I'm not familiar with the particulars of clio, but it sounds like you
could use autoit to do what you want. Be aware that automating user
interfaces is not so reliable, you'll need to get it to work with
windows scheduled tasks, and you have the additional problem of not
being able to use the machine for other things.

Since the back end is Access, it would probably be easier and more
reliable to figure out what queries are getting executed when the menu
item is run and just invoke that as a scheduled task.

For another possibility, can all the necessary menu options be invoked
with keystrokes? If yes, you may be able to just use the very low tech
but useful Windows Scripting Host (built right into windows) to do
what you want.

For example, take the following lines below, save it as a text file
with a .vbs extension (e.g. test.vbs). Then just doubleclick. You'll
see the the calculator application open and add a couple numbers
together.

set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run "calc"
WScript.Sleep 100
WshShell.AppActivate "Calculator"
WScript.Sleep 100
WshShell.SendKeys "5*"
WScript.Sleep 500
WshShell.SendKeys "2"
WScript.Sleep 500
WshShell.SendKeys "{ENTER}"

You can find how to send special characters like ALT keys (necessary
to open menus), tabs, and the like at

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8c6yea83(VS.85).aspx

BTW, the AppActivate name is just what appears in the title bar of the
application.

kyle


On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 12:52 PM, Jill Ellern <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hey Code4Lib folks,
>
> Not sure if there are any Clio ILL software users in the Code4Lib group...but we are interested in getting Clio to pull emails from the ClioAdvanced email more often.  We are thinking there must be a windows macro/scripting program on top of Clio (which is an MS Access application for those not familiar with it) would be the best idea.  Right now, it needs human intervention to run the menu option to pop these requests into Clio...and they only do it once or twice a day.  We want this menu option in Clio to run every 15-20 minutes all day. However, we are not familiar with what programs are out there that would be good to look at.  Can you folks make a suggestion?  Has anyone done this already with Clio?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jill Ellern
> Systems Librarian
> Western Carolina University
>



-- 
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Kyle Banerjee
Digital Services Program Manager
Orbis Cascade Alliance
[log in to unmask] / 503.999.9787