This is a easy-to-use tool for automating Windows applications. No software development knowledge is required. Everything can be done visually.
This software is free. Minimum requirements: Windows Vista. Contact email: daniel.mocanu072180@gmail.com
On Windows 10 (and probably 11), if you want to run the sample tasks directly (not from the studio) you should unblock the cmd files from Samples folder (right-click on the cmd file, choose Properties and on the bottom side of the Properties window check the "Unblock" check box. Then Apply and OK.).
How to use it
The Studio can be used to create automated tasks. A task has several steps which are called actions.
1. Open UIAutomationStudio.exe. First, start by creating a new task. After this create a new action using "New Action" button.
2. In the window that appears check the "Select Element" button and optionally the "Highlight" button.
3. Then go with the mouse cursor over a visual element in any application and hold Shift pressed for a second or two.
4. Back in the studio's "Add Action Wizard" window you will see the element selected. If you don't want the selected element then you can use the "Select a Parent" button for selecting a parent of the currently selected element.
5. After you selected the desired element press "Next >>" button.
6. In the screen that follows you have two categories of actions you can make on the selected element. First, you have actions specific to the type of the currently selected element. Second, you have actions that are available for any kind of element like Mouse Actions, Keyboard Actions and Other Actions.
7. You select the desired action and fill in parameters values if they are required and press "OK". You can create like this as many actions as you want.
8. In the "Add Action Wizard" window there is a check box named "Don't choose a specific UI Element, make a general action". If you check this and click "Next >>" in the next screen you can choose actions that are not performed on an UI element but rather general, like starting a process, clicking at specified screen coordinates or sending keys to whichever window or control has the focus.
9. If you want to add a new action between other two existent actions, first you select the arrow and then press "New Action" button. The new action will be inserted between the two ends of the selected arrow.
10. An action can be modified using the "Edit Action" button.
11. You can copy an action by selecting it and press "Copy" button (or right click on the selected action and choose Copy). Afterwards, select an arrow and press "Paste" button (or right click the arrow and choose Paste) and the copied action will be inserted between the two ends of the selected arrow. You can do the same to Cut and Paste an action.
If you don't select an arrow and press "Paste" button (or right click anywhere on the screen and choose Paste from the menu) then you can paste the action as the first element or the last element of the task flow.
12. You can run the selected action, run all actions or run starting with the selected action to the end of the flow.
13. You can save the task as a cmd file. Also, besides this cmd, an xml file will be created having the same name as the cmd. Please make sure you keep these two files together in the same folder. The cmd can be used to execute the automated task independently from outside the studio.
Sample explained
Together with this software you are provided with some sample tasks.
taskBasic makes a simple calculation in MyCalculator application (which is in the Samples folder) and pastes the result in a text box in the same application.
Here are the steps that were made for creating this task:
1. Create new task. Add new action. Check the "Don't choose a specific UI Element, make a general action" check box and click Next. Select "Start a process and wait for input idle" and using the Browse button select the MyCalculator.exe file. Click OK.
2. Start MyCalculator.exe application.
3. Create an action that presses the "1" button. Add new action ("New Action" button). In the newly opened wizard window select the "1" button from MyCalculator (you select an element by checking "Select Element" button and go with the mouse cursor over the desired element and hold Shift pressed for a second or two) and click Next. In the next page select "Press the button" and OK.
4. Create an action that presses the "+" button. We do the same thing as above for the "+" button and also select the "Press the button" action.
5. The same for "2" and "=" buttons.
6. After this we create an action that sends Ctrl+C to MyCalculator window to copy the result into clipboard. Add new action, select any element on the Calculator window, press "Select a Parent" button and choose "MyCalculator" (Window) in the parents tree. Then Next and select "Keyboard Actions" tab. Select "Send a predefined keys combination" in the list of actions. From the list of keys combinations choose Ctrl+C. Click OK.
7. Create an action that sets the text "result is" in the editable area of MyCalculator. Add new action and select the editable area. In the "Specific Actions" tab select the first entry "Set the text of the edit control". Down in the Text field write "result is". Press OK.
8. Create an action the expands "Edit" menu. Create new action, select the "Edit" menu item. Click Next. In the Select Action page choose "Expand the menu item" from Specific Actions tab. Click OK.
9. Create an action that presses the "Paste" menu item under Edit menu. Create new action. Select "Paste" menu item from the menu expanded under "Edit". Click Next. In the next page of the wizard choose "Access the menu item, like clicking on it" from Specific Actions tab. Click OK.
10. Close MyCalculator application.
11. Run the task from studio (using "Run All" button).
There are also two sample tasks (taskLoop_1 and taskLoop_2) that press "1" and "+" buttons in MyCalculator application as long as the result is different from 20. When MyCalculator displays 20 the tasks stop.