June 25, 2001

Dear OKScript User,

The OKScript Status Report is sent to OKScript licensees,
developers and friends when significant updates have been made
to the program. Interesting techniques and applications for the
program will also be distributed in the report periodically. To
be removed from the distribution list send your request to me
at yweare@gte.net or go directly to 

http://www.egroups.com.

Topics covered in this issue include:
- OKScript development status.
- Using OKScript to automate data entry into forms.

OKScript was last updated on November 20, 2000. I've been
looking into adding features that would allow OKScript to
interact with the Windows Scripting Host via the VBScript
language. VBScript provides a set of capabilities in Windows
that batch files (in a more limited way) provided in MSDOS. I am
interested in knowing how useful VBScript access from OKScript
would be to current users. For more information on VBScript,
visit:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting/default.htm?/scripting/vbscript/default.htm

Many OKScript users have found interesting applications for the
program beyond OKbridge automation. I discuss one of these
below. If you've found techniques or applications for OKScript
that could be useful or instructive to other users let me know
and I'll write them up in future issues.


One automation task that I see OKScript used for occasionally is
form completion. For example, a teacher might be required to
submit student grades through a program or website that presents
a form for each student with fields for grade and comments.
Completing these fields for each student can be tedious
exercize. An OKScript button panel containing a button for each
grade and each frequently needed comment can be easily created 
to automate this task. Let's look at the instruction to create 
a typical grade button first:

BUTTON B+ red Explorer ~{down}{down}{down}{down}{tab}

This instruction assumes that the form is being displayed in
Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which this button will activate.
If the form were displayed in some other application the 
"Explorer" parameter would be changed to reflect this. It also 
assumes that the form's grade field is of the dropdown selection 
type and has the input focus. The alt-down (~{down}) in the 
instruction will pull down the list of grade choices and the
subsequent {down}'s select the desired grade. The final {tab}
enters the selected grade into the field and moves on to the
form's next field, which I assume here is for comments.

Undoubtedly a few comment phrases will be used often. These can
be automated into buttons, much like alert messages are in
OKbridge. The key to designing these instructions is to assure
that the desired field in the form has the input focus. Input
focus can be shifted around a form in most Windows applications
by hitting (or sending) tab or shift-tab (+{tab}) characters.
Depending on the form's design you may have to send some of
these in your script to set the input focus properly.


For more information, suggestions or interesting techniques or
applications for OKScript, write me at yweare@gte.net, or visit
the website at http://home1.gte.net/yweare.

Thank you for your support in developing OKScript.

Michael Mardesich
okb://mikezzz