Hello there:

Yes, AutoIt is really cool, but according to my experience AutoIt cannot
read the Millennium client screen, which is a real drag.  A body is able
cut keystrokes with it but you do have to babysit the process.  Now,
what AutoIt does really well is interact with OCLC's Connexion client
because you can include the Connexion objects right into your script.

Just a note about Expect-- If you're more comfortable with Perl (as I
am) there is a function called waitfor in the Net::Telnet module which
does the same thing as Expect.  As with AutoIt, Perl scripts can be
converted to executables and thus be used on any PC.

Charles Ledvina
http://infosoup.org
http://chopac.org

Walker, David wrote:
> Going back to the original topic here a bit . .
>
>
>> Is their any hope for those of us who
>> rely on our Expect-monkeys in III?
>>
>
> There are, of course, a number of marco-type programs out there that can emulate key strokes and mouse clicks in order to interface with the Millennium Java client.  You could probably use these to achieve the same automated tasks your Expect scripts were performing.
>
> I don't really do this stuff myself, but one of our ILS admins here uses a free application called AutoIT to automate loading of data into Innovative by way of the Millennium Java client.
>
> --Dave
>
> -------------------
> David Walker
> Library Web Services Manager
> California State University
> http://xerxes.calstate.edu
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Code for Libraries on behalf of Ken Irwin
> Sent: Wed 5/14/2008 4:02 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Life after Expect
>
>
>
> Is their any hope for those of us who rely on our Expect-monkeys in III?
> My most important Expect scripts use the create-list function, and I
> hope that'll stay around for a while. But I'm sure they'll eventually go
> away too.
>
> Has III shown any interest in building in their own macros/automation
> features to do the sorts of tasks for which we rely on Expect?
>
> Ken
>
> Kyle Banerjee wrote:
>
>> Last week, III announced that they are removing a number of
>> circulation functions from the telnet menus in a software update that
>> became generally available this month. From what I've been able to
>> surmise, functions that will be removed include placing holds and
>> checking things in or or out. Removing these menu options will break
>> scripts that have been in use for years at institutions in our
>> consortium, and lots more staff time will be required to perform
>> certain tasks after some systems are upgraded.
>>
>> Apparently, III recently discovered that a bug involving holds was
>> caused by the character-based system, but it is also related to a
>> desire to port everything to Millennium. Based on the reasoning behind
>> the announcement, future updates are likely result in other mission
>> critical scripts breaking as other character-based functionality is
>> deprecated.
>>
>> Just a reminder of the risks of relying on automation that depend on
>> interfaces that are losing vendor support.
>>
>> kyle
>>
>>
>
> --
> Ken Irwin
> Reference Librarian
> Thomas Library, Wittenberg University
>
>