One of the most basic requirements for a programming or scripting language is to be able to communicate useful information back to the user. This information varies as much as the programs that are created.
AutoIt provides five basic ways of displaying information to the user. Which one you choose depends on the type of information that you are displayinig and how you want the user to interact with the program. We will be going through these five different ways of displaying information in this article.
Please note that this article does not cover using the new GUI that is available in AutoIt. It deserves an article to itself.
Message Box
The most basic way of displaying information is to use the MsgBox function. It is very flexible and allows you customize it’s message, title, icons, and buttons. Plus, it provides feedback to the program telling it which button was clicked by the user or it can disappear after a pre-determined amount of time.
Example of Message Box
;Feedback to user with MsgBox Dim $Counter Dim $Max Dim $Pause $Max = 10 $Pause = 1 For $Counter = 1 to $Max MsgBox(0,"Status","Completed " & $Counter & " of " & $Max,$Pause) Next
Download this code: Feedback-Msg.au3
Progress Bar
If you’ve ever installed a program, you’ve see a progress bar. As the software gets closer to being completely installed, the bar moves closer to the right. This is exactly what the progress abr does in AutoIt.
The progress bar is really great for displaying how far along a task is. With a few calculations, you can create a really professional looking progress bar.
Example of Progress Bar
;Feedback to user with Progress Bar Dim $Counter Dim $Max Dim $Pause $Max = 10 $Pause = 1 ProgressOn("Status","","") For $Counter = 1 to $Max ProgressSet(($Counter/$Max)*100,"","Completed " & $Counter & " of " & $Max) Sleep($Pause * 1000) Next ProgressOff()
Download this code: Feedback-PB.au3
Splash Box
A splash box can display either text or an image. It is very customizable, letting you display different fonts, font sizes, and text alignment. You can also specify the size of the box and how it looks.
A splash box is really great for displaying a rolling status log or a splash screen to provide the user with information as the program loads.
Example of Splash Box
;Feedback to user with SplashBoxes Dim $Counter Dim $Max Dim $Pause $Max = 10 $Pause = 1 SplashTextOn("Status","") For $Counter = 1 to $Max ControlSetText("Status", "", "Static1", "Completed " & $Counter & " of " & $Max) Sleep($Pause * 1000) Next SplashOff()
Download this code: Feedback-Splash.au3
Tool Tip
A tool tip is a small yellow text box that pops up next to your cursor. It contains whatever information that you specify.
Tool tips grab the user’s attention but do not require user intervention. A great way to provide the user with a quick update.
Example of Tool Tip
;Feedback to user with ToolTips Dim $Counter Dim $Max Dim $Pause $Max = 10 $Pause = 1 For $Counter = 1 to $Max ToolTip("Completed " & $Counter & " of " & $Max) Sleep($Pause * 1000) Next
Download this code: Feedback-ToolTips.au3
Tray Tip
Tray tips are similar to tool tips. The difference is that they appear as a little balloon above the system tray in the bottom right hand corner of your computer screen.
Tray tips also grab the user’s attention without requiring user intervention.
Example of Tray Tip
;Feedback to user with TrayTips Dim $Counter Dim $Max Dim $Pause $Max = 10 $Pause = 1 For $Counter = 1 to $Max TrayTip("Status","Completed " & $Counter & " of " & $Max,$Pause) Sleep($Pause * 1000) Next
Download this code: Feedback-TrayTip.au3
Conclusion
Keeping the user informed about what is happening on inside your program or script is important. These five ways that AutoIt has provided give you several options.
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March 16th, 2007 at 11:56 am
These are great!! I was wondering though, can autoit make an executable that would setup a permanent drive map. Instead of a non-technical user mapping a drive, the executable file would setup a predefined mapped drive. That would be cool..
Thanks
Jim
March 28th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
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November 21st, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Hi I’m having trouble on how to copy all items in a listbox to my listview. Can anyone tell me how I could do this?