{"id":1925,"date":"2016-12-06T10:23:57","date_gmt":"2016-12-06T15:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swildow.darktech.org\/wp\/?p=1925"},"modified":"2016-12-06T10:23:57","modified_gmt":"2016-12-06T15:23:57","slug":"automating-software-installation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/blog\/?p=1925","title":{"rendered":"Automating software installation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Automating software installation<\/a><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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If you are a techie you know how annoying it is to install software over and over again on the systems you setup everyday. I always tried to find a way how to automate those tasks, so I could have time for myself while the scripts do the work. I tried many scripting programs from Windows Host script, Kixtart and many more scripting programs including full programming language packages like visual Basic and Delphi, but none of them fit my purpose.<\/p>\n

Kixtart is a cool scripting program if you have a domain, and want to automate some basic daily tasks. The syntax is like that of Windows Host scripting. AutoIt v3 http:\/\/www.autoitscript.com\/autoit3\/<\/a> is a freeware BASIC-like scripting language designed for automating the Windows GUI and general scripting. It uses a combination of simulated keystrokes, mouse movement and window\/control manipulation in order to automate tasks.<\/p>\n

AutoIT can:
\nProvide a general-purpose scripting language for all Windows versions
\nSimulate keystrokes (supports most keyboard layouts)
\nSimulate mouse movements and clicks
\nMove, resize and manipulate windows
\nInteract directly with \u201ccontrols\u201d on a window (set\/get text from edit controls, check boxes and radio buttons, select items in drop-down lists, etc.)
\nCreate complex user interfaces (GUIs)
\nWork with the clipboard to cut\/paste text items
\nProvide a scriptable RunAs function for Windows 2000\/XP\/2003.<\/p>\n

As you can see there is a lot you can do with autoit, I read on forums that there are people using it to automate keystrokes to beat some games. I use autoit at work to automate almost everything from software installation, printer setups, database moves, outlook configurations, joining computers to the domain, and all repetitive tasks I do everyday, so I\u2019ve created scripts to make my work easier. If you haven\u2019t play with scripting before, at the beginning it feels confusing, and it gives you that feeling that is way too complex for you, but as you get into everything becomes clearer, and you will be programming cool scripts in no time. This is one of the first scripts I wrote to automate the installation of office,
\n; THIS SCRIPT WILL AUTOMATE THE INSTALLATION OF OFFICE 2003
\nRun (\u201c\\\\ the path to where we have the shared folder for software\\SETUP.EXE\u201d)
\nWinWaitActive (\u201cMicrosoft Office 2003 Setup\u201d, \u201cProduct Key\u201d)
\nSend (\u201c!n\u201d)
\n; this window is for the user name and password
\nWinWaitActive (\u201cMicrosoft Office 2003 Setup\u201d, \u201cUser Information\u201d)
\nsend (\u201cCompany_name\u201d)
\nsend (\u201c!n\u201d)
\n; license agreements windows
\nWinWaitActive (\u201cMicrosoft Office 2003 Setup\u201d, \u201cEnd-User License Agreement\u201d)
\nsend (\u201c{+}\u201d)
\nsend (\u201c!n\u201d)
\n; type of installation
\nWinWaitActive (\u201cMicrosoft Office 2003 Setup\u201d, \u201cType of Installation\u201d)
\nsend (\u201c{DOWN}\u201d)
\nsend (\u201c!n\u201d)
\n;Office Now is ready to begin the Installation
\nWinWaitActive (\u201cMicrosoft Office 2003 Setup\u201d, \u201cSummary\u201d)
\nsend (\u201c{ENTER}\u201d)
\n;Finishing Installation in Office
\nWinActivate (\u201cMicrosoft Office 2003 Setup\u201d, \u201cSetup Completed\u201d)
\nsend (\u201c{ENTER}\u201d)
\nAnd this is the software installation interface I created when I started playing with autoit *you can compile the script to run on computers that don\u2019t have autoit installed*
\n\"\"Now this little interface is well elaborated with much more software options to install and I have put a banner of my company logo on the background. Like the picture below;\"\"<\/p>\n

Download it and play with it, and if you have any question drop me a line I will be more than happy to help you to get some work done automatically.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Automating software installation \u00a0 If you are a techie you know how annoying it is to install software over and over again on the systems you setup everyday. I always tried to find a way how to automate those tasks, … Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scripting","category-windows"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1926,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925\/revisions\/1926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wildow.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}