I have been evaluating 3 automation softwares, winautomation, automation anywhere and automate 8.
I can tell you I definitely like automate 8 the best, it has all the features I need and is the most user friendly. But there's 1 thing I really miss in Automate 8, and it's the move mouse to image function. Both of the other 2 softwares do have this function, you can use a rectangle to select a certain part of a page, and the software will than try to find this image on your screen, and if found, move your mouse to it.
I'm currently automating software where there are buttons which can change position, and move mouse to object doesn't work on them. (I really tried everything, disabling and enabling certain aspect of the move mouse to object function.) I have managed to automate it but I had to use a huge workaround.
Implementing the move mouse to image function would be great.

Edited: 11/10/2011 at 07:32 AM by AutoMate Discussion Moderator

Hi JordyV,

I will suggest that a Move Mouse to Image action be implemented.

In the mean time, the buttons on your application's forms may be identifiable by just the Object name and Window title, does that simplfy it? Sometimes fewer criteria makes identifying the object more successful.

-------------------------
- Rick Johnson
Network Automation

I would agree with JordyV. This feature would be a terrific feature to have added. In one phase of our tests, we essentially VNC into a Windows CE system which cannot utilize Automate functionality. With an implementation of image functions, this would allow us to automate tests on these platforms.

Thank you


-------------------------
Trevor Jager
Principal Engineer
PeopleNet

Automate 9.0.4.5
Automate 11.0.1.17
Windows 7, Windows 10

Hi Trevor,

We agree as well, this would be useful - and it is on the list of features to consider implementing.

-------------------------
- Rick Johnson
Network Automation

I have come up with a way of searching a specified area for an image by using an external program to do it. Autohotkey is an application and scripting tool that can find an image within a screen. I have tied this into an example automate script that will find the image.

If you would like to try this out, you can feel free to do so.

You can find the Autohotkey download at the following location.
http://www.autohotkey.com/download/
You can change the find_image.txt extension to ahk to let the file work.
Put the attached files in the C:\ directory.

If you zero in closer to the location in the ahk file, it can find the image much more quickly than this task since it is checking a large area.





Task Steps: (Right click, Select All, Copy to copy to the clipboard. Steps can then be pasted into the AutoMate Task Builder)
<!-- Task: Click on Image Created by Trevor Jager Date Created: 2/26/2011 Task Purpose: This task is designed to find an image on a page, move to the image and click on it. External tools utilized: Autohotkey is an external automation tool that can be utilized to find the upper left hand coordinates of the desired image. The Web Address for Autohotkey is: http://www.autohotkey.com/ The reference for the image search command within Autohotkey is: http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/commands/ImageSearch.htm Download Autohotkey and place it in your root directory in order for this task to work. --> <!-- Variable Section --> <AMVARIABLE NAME="coordinates">0</AMVARIABLE> <AMVARIABLE NAME="x_coord"></AMVARIABLE> <AMVARIABLE NAME="y_coord"></AMVARIABLE> <AMVARIABLE NAME="file_name"></AMVARIABLE> <AMSHOWDIALOG ACTIVITY="select" MESSAGETEXT="What image would you like to click on?" RESULTVARIABLE="file_name" LISTTYPE="list" ITEMS="URC page" VALUES="na_urc" INDEXSELECTED="1" WINDOWTITLE="What image would you like to click on?" /> <AMCLIPBOARDSET>0</AMCLIPBOARDSET> <!-- Create the ahk file to run with Autohotkey --> <AMIF ACTION="not_exist" FILE="c:\find_image.ahk"> <AMFILEWRITE FILE="c:\find_image.ahk" APPEND="NO">CoordMode Pixel, Screen ; Interprets the coordinates below as relative to the screen rather than the active window. ImageSearch, FoundX, FoundY, 0, 0, 1200, 1000, *200 %%1%% if ErrorLevel = 2 ; clipboard = Image file could not be found MsgBox Could not conduct the search. else if ErrorLevel = 1 ; clipboard = Image could not be found in the search area MsgBox Image could not be found on the screen or in the search area. else CoordMode Pixel, Screen MouseMove, %%FoundX%%, %%FoundY%% clipboard = %%FoundX%%,%%FoundY%% ; MsgBox The icon was found at %%FoundX%%x%%FoundY%%. </AMFILEWRITE> </AMIF> <!-- Open the Network Automation Home Page --> <AMBROWSER URL="http://www.networkautomation.com/" /> <!-- Run Autohotkey with the selected parameters --> <AMMOUSEMOVE MOVEX="52" MOVEY="632" RELATIVETO="screen" /> <AMPAUSE ACTION="waitfor" SCALAR="2" /> <AMRUN FILE="c:\autohotkey.exe c:\find_image.ahk c:\%file_name%.jpg" /> <!-- Click on the selected Image --> <AMLABEL LABELNAME="Check Clipboard" /> <AMIF EXPRESSION="%coordinates% = 0"> <AMCLIPBOARDGET RESULTVARIABLE="coordinates" /> <AMSHOWDIALOG BUTTONS="ok_cancel" ONSECONDBUTTONCLICK="stop" COUNTDOWNDELAY="5" XPOS="30" YPOS="400">If the coordinates are 0, your image has not yet been found. The location of your image is: %coordinates%</AMSHOWDIALOG> <AMGOTO LABELNAME="Check Clipboard" /> </AMIF> <AMCLIPBOARDGET RESULTVARIABLE="coordinates" /> <!-- Split the Coordinates --> <AMSET VARIABLENAME="x_coord">%Split(coordinates, &quot;,&quot;) (0)%</AMSET> <AMSET VARIABLENAME="y_coord">%Split(coordinates, &quot;,&quot;) (1)%</AMSET> <!-- Move and click the mouse on the image --> <AMMOUSEMOVE MOVEX="%x_coord + 10%" MOVEY="%y_coord + 10%" RELATIVETO="screen" /> <AMMOUSECLICK CLICK="double" />




-------------------------
Trevor Jager
Principal Engineer
PeopleNet

Automate 9.0.4.5
Automate 11.0.1.17
Windows 7, Windows 10

Hi Trevor,

Thank you for that workaround!

-------------------------
- Rick Johnson
Network Automation

Hello, everybody, I need to perform a task similar in this topic ... So I decided to do everything poprobovovat as here described. And I had the first problem immediately, pictures that I put in the search for less than 10x10 pixels is not looking for a script. why is that? and whether it is possible to somehow fix it?

Hi Darow,

Would it be possible to set-up a GoToAssist session where we can take a closer look at this issue? If this is possible please send an email over to support@networkautomation.com with a list of your availability.

Note: Please reference this forum thread in your email.


-------------------------

Ricardo Castaneda | Principal Support Analyst
AutoMate | Division of HelpSystems
HelpSystems, LLC | T: +1.213.738.1700

written to you on e-mail support @ networkautomation.kom as you asked

I made now a 16x16 image, but it is impossible to find it, who uses this function prompt in what could be the problem?

I came up search and click the mouse!

 

Task Steps: (Right click, Select All, Copy to copy to the clipboard. Steps can then be pasted into the AutoMate Task Builder)
<!-- Task: Click on Image Created by Trevor Jager Date Created: 2/26/2011 Task Purpose: This task is designed to find an image on a page, move to the image and click on it. External tools utilized: Autohotkey is an external automation tool that can be utilized to find the upper left hand coordinates of the desired image. The Web Address for Autohotkey is: http://www.autohotkey.com/ The reference for the image search command within Autohotkey is: http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/commands/ImageSearch.htm Download Autohotkey and place it in your root directory in order for this task to work. --> <!-- Variable Section --> <AMVARIABLE NAME="coordinates">0</AMVARIABLE> <AMVARIABLE NAME="x_coord"></AMVARIABLE> <AMVARIABLE NAME="y_coord"></AMVARIABLE> <AMVARIABLE NAME="file_name"></AMVARIABLE> <AMSHOWDIALOG ACTIVITY="select" MESSAGETEXT="What image would you like to click on?" RESULTVARIABLE="file_name" LISTTYPE="list" ITEMS="URC page" VALUES="na_urc" INDEXSELECTED="1" WINDOWTITLE="What image would you like to click on?" COUNTDOWNDELAY="2" /> <AMCLIPBOARDSET>0</AMCLIPBOARDSET> <!-- Create the ahk file to run with Autohotkey --> <AMIF ACTION="not_exist" FILE="c:\find_image.ahk"> <AMFILEWRITE FILE="c:\find_image.ahk" APPEND="NO">CoordMode Pixel, Screen ; Interprets the coordinates below as relative to the screen rather than the active window. ImageSearch, FoundX, FoundY, 0, 0, 1200, 1000, *200 %%1%% if ErrorLevel = 2 ; clipboard = Image file could not be found MsgBox Could not conduct the search. else if ErrorLevel = 1 ; clipboard = Image could not be found in the search area MsgBox Image could not be found on the screen or in the search area. else CoordMode Pixel, Screen MouseMove, %%FoundX%%, %%FoundY%% clipboard = %%FoundX%%,%%FoundY%% ; MsgBox The icon was found at %%FoundX%%x%%FoundY%%. </AMFILEWRITE> </AMIF> <!-- Open the Network Automation Home Page --> <AMPAUSE ACTION="waitfor" SCALAR="2" /> <!-- Run Autohotkey with the selected parameters --> <AMINPUT ACTIVITY="move_mouse" X="500" Y="200" RELATIVETO="screen" /> <AMPAUSE ACTION="waitfor" SCALAR="2" /> <AMRUN FILE="c:\Program Files (x86)\AutoHotkey\autohotkey.exe c:\find_image.ahk c:\file_name.png" /> <!-- Click on the selected Image --> <AMLABEL LABELNAME="Check Clipboard" /> <AMIF EXPRESSION="%coordinates% = 0"> <AMCLIPBOARDGET RESULTVARIABLE="coordinates" /> <AMSHOWDIALOG BUTTONS="ok_cancel" ONSECONDBUTTONCLICK="stop" COUNTDOWNDELAY="2" XPOS="30" YPOS="400">If the coordinates are 0, your image has not yet been found. The location of your image is: %coordinates%</AMSHOWDIALOG> <AMGOTO LABELNAME="Check Clipboard" /> </AMIF> <AMCLIPBOARDGET RESULTVARIABLE="coordinates" /> <!-- Split the Coordinates --> <AMSET VARIABLENAME="x_coord">%Split(coordinates, &quot;,&quot;) (0)%</AMSET> <AMSET VARIABLENAME="y_coord">%Split(coordinates, &quot;,&quot;) (1)%</AMSET> <!-- Move and click the mouse on the image --> <AMINPUT ACTIVITY="move_mouse" X="%x_coord + 1%" Y="%y_coord + 40%" RELATIVETO="screen" /> <AMPAUSE ACTION="waitfor" SCALAR="1" /> <AMINPUT ACTIVITY="click_mouse" />

But here's the problem turned out when trying to set up the same script to run through the second automate9, it gives an error:

 

Task Steps: (Right click, Select All, Copy to copy to the clipboard. Steps can then be pasted into the AutoMate Task Builder)
<!-- Task: Click on Image Created by Trevor Jager Date Created: 2/26/2011 Task Purpose: This task is designed to find an image on a page, move to the image and click on it. External tools utilized: Autohotkey is an external automation tool that can be utilized to find the upper left hand coordinates of the desired image. The Web Address for Autohotkey is: http://www.autohotkey.com/ The reference for the image search command within Autohotkey is: http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/commands/ImageSearch.htm Download Autohotkey and place it in your root directory in order for this task to work. --> <!-- Variable Section --> <AMVARIABLE NAME="coordinates">0</AMVARIABLE> <AMVARIABLE NAME="x_coord"></AMVARIABLE> <AMVARIABLE NAME="y_coord"></AMVARIABLE> <AMVARIABLE NAME="file_name"></AMVARIABLE> <AMSHOWDIALOG ACTIVITY="select" MESSAGETEXT="What image would you like to click on?" RESULTVARIABLE="file_name" LISTTYPE="list" ITEMS="URC page" VALUES="na_urc" INDEXSELECTED="1" WINDOWTITLE="What image would you like to click on?" COUNTDOWNDELAY="2" /> <AMCLIPBOARDSET>0</AMCLIPBOARDSET> <!-- Create the ahk file to run with Autohotkey --> <AMIF ACTION="not_exist" FILE="c:\find_image.ahk"> <AMFILEWRITE FILE="c:\find_image.ahk" APPEND="NO">CoordMode Pixel, Screen ; Interprets the coordinates below as relative to the screen rather than the active window. ImageSearch, FoundX, FoundY, 0, 0, 1200, 1000, *200 %%1%% if ErrorLevel = 2 ; clipboard = Image file could not be found MsgBox Could not conduct the search. else if ErrorLevel = 1 ; clipboard = Image could not be found in the search area MsgBox Image could not be found on the screen or in the search area. else CoordMode Pixel, Screen MouseMove, %%FoundX%%, %%FoundY%% clipboard = %%FoundX%%,%%FoundY%% ; MsgBox The icon was found at %%FoundX%%x%%FoundY%%. </AMFILEWRITE> </AMIF> <!-- Open the Network Automation Home Page --> <AMPAUSE ACTION="waitfor" SCALAR="2" /> <!-- Run Autohotkey with the selected parameters --> <AMINPUT ACTIVITY="move_mouse" X="500" Y="200" RELATIVETO="screen" /> <AMPAUSE ACTION="waitfor" SCALAR="2" /> <AMRUN FILE="c:\Program Files (x86)\AutoHotkey\autohotkey.exe c:\find_image.ahk c:\file_name.png" /> <!-- Click on the selected Image --> <AMLABEL LABELNAME="Check Clipboard" /> <AMIF EXPRESSION="%coordinates% = 0"> <AMCLIPBOARDGET RESULTVARIABLE="coordinates" /> <AMSHOWDIALOG BUTTONS="ok_cancel" ONSECONDBUTTONCLICK="stop" COUNTDOWNDELAY="2" XPOS="30" YPOS="400">If the coordinates are 0, your image has not yet been found. The location of your image is: %coordinates%</AMSHOWDIALOG> <AMGOTO LABELNAME="Check Clipboard" /> </AMIF> <AMCLIPBOARDGET RESULTVARIABLE="coordinates" /> <!-- Split the Coordinates --> <AMSET VARIABLENAME="x_coord">%Split(coordinates, &quot;,&quot;) (0)%</AMSET> <AMSET VARIABLENAME="y_coord">%Split(coordinates, &quot;,&quot;) (1)%</AMSET> <!-- Move and click the mouse on the image --> <AMINPUT ACTIVITY="move_mouse" X="%x_coord + 1%" Y="%y_coord + 40%" RELATIVETO="screen" /> <AMPAUSE ACTION="waitfor" SCALAR="1" /> <AMINPUT ACTIVITY="click_mouse" /> <AMPAUSE ACTION="waitfor" SCALAR="3" /> <AMSTARTTASK TASKFILE="C:\Users\???????\Desktop\1111111.aml" />

why does this happen? does not change anything, but the second time does not want to perform ... (((

Hi Darow,

We never received your email. Please try again support@networkautomation.com

-------------------------

Ricardo Castaneda | Principal Support Analyst
AutoMate | Division of HelpSystems
HelpSystems, LLC | T: +1.213.738.1700

unsubscribed from the address darow@mail.ru

Hi Darow,

We will create a ticket and work with you from there. Once we have resolved this issue we will update this thread.

-------------------------

Ricardo Castaneda | Principal Support Analyst
AutoMate | Division of HelpSystems
HelpSystems, LLC | T: +1.213.738.1700

well I do not mind