October 3, 2013

Automating Google

Filed under: Automation, Scripting — Marcus Tettmar @ 1:59 pm

This has come up a few times lately so I thought I’d post it here.

One or two people have been asking about writing a Macro Scheduler script that performs a Google search and pulls back the resulting URLs. They have discovered that trying to automate Google can be awkward because of the dynamic nature of the page. As soon as you type in the search box the page changes because it is updating in real time.

Some people suggested using HTTPRequest to get the page content directly and then parse it with RegEx. This can be done but is also tricky because you’re getting back all the dynamic code and other stuff like adwords ads etc and it is hard to find the right patterns.

There’s an easier way. Use their API URL instead. E.g.:

http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/search/web?v=1.0&q=Apple%20Pie&rsz=large&start=1

This performs a search for “Apple Pie”. Try it in your browser and you’ll see the content is less cluttered and it is easy to parse. It returns 8 results. For the next 8 you would change the start parameter to 9, and so on.

So here’s a simple example script which takes a search term, specifies how many results to get, extracts the URLs and writes them to a text file:

September 26, 2013

Macro Scheduler in the Winter Olympics

Filed under: Announcements, Automation, Macro Recorder — Marcus Tettmar @ 12:29 pm

Macro Scheduler on Skis? No, not exactly. But your favourite automation software and macro recorder will apparently be helping behind the scenes at the Winter Olympics next year in Sochi.

I received this message from Stefano Frattini, DT Manager at Olympic Broadcasting Services SL, yesterday:

You’ll be happy to know that a small Macro Scheduler script will be running on a service channel machine at the Sochi Olympics next year. The script is controlling the download, verification and sorting of weather information files which actually feed a TV channel from OBS (Host Broadcaster) called Olympic Weather Channel. This channel is distributed to all the Rights Holder Broadcasters during the SOCHI Olympic Games.

September 20, 2013

September 19, 2013

September 13, 2013

September 6, 2013

Prism and Dilbert

Filed under: General — Marcus Tettmar @ 8:40 am

Love today’s Dilbert cartoon. Had to share it.

September 3, 2013

July 15, 2013

July 11, 2013

From the Archives: Version Control For Your Scripts

Filed under: General — Marcus Tettmar @ 8:38 am

Version control allows you to keep track of changes you make to scripts.  It’s like a supercharged backup system.  Each time you make changes and check in you have a new “version”.  Make a mistake or need to “back out” a change and it is possible to go back to a previous version.

Here’s the original article:

http://www.mjtnet.com/blog/2007/10/26/version-control-for-your-scripts/

July 8, 2013

Macro Scheduler’s Resume

Filed under: Announcements, General — Marcus Tettmar @ 9:05 am

If Macro Scheduler was applying for a job?:

RESUME
Macro Scheduler

Tel UK: +44 (0)208 099 3431
Tel USA: +1 360 519 5383
Web: http://www.mjtnet.com/

Goals:

I seek work in any organisation doing almost anything you can do on a computer. I work really fast and you wouldn’t even know I was there. I can do anything a human can do and you don’t even need to pay me (apart from the small, initial license fee). I’ll even work 24 hours a day. My ambition is to make everyone’s lives easier by carrying out your mundane computer tasks and performing jobs at night when everyone else would rather be in bed. I can save your company a huge amount of money and free up your valuable time. My goal is to streamline your computing and improve your productivity.

Skill Sets:

Task automation, job scheduling, macro recording, automated software testing, web application automation, automated data entry, software installation streamlining, data retrieval and data consolidation, application integration, file transfers, simplification of complicated tasks, automation of data extraction and report generation, batch processing.

Education and Qualifications:

I learnt everything I know from my makers at MJT Net Ltd who are experts in software automation. They programmed me and gave me my powerful, easy to understand, scripting language and built the functionality that makes it easy to employ me for task automation. I am an expert in user interface scripting, Microsoft VBScript, OLE/ActiveX automation, GUI building, user simulation and computer control.

Summary of Work Experience:

I’ve worked in thousands of different companies world-wide. I can be cloned easily so I have actually worked at lots of different places at the same time. I’ve done Load Testing for JD Edwards and Motorola, Order Processing at Eastman Kodak, Software Installation for the US Environment Protection Agency, performance benchmarking for Pacejet and all sorts of amazing things for hundreds of other people. I’ve been employed by NASA, but I’m not allowed to tell you what I did there. I’ve been utilised by most of the Fortune 500, simplified front desk procedures in high street banks, automated sound file uploads for the BBC, automated play lists for Sirius Satellite Radio, helped with research projects in universities, and generally improved productivity for companies large and small around the world.

Examples of my Work:
Read Success Stories and Usage Scenarios here.

References:
You’ll find testimonials and references here.

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