From: "Marvin Gülker" <sutniuq@...>
Date: 2009-12-29T03:49:42+09:00
Subject: Re: [ANN] au3 0.1.1 released

Roger Pack wrote:
> Marvin Gülker wrote:
>> au3 0.1.1 has been released. au3 is a library that allows you to
>> automate and simulate (fake) user input to a Windows system by using the
>> DLL interface of AutoIt behind the scenes. Abilities include:
>> * Cursor movement
>> * Key pressing
>> * Window interaction
>> * Clipboard access
>> * ...
> 
> Oh wow.  This feels one step closer to an AutoHotKey written in Ruby... 
> :)
> -r

Thank you. :)

Indeed, I've struggled a lot with the Windows API to get rid of the 
dependency of AutoItX, but I've given up on it, because I wasn't able to 
master the #pack and #unpack methods. Many functions of the WinAPI want 
unions of structs of structs of ... of... and till today I don't know 
how to pack a struct into a struct. Easy procedures like the 
GetCursorPos() function just take a POINT struct that I have to pack 
before and unpack after the call again - but when it comes to keyboard 
simulation, I have to provide a whole bunch of structs in structs, 
because I can't take advantage of the struct's default values in Ruby 
(I'm using the win32-api gem for such tasks). If I provide a packed 
struct that misses some parameters, hoping the missing ones will be 
filled by the default ones, I only get error responses. Also, my C 
knowledge is not the best. Maybe you've noticed au3's first release, 
which has been a C extension - but since I never programmed in C before 
the style has been horrible. ;-)

So, if you could help me out with #pack and #unpack, especially with 
structs in structs (I would look for an example from the WinAPI, if you 
want) I would start working on that again.

Marvin
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