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Hey all, I am very new to QM, and have limited programming experience. I was looking in QM itself for some kind of tutorial, but the "Quick Start" guide wasn't very helpful. I guess I'm looking for more of a complete resource that isn't a Table of Contents like the help file. It doesn't even have to be an online resource, it could be a book. Are there any good books out there written about QM?
The specific thing I was looking to do was send keystrokes to a minimized window. (pretty simple right?)
Also, in a college class next quarter, we have to work on a project related to computers, so I was thinking of trying to make an AI that would play checkers (not online versus humans, purely against the computer). The sticking point would be finding a way to determine where the computer opponent's pieces had moved to. I was thinking that if I could sample the color of one of the pieces, and then use QM to determine the color of the screen pixel at a particular location and then make decisions based on that.
I hope that doesn't go against the policy of not interfering with games.
Anyway, help would be greatly appreciated.
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Books - no. More complete tutorials also unavailable.
Sending keystrokes to inactive windows:
pasting to notepad (when notepad is in background)
Checking pixel color - yes, it's possible.
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check out my blog in the signature on this post. it may be just what you're looking for.
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I have tried most automation softwares in the market and here may be a helping hand pointers.
Be direct to the point
No lengthy macro commands
and if a macro goes to a greater inevitable length then use interactive shortcuts so the user does not have to program much.
This will be good for the novice users as well who just want to use QM without wasting much programming time.
Say for example in Excel:
Ask the user for the file name and directory:
Ask what cell the user wants to get from what range
Ask the user what the user wants to set from what range
Ask what and where the user want to create a second Excel file.
All we need here is oversimplification for the novice users....please
Hope everybody understands. I bet you then more buyers will come.
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Thank you, Josh.
Making QM simpler to use and learn is my dream #1, but it is so much work... Need whole new user interface for entering and editing commands, etc. Maybe in next QM version...
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Gintaras,
We will support you all the way on this dream endeavor. It is a must so QM remains in competition with
the rest:
WinAutomation
AutomationAnywhere
VtaskStudio
Macro MD
Macro Scheduler
Wintask
Robo Task
Automate
Automize
AutoIT
Auto Hot Keys
Workspace MAcro Pro
Macro Expert
Jitbit Macro Recorder
Most of these automation softwares above have one line
macro for each command and I know that if they can do it we can do it better.
(One of them for example can do it this way
A macro example :Create a directory "C:\Temporary\MyMacros"
FileCreateDir, C:\Temporary\MyMacros
)
You can start slowly right now. I promise to even advertise your work on my small US website for free.
Worry not because you have the best price in town and our support as you have supported us.
How is that for a treat?
But do it for yourself, .............us and our team of experts and our club. We need to know
what others as listed have and have not to offer for our own betterment. Any encouragement
from other members will be appreciated!
Sincerely ,
Josh
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The readers of this post have a lot of knowledge to acquire. I believe in sharing on what I know and
everybody is invited to share his or her ideas for the best interest. When we know ,we must share and when we don't
we ask and our friends for sure will come to the rescue. This is where we beat the competition.
Thanks always to Gintaras. Let us make QM (the queen of all macros) the best it can be. To be quick make it simple
with maybe at least minimum of 3 examples per command (zero example per command means more problems and questions unanswered)
so it will ease Gintaras effort in answering all our needs and he can move forward
by enhancing QM as a best seller.
Sincerely,
Josh
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A lot of the newer functions have a couple examples...even a lot of the older ones.
There are so many commands available in QM. Providing three examples for each would take a lot of work.
I know Gintaras tries to keep the size of the executable down for QM. Providing all of the extra examples would add quite a lot to it.
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TheVig,
Thanks for your feed. Macro of a macro might be a helping hand to these lengthy macros.
Let us just work together to keep eveything simple and quick ......one line possible. It is all about the
users and buyers sake. When can we see any of these? I hope Gintaras already started.
Thanks,
Josh
California
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Josh,
It takes a lot of time and practice to write a function that is clear and versatile enough to boil it down into one line. I've been working with QM for the last couple of years and I'm only just starting to get the hang of writing a function that can be used for a variety of tasks. Usually I just whip something up to get a job done in the heat of a moment.
Gintaras does a wonderful job writing complicated functions that are extremely well documented and boiled down. I'm sure he will appreciate any ideas to help him in his overwhelming task.
Things I think could help:
Perhaps something like command line switches used in DOS would be useful. The biggest trouble that I have is that some functions in order to be versatile in one line have a lot of variables that they are really complicated to keep track of when programming.
For example, instead of using (I just use the ShowDialog because it has a lot of options):
ShowDialog([$macro] [dlgproc] [!*controls] [hwndowner] [flags] [style] [notstyle] [param] [x] [y] [$icon] [$menu])
If you wanted to set the X and Y you'd have to write out either "" or 0 for the fields you do not wish to use.
if(!ShowDialog("Dialog" &Dialog 0 0 0 0 0 0 100 100))
It'd be easier to just go ShowDialog("Dialog" /X 100 /Y 100)
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TheVig,
The real scenario:
The most users(buyers) are novice users and not real time programmers (who appreciate Gintaras programming skills all the time).
All I am saying is Gintaras may need some motivations from you as well. Let us assume right now that the QM's new nick name is
One line Macro and that is a good start.
Again, like what you just implied for a one line macro, it is just like going back to the old DOS. Indeed it is. TheVig you are the right hand man
that perhaps Gintaras is looking for. Again thanks for your feed.
Sincerely,
Josh
California
