The renewal maintenance has officially ended for Progress iMacros effective November 30, 2023.
This Wiki site will also no longer be moderated from the Progress side.
Thank you again for your business and support.
Sincerely, The Progress Team
Web Scripting
Control via the Scripting Interface
The iMacros Scripting Edition (and the trial version) automatically installs the Scripting Interface. Using these powerful commands you can control iMacros with any Windows programming language that supports the use of COM objects.
Almost all Windows programming languages support this technology, including the free Windows Scripting Host, Visual Basic 6, Visual Basic .NET, C#, Java, Perl, Python, C++, ASP, PHP, ASP.NET. On the iOpus homepage [1] many examples for different programming languages can be found.
This Chapter will provide some examples of how to use the Scripting Interface. The examples will be using Visual Basic Script, Visual Basic .NET, starting iMacros from a web site, starting iMacros as a Windows Service, and running iMacros under a restricted user account such as in ASP/ASP:NET/PHP. On our web site we have tutorials for many other programming languages.
Example using Windows Scripting Host
Related example scripts: Examples\Windows Scripting Host
The Window Scripting Host interprets programs written in a language called Visual Basic Script, which is related to Visual Basic and the macro languages of the Microsoft Office package (VBA). Visual Basic Script files can be created and edited with any editor (e.g. Notepad), are executed by double-clicking them, and have the file ending .vbs.
The iMacros Browser is controlled from Visual Basic Script by calling commands of the Scripting Interface.
The following example creates an instance of the iMacros Browser, sets some variables, and plays a macro. The return value of the macro is then checked for errors. To run this example copy this text into a file with the ending .vbs, e.g. test.vbs. After double-clicking the file, iMacros will start in tray mode since in line 4 the command line switch -tray is activated. This means that an iMacros icon will apear in the system tray during replay. You can maximize iMacros by double-clicking this icon.
'initialize Scripting Interface Set iim1 = CreateObject ("IMacros") i = iim1.iimInit() ' setting variables i = iim1.iimSet("-var1", "Tom Tester") i = iim1.iimSet("-tray", "") ' displaying message i = iim1.iimDisplay("This is a test") ' play macro i = iim1.iimPlay("myfirstmacro") ' check success If i > 0 Then s = "Everything OK" Else s = iim1.iimGetLastError() End If MsgBox s ' exit iMacros i = iim1.iimExit()
Example using Visual Basic.NET
Related example scripts: Examples\Visual Basic
The following example is part of a Visual Basic project that creates an iMacrosBrowser instance, plays a macro, and checks for errors - this example assumes the existence of a function called void Log(String logString), which logs messages.
Imports Status = InternetMacros.Status Public Class Form1 Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form Private m_app As InternetMacros.App Private Sub startIMacros() Const cmdTimeout = 60 Dim s As InternetMacros.Status m_app = New InternetMacros.App s = m_app.iimInit("", True, "", "", 5) s = m_app.iimPlay("demo-extract", cmdTimeout) If s > 0 Then Log("Macro completed ok") ElseIf s < 0 And s > -100 Then Log("Interface problem: " + CStr(s)) Else Log("Macro problem: " + CStr(s)) End If s = m_app.iimExit() End Sub End Class
Intellisense Support
Related example scripts: Examples\C#, Examples\Visual Basic
For full Intellisense support for all Scripting Interface commands in your .NET projects (C#, VB.NET, ASP.NET and others) or in Visual Basic 6.0, you need to add the iMacros interface (iimInterface.dll) reference to your project.
1. Here is how to do this in Visual Studio 2003/2005/2008/2010 (.NET)
2. Here is how to do this for Visual Basic 6
Connect Excel to the Web
The following demo shows you how to connect Excel to the Web using Excel VBA and iMacros:
1. Create the Macro 2. Use VBA to connect to the Web Browser
Start iMacros from a Web Page
The following code example shows you how to start a macro from within a web page using Visual Basic Script and the Scripting Interface:
<html> <head> <SCRIPT ID=clientEventHandlersVBS LANGUAGE=vbscript> </SCRIPT> </head> <body>
<a onclick=test() href="#">Click here to start script</a>
</body> </html>
To test this code, simply save it as .HTM file and view it in your web browser. Make sure to allow the execution of scripting content on web pages.
In this example iMacros needs to be installed locally. It will run on the client. This is in contrast to the ASP example, where iMacros runs on the server (invisible to the user).
Start iMacros as a Windows Service
Windows Services is a topic for experts only. If you do not know what a Windows Service is there is a very good chance that you do not need this feature. If you are merely looking for a way to execute iMacros on a regular basis the Windows Scheduler will do the trick for you.
In the following we assume that you are familiar with the basic concept of a Windows Service.
We assume you read this chapter because you want to run iMacros 24x7 unattended.
In a nutshell: You can not run iMacros as a Windows service but from a Windows service!
You can start iMacros via any application that runs as a Windows Service. Due to a restriction enforced by Windows on services a service program can either be interactive (i.e. have a Console, read keyboard input, etc) or have network access - but not both at the same time. Since iMacros needs the ability to use the network more than user input you need to provide the user name and password of a normal Windows account.
If you use iMacros inside an application that runs as a Windows Service (as opposed to running under a regular user account) you need to provide a user name and a password:
There a two methods to do this:
(1) [Recommended]: Use "iimRunner.exe" to start iMacros under a regular user account (see the section on running iMacros under a restricted user account). This method is very easy to use and avoids all complications typically associated with a Windows service
(2) Provide a password when you use iimInit:
int ret_code = iimInit( String command_line, boolean start_browser, String run_as_user, String run_as_password, String run_as_domain ) - This method is no longer recommended because it does not create an interactive user session.
You can also provide the password encrypted. iMacros detects automatically if the password is in plain text or encrypted form. To encrypt your password record a macro where you enter the password into a password text field on a web page (with security settings to STOREKEY or TMPKEY) and then copy and paste an encrypted password.
For more information about iimRunner please see the next chapter:
How to run iMacros unattended
1.) Use the Windows task scheduler: This method works well for most macros and scripts, except those that interact with very complex websites.
2.) Use the Windows task scheduler plus iimRunner. This method is a bit more complex to setup, but works for all kinds of websites.
When to use iimRunner instead of using the task scheduler directly: The basic features of iMacros work ok when run as a Windows service or in batch mode. However, all web browsers (iMacros Browser, IE, Firefox...) and the plugins they use (Flash, PDF, Silverlight,...) are not designed to run in Windows batch mode (Task Scheduler starts programs in batch mode). They are only tested to work correctly under an interactive user session. Examples of such problems are that some dialog boxes do not open or display correctly, SAVEAS dialogs might not work, or Flash and PDF addons do not function correctly. You can get problems that are tricky to debug. Note that this issue is not related to iMacros, but is rather a problem with the web browsers and their plugins themselves.
We invented a solution around this problem of the "imperfect" web browser: The recommended method to run iMacros unattended is to start iimRunner in an interactive or RemoteInteractive session. Such a session can be established automatically via task scheduler on any Windows PC or Server, so that the interactive session with iimRunner starts with a server reboot just like a Windows server. Therefore, using an interactive session has only advantages! Our tech support created a guide on How to Schedule a RemoteInteractive Session. For registered users we also have a demo server available and/or can assist you in the setup.
Once iimRunner is running in the (remote)interactive session, you can use iimInit ("-runner"), iimInit ("-runner -ie") or iimInit ("-runner -fx") to start the browsers inside of it. iimInit itself can be called from any user account, including a Windows service or the ASP.NET user (see below)! This is the same concept that is used by the Alertfox Web Application Monitoring service to run 1000s of imacros unattended.
Please see also this Windows Logon Types Overview.
Related FAQ: How can I set up a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (non-stop) operation with iMacros?
Related forum post: Tips for using iimRunner
Running iMacros under a restricted user account (ASP/ASP.NET/PHP)
The problem of running iMacros from an ASP page is that by default all programs started by an ASP page have only the rights of the ASP user, which is a very restricted account. An ASP account is significantly more restricted than even the "Guest" user of a machine. However, iMacros needs at least the rights of a "Guest" account or "Limited account" in order to work correctly.
We created the "iimRunner.exe" method as a very easy and secure method to run iMacros from a very restricted user account such as the ASP.NET user account or a Windows Service.
Start the "iimRunner.exe" module inside the account that you want to use iMacros with. You can use for example the Windows task scheduler for this purpose: Select the option to start iimRunner.exe as soon as the computer boots.
Inside your script you only need to tell iimInit to use iimRunner to start iMacros.exe. This is done by adding the flag "-runner":
i= iim1.iimInit("-runner")
This is all that you need to do. Now the iMacros Browser can be controlled as before via iimPlay, iimExit etc.
As a special feature of iimRunner.exe it is possible to control the number of iMacros instances that are allowed to run in parallel. This is done by changing the MaxNumberOfInstances paramenter in the simple.config file located in the iMacros Program Files folder. If the max. number is reached iimInit returns a -7 error code.
Error Handling
After each command the Scripting Interface returns a code. Values greater than zero indicate success, negative values indicate a problem.
The error codes returned on the batch and scripting level are the same codes that are displayed in the iMacros software itself. They allow a fine reaction on every possible problem iMacros can encounter.
Related Example Script: Combine-Macros.vbs
Scripting Interface Return Codes
Cf. Scripting_Interface_Return_Codes
Send Email
There are three ways to send emails with iMacros:
1. iMacros can fill out an online form that sends the email, for example a form on your website similar to the "Email this story" link on Yahoo:
3. You can use a local command line SMTP mail sender. Using for example a batch file that executes the macro you could call the command line mail progam depending on the status of the macro execution.