Win32::OLE alternative for Windows 7?

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

My screensaver defeat program relied on...

use Win32::OLE

...for access to the keyboard. But that module has not been updated since 2008-04-17. And the original no longer works since Windows 7. Any recommendations for access to the keyboard and mouse of Windows 7 via Perl?

In particular does anyone know if Win32::GuiTest functions okay on Win7?

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Re: Win32::OLE alternative for Windows 7? (jiggle) by tye (Sage) on Jan 25, 2012 at 22:33 UTC
My simple Keep the playback rolling (Win32) that uses Win32::GuiTest to jiggle the mouse works just fine on Windows 7. - tye	[reply]
Re^2: Win32::OLE alternative for Windows 7? (jiggle) by aplonis (Pilgrim) on Jan 26, 2012 at 00:21 UTC
Good to know. Thanks! Your's was the script I was thinking to maybe borrow a splice of code from. Mine is mostly just Tk widgets so the feature will pause on command, and auto turn itself off at a given time lest anyone accidentally forget. Those were features asked for by my boss at the time when I'd first wrote it.	[reply]
Re: Win32::OLE alternative for Windows 7? by VinsWorldcom (Prior) on Jan 25, 2012 at 21:44 UTC
What specifically about Win32::OLE "no longer works since Windows 7"? I'm using Win32::OLE for automation with Excel 2010 and Outlook 2010 on Windows 7 with Strawberry Perl 5.12.3 and there are no issues. Note I originally wrote the scripts with Active Perl 5.10.1 on Windows XP to interface with Outlook 2003 and Excel 2003 and have not had to make a single update due to the 'move' (Perl distributions/versions, Windows versions, program versions).	[reply]
Re^2: Win32::OLE alternative for Windows 7? by aplonis (Pilgrim) on Jan 25, 2012 at 22:03 UTC
My CUFP at... Screensaver defeat for Win32 ...opens and runs but has no effect on defeating the screensaver in Win7. It worked always before on 2000, XP and Vista by periodically sending keystrokes for scrolllock or null. Mostly I have always run it as an EXE exported from PP. I have no level of detail other than that. I simply called and used the module, dullard that I am. This is via experience from work. I have no Win7 machines at home. I'll try to borrow one and explore further.	[reply]
Re: Win32::OLE alternative for Windows 7? by wwe (Friar) on Jan 31, 2012 at 15:47 UTC
There is a wonderful programm caffeine.exe which works fine on windows 7.	[reply]