called AutoHotKey that offers 17+ different ways to do stuff (Controls are just one of them)
- 01:12 🔧 The speaker explains that they renamed a control in their program to make it simpler and discusses fixing a specific issue.
- 01:41 🔧 The search function was not working properly, but it has been fixed along with other improvements to the program.
- 02:06 🔍 The replace window in the site is separate from the site itself because it creates its own GUI, and a cool feature is that it updates when text is set.
- 02:41 👍 We can change the GUI of any program that handles these controls, like the combo box, by using the control edit one and the set text command.
- 03:11 🔍 Get SimpleSpy the-Automator.com/simplespy, sign up for the newsletter to receive more info about autohockey, and enjoy using it.
Transcripts to Simple Spy Video
Hey, it’s Joe Glines, the Automator, and I want to show you some updates, a simple spy. It’s really just a little bug fix, but let’s go ahead. Actually, before we jump into it, and it sounds funny, but I was reading, I was going through some of the reviews for, I think it was an intermediate AutoHotKey Udemy course.
And someone just hammered me on that I did examples using Notepad and how simple Notepad was and it’s an old program and hey, controls are basically saying it was useless and out of AutoHotKey is outdated and it’s becoming just worthless. Okay, I’m maybe over sitting slightly, but not a lot.
And honestly, it just kind of makes me laugh because clearly this person doesn’t work in a company like Acropan America where you are constantly connecting to these older programs and having to automate them. Just because I feature part of this in the intermediate course doesn’t mean that it’s the only way you can do stuff with AutoHotKey.
I have that video that has 17 different ways to do stuff. Anyway, sorry, I don’t mind if I get asked, but this is amazing. It’s an amazing tool. AutoHotKey is amazing tool in simple spy. Let’s jump into it here. Simple spy is a tool that I wrote with Maestrith and you know, you can come in here.
Now the thing is it’s lying a little just to coin in again. This control is really the class I’m in, right? But if you watch my videos and tutorials, I’ll try to link them in the description on covering controls and how confusing that was. The class I’m in is really the control because we use in AutoHotKey we write, I control get control set this and that instead of class I’m in when that’s really what we’re using to be that was just all very confusing.
So I called mine control to make it simple. Now the thing that we fix was this fine thing. If we type in search here, it wasn’t actually like when we click it, it wasn’t populating properly and showing you the stuff down here. So we fix that. We have a couple other ideas and things we’re going to fix when we have some time.
The tree can allow you to know what was interesting to me. I was looking this earlier was this combo box is not underneath. Oh, actually, so let me let me refresh all now we’re going to look at everything. And if we look at here with site, this replace window, which I think it’s a really important thing to realize.
This replace window is not under site, right? It’s kind of its own thing. And that’s of course because what site must be doing is creating its own GUI, you know, and it’s it’s the this is a windows GUI, right? Let me demonstrate one other cool thing here. So like that, find what we’re here.
Let’s see if find what Carter, right? And set text. Now this shows, hey, look, we just updated. This is the thing to me. It’s just amazing, right? We are literally changing this GUI, right? On our program, this could be any program that handles these kind of controls. And I just think it’s it’s freaking amazing that we can do that, right? And here I can do in this combo box.
It’s an oh, sorry, control edit one. Replace all. Let’s put this with blog, blog, set text. Oh, yeah. Okay, that worked. Now I know the set it one is the control I want or class and then depending how you want to look at it. And that’s what I’m going to use on my command. So you can get it.
Obviously the URL is down below me here, the dash automator.com slash simple spy. Yeah, it does require your email address and we’ll sign you up for our newsletter. That’s all we really do with it. So we send you more information about autohockey. Have a safe time with autohockey. So hope you enjoy this.
Please go grab it when you get a chance and looking forward to seeing you. Cheers.
