Pixel Control - a New Range of AutoClickExtreme Opportunities
Pixel Control and How It Can Be Used
Pixel Control allows AutoClickExtreme to find the needed images on the screen and to bind mouse events to these images. In the ordinary mode AutoClickExtreme "sees" window frames and window properties. So, to find the needed window, AutoClickExtreme analyzes a number of different window parameters and compares them. For instance, if the window "Untitled - Notepad" is not found, but the window "File name - Notepad" is opened, AutoClickExtreme will wait for a set amount of time and then do the recorded actions in the opened window. (If you wish, you can make the search conditions more strict.) Thus, the program is flexible and in most cases correct. But what if the needed window should have not only the certain properties, but also certain content? For example, suppose a web browser has the necessary title, and its windows are ready for input, but the site content hasn't loaded yet; in other words, the web browser is not ready for work. It's not a problem for a user - he waits for certain images to appear on the screen and continues the work. After all, the message "Ready" in Internet Explorer status bar will certainly help to understand that the work can be continued.
Why not make an automation program do the same thing? Why not make it understand (judging by certain images) with 100% certainty, that it can continue its work? Why not make the program more human? Such a simple and useful idea is at last realized in AutoClickExtreme. Press the NumLock key twice during Record, and you can not only mark the needed pixel area (the image, which will be waited for during Replay), but you can also define a mouse event which will accompany the found image.
More Reliability and Opportunities
How does a user work with the tray? He finds the needed application icon and clicks on it with a mouse. Now AutoClickExtreme can do the same thing. It can also work with Quick Launch, the Task Bar, etc. In this case, incorrect events are impossible. If AutoClickExtreme doesn't find the necessary image, it stops the Replay. (If you select "Allow Replay after search failure", the Replay will continue anyway.)
Activating Pixel Control in AutoClickExtreme
Activating Pixel Control during Record is very simple. It consists of 4 stages:
1. When you press the NumLock key twice during Record, the screen
freezes and the mouse cursor changes to a
sign.
Recording temporarily stops. At this moment you can diagonally mark the area
on the screen to be found during Replay. (If you press Escape, the recording
continues, and Pixel Control will be cancelled at that location.)
2. When the image is marked, it appears on the screen framed, and the
cursor over this area changes to a
sign. At
this point, AutoClickExtreme is ready to "remember" what mouse action you
would like to do with the marked image. (If you make a double left mouse
button click, for example, the program will make a double left mouse button
click during Replay.) If you press Enter, AutoClickExtreme (during Replay)
will simply look for the needed image on the screen without performing any
additional mouse events.
3. After defining the needed image and related mouse event,
AutoClickExtreme makes a 10-second test search for the necessary image and
performs the related mouse actions, if any. In case of a failure,
AutoClickExtreme suggests interrupting the Record process.
4. Record continues in the ordinary mode.
During Replay, AutoClickExtreme
will search for the selected image. If the image is found, AutoClickExtreme
will perform the related mouse event, if it was defined. Then all the
actions recorded (after Pixel Control) will be replayed. Image search
speed is quite high on modern computers. It is 0.2 sec., if your processor
is 2.2 GHz and screen resolution is 1280x1024. Anyway, AutoClickExtreme finds labels on
the Desktop faster than is humanly possible!
You can also read:
Shortfalls of AutoClickExtreme