AutoIt!

Why Autoit?

Alright, just as any language has its roots so does our discovery of it. My discovery of Autoit! comes from a need I was experiencing at work. I was working as a 9-1-1 operator and police dispatcher and I realized a massive weakness in our GPS program we had in our center. All of our officers had GPS on board of their patrol vehicles; however, we (in dispatch) had no way of pinging that GPS quickly so we could respond in a timely fashion when help was requested. I was dispatching one night and an officer came up on the air broadcasting that he had tazed someone and he wanted backup. All of my training concerning officers on city streets was to ALWAYS clarify the officer’s location because (per my past training), “You know where he was, not where he is!” With that ringing in my ears I automatically asked the officer, “Advise current location?” His response is now fuzzy to me but he came back with some smarty response and failed to answer my question. So, I sent help to his last known location. Everything turned out okay but the problem was still his location. After the incident the officer began spreading rumors that I did not know where he was and that I didn’t care about officer’s lives and so on. Of course I got a really hard time trying to shake this “trust issue” among the units I was working with. My solution was to write my own program so I could always locate officers in the future without having to ask them.

So, the writing begins…

My favorite language is by far Visual Basic but the computers at work used .Net Framework 1.something old. I knew that I should use something that doesn’t rely on .Net anything so I began exploring how to get this done. I scratched together several versions in different languages trying to put something together that would run at work. Finally, after a lot of research I was able to bypass all superficial/topographical systems and locate the satellite feed and where it came in and to what server, etc. After I was able to bypass a few settings (ethically, of course 😉 I was able to capture the GPS streams as they were received and then pull those into my program. I hit a few stumbling blocks along the way but one of the most helpful forums I found was on the Autoit! site. The programmers in there were so much more welcoming than any other site. The syntax seemed relatively simple to pick up and the help files were very thorough.

Now what?

In case you are wondering, the answer is “no”, I cannot put that program on here for any eyes to see, download, etc. but at least you have a background on my beginnings to Autoit!. Don’t worry, I will post a couple different things on here for you to play with though. The Autoit! language is very slim and runs like nobody’s business and so I kept working in that language for a lot of programs. I still actively program in this language when I get the chance.

A few projects

I do not have every Autoit! program I’ve ever built on this site but I will provide a few here and then I will keep posting more as I find them.

A Few of My Autoit! Projects

  • Having Audible Weather!
    This program was to allow different weather conditions to be updated and then read to me as I needed/wanted it to be. You can download the zip file by CLICKING HERE. Once you unzip the folder you can play around with the programs. I did leave the .au3 files so you can open those up and view the code also.
  • IP Finder
    This program helps in locating the IP. Download it here.
  • File Monitor
    This program monitors a given folder and notifies you using beeps when a change has occurred. Download it here.
  • AutoIt: Reference for Administrators.
    This is an AutoIt! help manual I put together to help out those who are just beginning. It walks you through the basics when getting started with AutoIt!. This was a fun little manual to put together and I hope you get some use out of it. Feel free to view or download this guide by clicking on this link HERE.

 


Summary of Downloads & Extra Links


 

Helpful links

My Project Downloads

 

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