Ever since Macro Scheduler has supported VBScript it has been possible to control Internet Explorer directly via it’s ActiveX interface. Here are some examples:
http://www.mjtnet.com/usergroup/viewtopic.php?t=1511
http://www.mjtnet.com/usergroup/viewtopic.php?t=1461
However, this approach requires a fair amount of coding and, for complex IE scripting, a good understanding of the Document Object Model. That’s why we developed WebRecorder. WebRecorder is like a tabbed browser. As you surf WebRecorder watches what you click on and monitors form field entries and builds a script as you go. When you’re done you simply run the script in Macro Scheduler and the activity is played back. WebRecorder cuts out any need for coding and also copes better with nested frames where VBScript fails due to site scripting security limitations.
Macro Scheduler has supported VBScript, and therefore the ability to automate IE and do things like wait for pages to finish loading, and click on tags etc, since 1998. WebRecorder was introduced in 2004. As much as I hate to admit it there are other products out there that do similar things. So imagine how shocked I was the other day when I stumbled across a website for another macro product that claimed it had unique internet functionality that no other software had. It claims that it is the only macro product that can wait for a page to finish loading! That’s a pretty bold statement to make, and quite clearly untrue. I’m not even sure if that’s legal. If nothing else it is misleading and unhelpful.
I’ve always done my very best to make sure we can back up any of our marketing material. I do not believe in making claims that can’t be supported. At MJT we try our best to respond to queries as honestly and helpfully as possible and have been known to suggest an alternative product if we think ours isn’t suited to the customer’s needs exactly. So I was quite surprised to see a competitor making such blatently false statements. But I don’t see it doing them any favours. Software buyers are pretty savvy people these days and will see through hype like that. I hope.
