July 28th AutoHotkey newsletter
Howdy %Name%,
Has the non-stop barrage of bad news got that angst of anxiety bubbling up in your gut?
Are you worried about the economy, creditors swarming, job going south and everything else that can happen when the world goes crazy? This cool trick can help you talk yourself off the ledge.
Write yourself a letter outlining all your troubles & your immediate plans. Be specific; just get it all out of your head (where it’s causing trouble) & onto the written page.
Then take a break. Hide the letter for 24 hours and let your unconscious work on solutions. When anxiety kicks in, remind yourself that it’s all safely written down, so you don’t need to dwell. Your unconscious has a remarkable talent for organizing things and getting perspective on what’s important and what’s fluff.
Now on with the show…
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AHKCon
Did you sign up for AHKCon? Isaias and I are 😃getting excited for the event! Here’s an outline of times & people. All times are EDT
- 10:00am-10:15 – Intro (Joe/Thom)
- 10:15am-11:00 – AHK v1 vs v2 (Panel: Dimitri Geerts, Isaias, Tank, Joe/Thom)
- 11:00am-12:00 – Prog approach & Which & when (Panel: Maestrith, Tank, Isaias, Joe/Thom)
- 12:00pm- 1:00 – Objects / COM / Data structure (Lecture: Isaias & GeekDude[helping])
- 1:00pm- 1:30 – Lunch (Open discussion/ Q&A Joe/Thom)
- 1:30pm- 2:30 – Regex/String Man.(Performance, simplicity, etc.) (Panel: Isaias, Maestrith, Joe/Thom)
- 2:30pm- 3:00 – IDEs: Which to use, When, Why (Panel: Isaias, Maestrith, Jackie, Joe/Thom)
- 3:00pm- 3:45 – Data storage approaches (Panel: Isaias, Maestrith, Jackie, Tank, Jean, Joe/Thom)
- 3:45pm- 4:00 – Closing (Joe/Thom)
- 4:00pm- 4:30 – Free open talk
Have an editable DropDown list
Have you ever created a GUI and used a dropdown list but wanted to be able to type in it if the option you want isn’t available? Hello ComboBox! In this video Isaias shows us just how simple they are to create and, near the end, adapt a DropDownList to a combobox is easier than you can believe! Just more proof that GUIs are Easy in AutoHotkey!
Massive improvement to dropdown list & using the Format command
Connecting to the Correct instance of a COM Object
We were working on a project for Thomas, an AHK Hero, where we connect to MS Word. Unfortunately we discovered a really weird problem that, sometimes, MS word would have multiple instances running and ComObjActive would return the wrong instance. I mentioned to Isaias that, in my Excel Function library, I used the ACC library to loop over all instances of Excel and find the right one. Isaias took a look at the example and generalized it so it could easily be used for other programs with a COM object. This is just one of the reasons learning Objects is really helpful!
How to connect to the correct COM object in MS Office Programs
Looping over an Object in a For Loop
Another 🦸♀️hero wrote us with a problem they were having looping over an object in a For Loop. We were looking at the code when I realized the problem. We thought we’d document it as it can be a bit confusing when you first start looping over objects.
Avoid this simple mistake when working with a For Loop
Creating a class that automatically executes code?
Isaias realized, in AHK Version 2, there’s an interesting way you can build your code where you have an object that will get executed (without being called). We also discussed how, conceptually, the idea of private and public methods can be compared to API calls.
Easily accessing properties from UIA
While the new UIA library is amazing, it is a bit complex! In this video Isaias shows how you can access some properties and methods that might trip you up. This came up because, during our free live call on Friday, someone wasn’t able to get the value of an href.
Live AutoHotkey Support Tomorrow
Don’t forget on Friday’s you can get free AutoHotkey support on my YouTube channel. Or you can sign up for reminders and join the zoom room.
📚 What we’re reading / Watching
- What does it take to change a mind?
- How to Check If Someone Else Is Accessing Your Facebook Account
- Functions vs. Formulas in Microsoft Excel: What’s the Difference?
- How to Make Custom Text Shortcuts on iPhone
👨🏫 AutoHotkey GURU Interview: Dr. Gabriel Cook
A long time ago I got one of my best friends into AutoHotkey. In this interview I chat with Gabe about what he’s done with AutoHotkey, how it’s changed his life, and how much fun it is when we have our “code-cations” (we take a week off of work and get together learning something).
Examples of AutoHotkey |AutoHotkey Experts: Gabriel Cook
⚡️Productivity tips
Put it all down on paper. I’m pretty sure it isn’t just that I’m “old school”. Our brains work differently when we write things down. Also organizing on paper is way different than on a computer. I highly recommend writing your ideas, goals, etc. down and then let your subconscious work on them! There’s the added benefit mentioned above how you’ll remove some of the stress trying to keep it all in your head.
🤣 A spot of Humor
How many of these 7 signs do you have? Hillarious video❗
Quick Access Popup news
I had a chat with Jean Lalonde the other day. As y’all are painfully aware, if you compile a script and send it to someone it’s fairly likely it will get flagged as a virus. One work around is to get a certificate and sign the executable. Unfortunately this costs a significant amount of money. Jean just spent $500 which will cover the next 3 years and is looking for donations to help recoup his costs. So, if, like me, you’re a QAP enthusiast, you might consider making a donation. I contributed $25 because I don’t want a world where QAP doesn’t exist. What’s it worth to you?
AHK Hero?
Want more time than the free hour? Have content that you can’t have on YouTube? Consider joining the 🦸♀️AHK Hero club! Members receive big discounts to courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.
They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and a 2nd “office hours” session which isn’t on YouTube. Pretty Soon they will have access to a members-only Telegram group where we can all help each other.
🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes
- Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. — Thomas Edison
- What you plant now, you will harvest later — Og Mandino
- Treat objections as requests for further information — Brian Tracy
- It’s not how much you screw up that counts. Nope. It’s how you fix your messes that matters. — John Carlton
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Joe and staff
P.S. Special thanks to the following for purchasing AHK hero membership
Rodrigo C., Nathan N., Michael C., Miral P., Thomas K., Rune O., Thomas D., Tyler F., Guy M., Dale W.,
Robert P., Gil C., Mathew F., and Ernestas G.
and for these people purchasing multiple Udemy courses
AutoHotkey Udemy courses this month!
- 3 Victor S.
- 2 Vytautas S.
- 2 Scotty N.
- 2 S. B
- 2 Rhett Y.
- 2 Leo O.
- 2 Kenny N.
- 2 Jordan
- 2 Jalal i.
- 2 Goh o.
- 2 Estevan o.
- 2 Edward s.
- 2 Albert n.
July 21st AutoHotkey newsletter
Howdy %Name%,
When we are trying to turn a “no” into a “yes” we often try and approach it “logically” presenting a “strong argument”. Sadly, more often than not, this doesn’t convince anyone of anything and just embeds people on their opposing point of view. A much better approach is to avoid the conflict entirely and come in through the side door.
People are much, much more accepting if they believe it is “their” idea. So start off by just agreeing with what they say. Don’t argue, don’t put up a fight. You can even compliment them on their idea. Then, at a later point in time, come back to them and ask if you can make a small tweak to their idea.
In my experience It’s amazingly effective and so much more pleasant of an experience. What’s really amazing is how much you can change the approach, yet people will still agree with it (partially because they believe it’s their idea but also because time has passed and they think “he was nice and agreed to me at first so I’ll let him have these changes.) I learned this approach from the amazing book by David J Lieberman: Get Anyone to Do Anything (affiliate link).
Now on with the show…
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AHKCon is approaching fast!
As I mentioned before the first AHK Convention is planned for Saturday August 6th from 10 EDT to 4:30 pm. You can see what topics will be covered here. Or sign-up for the event.
Properties & Methods in UIA
During last Friday’s live call we had a guest that was trying to get the text of an element that had a URL. While UIA is amazing, it can be a little tricky so we made this video showing what you’ll have to do in order to get some properties or use some methods. You can watch all of our UIA videos from this UIA YouTube playlist
How to easily access properties from UIA
Working with Objects in For Loop
Speaking of Friday calls… We had an AHK Hero reach out and ask for some troubleshooting when looping over an object with a For Loop. This seemed like something that people new to objects would run into so we made a video walking through how to do it. If you’re interested in learning more about the Loops, I cover 5 types in the Intermediate AHK course or, if you’re ready for a deeper-dive, Check out our Intermediate Objects course. Both happen to be on sale at the moment!
Avoid this simple mistake when working with a For Loop
Getting the correct Instance of COM objects
On a client project we ran into a little snag where, when we’d try and get the active MS Word object, it wouldn’t always return the correct one. I told Isaias I think there was something in my XL Function library that we could learn from. Sure enough, we were able to port the approach over and expand on it. The new approach should be easy to update for most programs with a COM Object (we also created a V1 and V2 version)
How to connect to the correct COM object in MS Office Programs
Fast image search (on windows that are obscured)
Yesterday I was chatting with Shin from the Spawnova channel the other day. It reminded me of the video we did about his amazing class that is crazy fast and finds images that don’t even have to be on-top!
👀How to perform Fast image search on Covered windows w/Spawnova
Auto-Executing Classes in V2️⃣
Isaias is working a lot in AHK V2 these days. In this video he walks through how to create an entire script that will be an object and run when launched. We also discuss the general concept of private verse public methods. Classes are amazing and incredibly helpful writing better organized code! That’s one of the main reasons we created the Intermediate Objects course❗
📚 What we’re reading
- Amazon Fire TV Hides Developer Options, But There’s a Fix
- How to Scan and Translate a Picture in Google Translate
- New Google Photos Widget Puts Your Friends on Your Home Screen
- What Are Decentralized Apps (dApps) and How Do They Work?
⚡️Productivity tips
Never give up, never surrender (Galaxy Quest)
🤣 A spot of Humor
A friend of mine sent me this the other day. Brilliant!
AHKHero
Want more time than the free hour? Have content that you can’t have on YouTube? Consider joining the 🦸♀️AHK Hero club! Members receive big discounts to courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.
They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and a 2nd “office hours” session which isn’t on YouTube.
🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes
- Today is always the most productive day of your week. — Mark Hunter
- What I lack in Skills & Abilities I make up for with Optimism & Determination
- Not everyone likes you. — John Carlton
- Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded — Yogi Berra
Live AutoHotkey Support Tomorrow
Don’t forget on Friday’s you can get free AutoHotkey support on my YouTube channel. Or you can sign up for reminders and join the zoom room.
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The-Automator
Joe and staff
P.S. Special thanks to the following for purchasing AHK hero membership
Rodrigo C., Nathan N., Michael C., Miral P., Thomas K., Rune O., Thomas D., Tyler F., Guy M., Dale W.,
Robert P., Gil C., Mathew F., and Ernestas G.
and for these people purchasing multiple Udemy courses
AutoHotkey Udemy courses this month!
- 3 Victor S.
- 2 Vytautas S.
- 2 Scotty N.
- 2 Rhett Y.
- 2 Leo O.
- 2 Jordan
- 2 Jalal I.
- 2 Goh O.
- 2 Estevan O.
- 2 Edward S.
- 2 Albert N.
July 14th AutoHotkey newsletter
Howdy %Name%,
Well summer has definitely hit here in Texas! I was out working on a car in 104 degree weather 🔥 and felt like I was melting! I bought a car that had been in an accident off a good friend (without actually seeing it). It’s a 2010 Dodge charger with a 5.7 liter V8 Hemi engine. It’s amazingly fun to drive (but not to fill with gas).
As I mentioned before, my son is 15 and will be driving soon so, at some point, I’d need to have another car so I can give him my current vehicle (a 2003 Toyota Echo). I bought the Echo 15 years ago and it’s been an amazingly reliable car. In all those years I’ve never washed it (other than strategically leaving it outside when I knew a hard rain was coming through).
Some people would probably be mortified to take a drive in it but I just don’t give crap! All my life I’ve found ways to save 💲 without sacrificing quality. When I worked in Corporate America and had to wear suits, I bought all of them from 2nd hand stores. Even the tuxedo I got married in was bought for $10 at a Goodwill. Many people would be embarrassed to mention this but not me. I’m proud to! You see, when I was ~14 I lived with my grandmother for a few years. She lived through the “great depression” and I picked up some really good habits from her. 😊
It’s probably one of the reasons I’m so passionate about AutoHotkey! It’s not “sexy”, nor is it expensive however it can be super reliable which is what I really care about. If your AutoHotkey scripts aren’t reliable then you might want to take a deeper look at how you’re using it. Most people start using AutoHotkey by imitating human actions (like sending mouse clicks or key-strokes) rather than a programmatic approach (using COM, APIs, Controls, etc.)
If you’re wishing your automations were more reliable consider working through some of our courses or just schedule a consultation with us to point you in the right direction.
Now on with the show…
Amazing lessons on UI Automation with Descolada
It’s been an amazing week of discovery! We’ve had some epic calls with Descolada out of Estonia. He’s the author of the main updates to the UI Automation.
In this video Descolada teaches us about Patterns and other great tips for working with UIA & AHK
UI Automation patterns & Other GREAT tips for UIA [MUST WATCH❗]
![UI Automation patterns & Other GREAT tips for UIA [MUST WATCH❗]](https://i0.wp.com/img.youtube.com/vi/tLYFU4fsDYo/0.jpg?w=250&ssl=1 "July 2022 🅰HK Newsletter 153")
Here Descolada gives us some amazing insights if you’re trying to Automate a Chromium based App
And this video he shows us how to do some basic web scraping with UIA
Easily use color highlighting to an Edit control
Last Friday Thom, from TABNation, mentioned he was building an IDE in AutoHotkey. I told him about the call I had years ago with Maestrith and why, in AHK Studio, he used a Scintilla Control. You might have seen this video where Isaias explains what a Scintilla Control is but I asked him to demonstrate how we can actually create and use one with AutoHotkey. I’m really glad I did because I didn’t realize just how easy it is!😃
How to easily add color highlighting to an edit window with a Scintilla control
Creating responsive GUIs
I had a call with a client a while back that was stuck on creating a responsive GUI. Isaias helped explain what is going on and the steps you need to take in order to build a GUI that is responsive in AHK. If you’re new to GUIs, Isaias lead our GUIs are Easy course which is AMAZING!
How to easily Create a Responsive GUI
📚 What we’re reading
- How to Force Delete a Folder on Windows 10 and 11
- Top 3 Qualities of the Most Successful Sales Professionals
- How to Disable Bing in the Windows 10 Start Menu
- 10 Things Blocking Your Wi-Fi Signal at Home
👨🏫 AutoHotkey GURU Interview: Jean Lalonde
Really fun to re-watch this video with Jean from 2018. Jean’s lead several AHK Webinars for us and, in this video, we learn a bit more about him and his background with AutoHotkey & other tools.
⚡️Productivity tips
Having a routine is a very common pattern amongst top performers. Busy people need to be very organized and structured. For example Ellon Musk, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates were all strong believers in having a routine and sticking to it. Do you have one?
🤣 A spot of Humor
Can you imagine watching this? Old woman disappears in lake & emerges young
AHK Hero?
Are you enjoying our free YouTube channel? You might not be aware but I don’t earn much from YouTube for people watching the videos. On average I make around $130 a month for the ~1,300 videos we’ve made. Considering I pay Isaias for his time, and I don’t get paid, creating videos isn’t something we do as a source of income. It’s one of the reasons we created the AHK Hero program. Joining allows you to make small contributions (currently $6 a month). Of course, by joining the 🦸♀️AHK Hero club you do receive big discounts to courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work. They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and a 2nd “office hours” session which isn’t on YouTube. Sign-up to help subsidize creating more quality content!
🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes
- Knowledge is power; Automation knowledge is a “super-power”💪 — Joe Glines
- Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. — Thomas Edison
- Stop arguing. — John Carlton
Live AutoHotkey Support Tomorrow
Don’t forget on Friday’s you can get free AutoHotkey support on my YouTube channel. Or you can sign up for reminders and join the zoom room.
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Joe, Isaias, and staff
P.S. Special thanks to the following for purchasing AHK hero membership
Rodrigo C., Nathan N., Michael C., Miral P., Rune O., Thomas D., Tyler F., Guy M., Thomas K., Dale W.,
Robert R., Gil C., Mathew F., and Ernestas G.
and for these people purchasing multiple Udemy courses
AutoHotkey Udemy courses this month!
- 2 Leo o.
- 2 Jordan
- 2 Estevan o.
July 7th, 2022 AutoHotkey Newsletter
Howdy %Name%,
My contractor, just like most, has very rigid policies, and I get annoyed every time I call. Every question gets a “No”
“Can I get an estimate over the phone?” Nope. “Can I get a ballpark range?” Not a chance.
What I hate more is that they are right❗ Let me explain…
At first, this really irritated me. I mean, why are they stubborn about this?! Then I realized that it’s actually best for them and me.
You see, just like in automation, every job is different. Some jobs are super-simple while others turn-out to be a royal pain. If we simple took the “simplest” approach (let’s say sending keystrokes & mouse clicks) we could probably come up with an idea of how much it would cost to automate something however, as I’m sure you’re painfully aware, that would lead to tools that often break and are troublesome.
This, of course, would also give clients the general impression that either AutoHotkey sucks or worse (that we suck!) This is why, when we do project work, we always take time diagnosing the best approach taking into account many factors such as:
- Who will maintain the code
- How many computers will it run on
- Who will be running the code
- Will a GUI facility / help the script?
- How frequently the code is going to be used
- What happens if/when it breaks
- What technology is available (COM, Controls, DLL Calls, UI Automation, API, etc.)
- Has someone else already automated the programs we’re working with (Search AHK forum, StackOverflow, Reddit, our libraries, etc.)
It’s a lot of the same considerations we do when we help clients with their code in a consultation where we are not the ones that will be doing the work, but someone wants to get expert advice as to what is the best approach to take.
If we, or contractors, were to take the approach of giving ballpark figures we would be:
- making a wag (wide ass guess)
- planning on taking a fast/cheap approach regardless of what should be done
- padding the numbers to make sure it covers the costs of times where it is harder than expected
So cut your contractors (and us) some slack when you aren’t able to get an estimate without having a discussion of what actually needs to be done. Chances are someone is trying to be sure to give you a realistic figure.
Now on with the show…
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Avoid these mistakes with the LIB folder
We notice many people new to AutoHotkey often don’t fully understand how to reference the AutoHotkey Library folder. In this video we walk through some of the key points to using it. I love using the LIB folder and have a ton of functions in there so I don’t need to use the #Include directive.
Properly using AutoHotkey ❰LIB❱ (and where AHK searches)
Using a 🇯ava🇸cript API
One of our clients wanted to leverage his Regular Expression written in JavaScript. He’s using it on an MS Word document to examine text and automate hyperlinking known items. Since it was code was quite complex we needed a more sophisticated way to access JavaScript. In this video we show how we’re accessing JavaScript from within AHK! Very cool😎
How to execute JavaScript within AutoHotkey V2
Just how much time do you waste?
I asked Isaias to create a simple GUI to help calculate how much time we waste. GUIs are very helpful to show data to non-coders. If you’re new to GUIs you might consider our amazing GUIs are Easy course.
How much do you waste? Creating a simple Waste Calculator
Getting an ID for UI Automation
One would think that when you get an “Automation ID” for UI Automation it would be unique (like an ID on webpage) however sometimes it’s pretty clear that the ID isn’t unique. In that case you need to do some investigating to determine how you’ll be able to, uniquely, Identify the element. In this video we talk through some of the approaches and also discuss the two stages (Discovery & Implementation). We’ve seen many people always using the discovery tools (even after finding their IDs) which greatly slows-down the process. If you’re enjoying this series, please make sure you comment in the video as it’s our lead indicator as to what we should focus on.
How to find a Unique ID for your automation & speed up your code❗
AHK Hero?
Want more time than the free hour? Have content that you can’t have on YouTube? Consider joining the 🦸♀️AHK Hero club! Members receive big discounts to courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc.
They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and a 2nd “office hours” session which isn’t on YouTube. With it on sale it’s $1.50 per week. 😲 The members have really enjoyed the calls so far. Hope you consider joining…
📚 What we’re reading
- Raspberry Pi Pico W Only Costs $6 and Is Super Tiny
- T-Mobile Is Selling Your App Activity: Here’s How to Opt Out
- 🌟Web-Based Apps Are About to Get Better on Windows 10
- How to Spot a Fraudulent Website☠
👨🏫 AutoHotkey GURU Interview: Mason George
In this interview I chat with Mason out of Colorado. Mason also lead our webinar on classes. Amazingly Mason has been programming since he was 13! I love talking to people that started programming early! I think their brains get “wired” a little different than the rest of us… 😊
Examples of AutoHotkey |AutoHotkey Experts: Mason George
⚡️Productivity tip: Learn to say No
Saying no can be hard however it is one of the best ways to boost your productivity. Reducing the amount of work on your “to-do” list is, by far, the way to truly gain huge amounts of time back into your day! At one job I stopped doing a report (no, it wasn’t the “TPS report”) and gained a whole week back out of my month. I had one client, out of ~50, ask what happened to the report and I just told her we found people weren’t using them. Boom❗ 25% more productive!
🤣 A spot of Humor
I’m at the age, and shape, that this is pretty accurate for me now… Getting old sucks however it is better than the alternative!
🗣️ 💭 Quotable quotes
- Whatever Your Mind Can Conceive and Believe, It Can Achieve. — Napoleon Hill
- While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior. — Henry C. Link
- You can observe a lot by just watching — Yogi Berra
- Spending time with someone is more important than spending money on them. — John Carlton
Live AutoHotkey Support Tomorrow
Don’t forget on Friday’s you can get free AutoHotkey support on my YouTube channel. Or you can sign up for reminders and join the zoom room.
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Joe, Isaias, and staff
P.S. Special thanks to the following for purchasing AHK hero membership
| Rodrigo C., | Nathan N., | Michael C., | Miral P., | Rune O., | Thomas D., | Tyler F., | and Guy M. | Thomas K. | Dale W. | Robert R. |
and for these people purchaseing multiple Udemy courses
AutoHotkey Udemy courses this month!
- 2 Jordan
- 2 Estevan o.
P.P.S. a customer reached out a while back. He was in the Intermediate AutoHotkey course but weren’t sure if they were ready for the Intermediate Objects course. I mentioned the Intermediate Objects course does cover basics of Objects but the Objects course goes way, way beyond that. The dilemma was that the Objects course was on sale for ½ off but he wasn’t ready for it yet. I told him not to “sweat it” and to go ahead and finish-up the Intermediate AHK course. If/when he wanted to buy the Objects course I’d create a coupon to allow him to buy it at the sale price. Well today he said he was ready to move forward so I created a coupon dropping the price from $99 to 💲49. Since I was there I decided to create a few extra for y’all. I saw he used the 1st coupon but there is 1 still available. If you’re on the fence about buying it, now is a great time… The coupon code is: “cd50PERCENT” and needs to be used during checkout.
