[AccessD] Date Modified

On 12 Aug 2004 at 17:06, paul.hartland at fsmail.net wrote:

>> That will work where the scripting runtime is installed, but IME almost
>> every company forbids its installation because it is so potentially
>> dangerous.

> Never knew about this, what are the potential dangers ?

Viruses/trojans commonly use it. I always disable it on all my client's 
machines.

Talking of scripting, if anyone is familiar with AutoIt, I've just 
discovered that a new Version 3 was released earlier this year. It's a huge 
improvement over v2.  

See http://www.hiddensoft.com/autoit3/

For those who aren't familiar with it:

"AutoIt v3 is an opensource BASIC-like scripting language designed for 
automating the Windows GUI.  It uses a combination of simulated keystrokes, 
mouse movement and window/control manipulation in order to automate tasks 
in a way not possible or reliable with other languages (e.g. VBScript and 
SendKeys).

AutoIt was initially designed for PC "roll out" situations to configure 
thousands of PCs, but with the arrival of v3 it is also well suited to 
performing home automation and the scripting of repetitive tasks.

AutoIt can:

    *  Provide a general-purpose scripting language 
    *  Execute Windows and DOS executables
    *  Simulate key-strokes (supports most keyboard layouts)
    *  Simulate mouse movements and clicks
    *  Move, resize and manipulate windows
    *  Interact directly with "controls" on a window (set/get text from 
edit controls, check boxes and radio buttons, select items in drop-down 
lists, etc.)
    *  Work with the clipboard to cut/paste text items
    *  Work with the registry

Unlike AutoIt v2, the new v3 language has a much more standard syntax -
similar to VBScript and BASIC - and now supports complex expressions, user 
functions, looping and everything else that veteran scripters would 
expect."

Note, you can also compile AutoIt scripts into very tight standalone 
applications. A great little tool.





-- 
Stuart