Logical Macro w/ Perl

Grygonos has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I have a list of memberID numbers to look up in an application's database. I want to read the memberID's from a db or a file and interact with this other application in a macro style. Here's the pseudo code of what I'm trying to accomplish

#!/pseudo -w

use pseudostrict;
use DBI;

my $dbh = DBI->connect('dbi:ODBC:DB',$login,$pass);

my $query = q{SELECT MemberID
              FROM UnfinishedRequests WITH (NOLOCK)};

my $sth = $dbh->prepare($query);

$sth->execute();

while(my @row = $sth->fetchrow_arrayref)
{
     #Copy the MemberID to the clipboard
     #Swap to make the db app the active app
     #Paste the MemberID into the other app's query box
     #A Dialog box pops up on the other app if there is not a hit for 
+that MemberID.  I want to be able to tell if that box is present... i
+f it is not record it in my database as a hit.. other wise not found.
}

$dbh->disconnect();
[download]

I didn't even know what to search for on CPAN. Anyone have any ideas on how to get me started?

Grygonos

Comment on Logical Macro w/ Perl Download Code

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Re: Logical Macro w/ Perl by CountZero (Bishop) on Dec 23, 2003 at 22:21 UTC
What OS are you using? If you are on Windows, perhaps the Win32::* modules (esp. Win32::OLE and its brethren) might come in handy. Or perhaps the "other" application exposes an API you can tap into. Or maybe it has a command line interface hidden away somewhere? If you are not on a version of Windows, I have no idea what to answer, but surely other Monks will jump in and help you. CountZero "If you have four groups working on a compiler, you'll get a 4-pass compiler." - Conway's Law	[reply]
Re: Logical Macro w/ Perl by maa (Pilgrim) on Dec 24, 2003 at 14:48 UTC
Hi, as has already been noted it's not possible to tell exactly what you're after however I've done stuff like this in MS Office apps before - it's not always straightforward to automate a Select-Copy-SwitchApp-Paste operation even within standard Office apps... Assuming one of the apps is a MS Office app you should hit `ALT+F11` and create a new module in the VBA IDE then figure out what you want to do with `Application.SendKeys` (using the Windows help to get the special characters for ALT/Ctrl etc) then, once you know what you want to do (doesn't really have to be quite working) try converting it to Perl (if that's the best solution)... `'This is VBA in Excel Dim thisBook as Workbook 'need to add ref in Tools/References Dim otherApp as Word.Application Set otherApp = GetObject("Work.Application") otherApp.Activate 'Send the keystrokes... Application.SendKeys "keystrokes"` [download] and in Perl `use strict; use Win32::OLE; my $WordApp = Win32::OLE->GetActiveObject("Word.Application"); #blah blah` [download] HTH - Mark	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Re: Logical Macro w/ Perl by Grygonos (Chaplain) on Dec 24, 2003 at 23:56 UTC
Sorry for not being more specific. It is not a Win32::OLE kind of issue. This is a Java app that my company has access to. The provider of the information and the app has things down pretty tight. you can't copy/select any data out of the application. I don't have access to the Java source either because It's accessed via the net and only after logging into their system can going through some clicks can I even open the app. Grygonos	[reply]