Let's Make Work Easier
October 29, 2008 9:12 AM Subscribe
I have a very repetitive task that I think might be a good candidate for scripting, but I'm not sure what "scripting" even involves except getting a lot of things done automatically. So how do I get started getting this thing done?
Alright, here's my task: I have a big sheet with names on it. I open up around twelve tabs in Firefox, all pointed to a single site. For every name entry on my sheet, I put a small, pre-defined variation of it in some text boxes in each tab. The pre-defined variations differ between tabs, but are always the same for each name; i.e. the text input in the second tab will be exactly the same for each name on the list, with only the name itself changing.
What I'm imagining is some little program or script that I run, and a dialogue box appears. I type in the next name, and this thing automatically opens twelve tabs or windows and puts some pre-defined variations on the name in the text boxes. All I would need to do is check each tab and hit the submit button.
What kind of program or plugin would I need to accomplish this?
Alright, here's my task: I have a big sheet with names on it. I open up around twelve tabs in Firefox, all pointed to a single site. For every name entry on my sheet, I put a small, pre-defined variation of it in some text boxes in each tab. The pre-defined variations differ between tabs, but are always the same for each name; i.e. the text input in the second tab will be exactly the same for each name on the list, with only the name itself changing.
What I'm imagining is some little program or script that I run, and a dialogue box appears. I type in the next name, and this thing automatically opens twelve tabs or windows and puts some pre-defined variations on the name in the text boxes. All I would need to do is check each tab and hit the submit button.
What kind of program or plugin would I need to accomplish this?
http://www.autohotkey.com/
All scripting will take just that, lots of scripting and work to make it work just right.
I used auto hot key combined with notepad and a screenshot utility to do some database maintainence a while back and it took me a few days to teach myself from the awesome help they provide, but it was so worth it...
posted by gzimmer at 9:34 AM on October 29, 2008
All scripting will take just that, lots of scripting and work to make it work just right.
I used auto hot key combined with notepad and a screenshot utility to do some database maintainence a while back and it took me a few days to teach myself from the awesome help they provide, but it was so worth it...
posted by gzimmer at 9:34 AM on October 29, 2008
You can teach yourself how to program using AutoIT. You can write a script that will launch FF and perform these actions. If you dont have any programming experience then it may be very difficult at first, but you can play with it and practice simple tasks like opening a program, pressing a certain button, etc. After a while you'll get the hang of it.
Unfortunately, the tutorials arent too hot, so you'll really need to spend time reading the forums to learn this stuff.
posted by damn dirty ape at 9:36 AM on October 29, 2008 [1 favorite]
Unfortunately, the tutorials arent too hot, so you'll really need to spend time reading the forums to learn this stuff.
posted by damn dirty ape at 9:36 AM on October 29, 2008 [1 favorite]
If doing it in Firefox is a requirement, then Selenium or writing a custom Firefox extension would seem the most obvious thing.
If not, I'd look at Ruby and Scrubyt or Perl and WWW::Mechanize and mechanize the whole process.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 9:57 AM on October 29, 2008
If not, I'd look at Ruby and Scrubyt or Perl and WWW::Mechanize and mechanize the whole process.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 9:57 AM on October 29, 2008
Response by poster: Selenium is looking pretty good, but i can't figure out how to get it to modify the input for different instances? I can get it to repeat the task, but it repeats it exactly the same each time.
posted by Willie0248 at 10:25 AM on October 29, 2008
posted by Willie0248 at 10:25 AM on October 29, 2008
2nd autohotkey. The bonus is that once you learn it (which is very easy as they have probably the best help guide ever), you can use it to do any sort of scripting on windows, not just FF. If you keep learning it you can write full-fledged programs, check their site. I used it to automate a great number of tasks at my previous job, we had a very braindead order system/db interface and I'd enter things in a text editor and use autohotkey to copy and paste them line by line in that dumb program. Saved me probably hundreds of hours of dull work.
posted by rainy at 10:37 AM on October 29, 2008
posted by rainy at 10:37 AM on October 29, 2008
3rd AutoHotkey. Learning to use it will change your computing life for the better... vastly. The forums there are quite helpful too.
posted by The Man Mulcahey at 12:01 PM on October 29, 2008
posted by The Man Mulcahey at 12:01 PM on October 29, 2008
I assume you're submitting a form. If that's so, and the information is not sensitive, feel free to PM me and I'll write a little web app for you that'll take care of it for you.
posted by MaxK at 3:01 PM on October 29, 2008
posted by MaxK at 3:01 PM on October 29, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by soma lkzx at 9:34 AM on October 29, 2008 [1 favorite]