tying together software with scripts in windows: help.

[blackthought]

hi.

i'm attempting to tie together a series of windows programs that are used sequentially one after the other.

(ie: 1. CAD tool & FE mesh generator, 2. Boundary Condition Specifier, 3. Analysis specifier, 4. Run Analysis, 5. Post-processer - a Tektronic Emulator .... they're all seperate software packages that need to be run one after the other, and are quite tedious)

my problem is that i need to automate some point and click commands and menu driven options within the programs as they are running.

the programs are from a commercial developer and i only have the binary exectuables available to me, so modifying the programs to have command line flags to replace the pointing and clicking is not an option.

i am a total novice to windows programming and scripting, and i am wondering what is the best way i can do this?

i do not have access to VBA. is it possible to use just VBS scripts to call non-microsoft programs sequentially and in the process automate some point and click type commands? or do i need something more powerful?

any advice?

thanks.

 

[blackthought]

correction: vb6 is available to me. i'm a total novice like i said, so is it possible to implement what i've stated above using vb6, as the scripting tool?

 

[DickRussell]

See if the various pieces of software have the option of taking command line arguments, for driving them in "batch" mode instead of GUI mode. Some do.

Otherwise see if there are keyboard shortcuts for the packages, and if such are supported then look for programs that let you execute a program and feed it keystrokes from a programmed sequence.