Vista Tutorial - Inserting a string into an application

I have various .vbs files in which (using AutoIt's ClipPut method) I put a
string into the Clipboard and then paste the contents of the Clipboard into
the active application, like this:

Set oWSH = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set oAutoIt = WScript.CreateObject("AutoItX3.Control")
oAutoIt.ClipPut(sText)
oWSH.SendKeys"^v"

Is it possible to insert a string directly into the active application,
without transferring the string to the Clipboard and then pasting it?

Thanks,
Larry

The following works for me on Win98SE. It opens
Notepad, writes some text, opens the SaveAs dialogue,
then saves the text as Sendkeys Demo.txt in the
default folder. (Usually My Documents.)
I seem to remember something about a problem
with Sendkeys on Vista, though. There might be
security issues or some such. You'll need to test it.

Dim sh
Set sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
sh.Run "notepad.exe"
Do Until sh.AppActivate("Untitled - Notepad")
Loop
sh.SendKeys "Demonstration of Sendkeys. This file will be saved as SendKeys
Demo.txt in My Documents."

'-- Alt-file-SaveAs(%Fa) - opens the SaveAs dialogue.
'-- backspace deletes the default file title (focus is on the file title
textbox).
'-- new file title: "SendKeys Demo".
'-- ~ activates the Save button.

sh.SendKeys "%Fa{backspace}SendKeys Demo~"
set sh = nothing
into

Doesn't VBScript have the equivalent of:

Selection.TypeText sString

that would work in any application?

I didn't see any TypeText method or the equivalent in the VBScript User's
Guide.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...7y(VS.85).aspx

On Jun 28, 1:58*pm, "Larry" <larry328NOS...@xxxxxx> wrote:I recall a script that would use Word to spell check items in the clip
board. You might find something in here that would work for you.

' <--------------- Begin Script ------------------------>
Dim oWD, RangeOriginal, RangeCorrected, Cnt, Status
Set oWD = WScript.CreateObject("Word.Application")
oWD.Visible =false
oWD.Documents.Add
On Error Resume Next
oWD.Selection.Paste
If err.number<>0 then
MsgBox "Clipboard was Empty"
oWD.ActiveDocument.Close wdDoNotSaveChanges
oWD.Quit
Set oWD=Nothing
Set oWD=Nothing
WScript.Quit
End If
'
Set RangeOriginal=oWD.ActiveDocument.Range(0,oWD.Selection.End)
If oWD.CheckSpelling(RangeOriginal)=False Then
oWD.ActiveDocument.CheckSpelling
Set RangeCorrected = oWD.ActiveDocument.Range(0,oWD.Selection.End)
RangeCorrected.copy
'
If RangeCorrected.Words.Count>7 Then
Cnt=RangeCorrected.Words.Count
Status= "The text beginning with: "&_
RangeCorrected.Words.Item(1)&" "&RangeCorrected.Words.Item(2)&" "&_
RangeCorrected.Words.Item(3)&"....."&vbCRLF&"and ending
with: ....."&_
RangeCorrected.Words.Item(Cnt-2)&" "&RangeCorrected.Words.Item(Cnt-1)
&_
" "&RangeCorrected.Words.Item(Cnt)&VbCrLf
End If
'
Else
Status= "All words in the clipboard were spelled correctly"
MsgBox Status
End If
'
oWD.ActiveDocument.Close wdDoNotSaveChanges
oWD.Quit
Set oWD=Nothing

'< ------ end script
----------------------------------------------------------------->

> I didn't see any TypeText method or the equivalent in the VBScript User'sNo. You asked if you could send text using SendKeys
without needing a 3rd-party tool to put the text on
the clipboard. That's what I posted.

I have no idea what "TypeText" is, or what your "Selection"
object is. Why do you assume that people would know
a method from some other language?

"Larry" <larry328NOSPAM@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OlLV%23FA%23JHA.4168@xxxxxxI haven't played with AutoIt for a while, so I'm kind of rusty. I always
used the AutoIt control. When I last used AutoIt, I would use it to wait
until some desired window opened, partially by AutoIt's searching for some
specified string displayed in the window. Then I would have AutoIt move the
cursor to the desired spot on the screen and click the desired spot or use
SendKeys to insert the string.

Read AutoIt's online documentation at
http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/docs/. One section you will especially
want to read is using the AutoIt Window Info Tool and the rest of the Using
AutoIt section should give you the rest of the info you need.

-Paul Randall

Well, VBscript has a lot in common with VBA, and VBA has the typetext method
by which a string can be inserted directly into a document, so I thought
there might be something similar to that with scripting.

In any case, I didn't understand your message. It was about creating and
saving a txt file, it wasn't about inserting a string of text, which is what
I'm trying to figure out.

To repeat, this is what I do with several of my .vbs files, which I run
using Winkey. A string has already been created, it is transferred to the
Clipboard, and then it is pasted into whatever application is the active
application:

Set oWSH = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set oAutoIt = WScript.CreateObject("AutoItX3.Control")
oAutoIt.ClipPut(sText)
oWSH.SendKeys"^v"

I simply wanted to see if there was an even simpler way of doing the same
thing, not involving putting the string in the Clipboard but inserting the
string directly.

Larry

What I'm doing has nothing to do with looking for any particular window. The
window I want to paste or insert into is already active. Think of this as
the equivalent of pressing Ctrl+V to paste the Clipboard contents into the
active window, except that what I'm doing here is pasting or inserting a
string that's been created in a .vbs file.

VBA comes in many flavors, a different one for each of the applications
within the Microsoft Office Suite. These VBA versions have special
knowledge of the application, but can't necessarily do these special things
to other applications. VBScript also does not have this ability. It can
only do a generic SendKeys. AutoIt can look for a specific control within a
window, and perhaps cause VBScript's SendKeys to send the keystrokes to the
spot you want. Lots of windows contain multiple controls, and VBScript
isn't smart enough to send them to the proper control.

Note that SendKeys is dumb, in that it just blindly sends keystrokes to
whatever application is active. If an antivirus or other service pops up a
message while VBScript is sending a group of keystrokes, the message will
likely become the active window and get some or all of the keystrokes.

-Paul Randall

"Larry" <larry328NOSPAM@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eqKsnFG%23JHA.4900@xxxxxx