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Hi there,
I want to extract certain values from another program and manipulate these values in MMF2.
I'm trying to make a tripmaster and I have software that communicates with my car-computer that retrieves information like velocity and distance from the board computer. These values are displayed in the program and I want to somehow capture these values and manipulate them in MMF2.
Do you guys think this is possible or is this just crazy talk :)
Greetings,
Alex
Is there a way of copy pasting the text?
Or perhaps I could take snapshots of the program and compare the digits somehow with 10 pictures of every number in order to get a value?
You need to give more information.
Can your software export the data to a file? If so, what is the file format? (post an example file)
Getting text from the clipboard is easy enough (use the built-in "special" object - the one where you find the condition "always"), so if you can copy the text, that would be an option, like you said.
Trying to recognize characters from an image is not an option.
Thanks for your quick reply MuddyMole!
My problem is a bit more difficult I'm afraid.. I'll be using a program that's not exporting anything.. it's just measuring the velocity of the car (from the OBD2 port) realtime and displays it on the screen. I posted a screencap on my flickr account:
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6171/...05492a41cc.jpg
So I need to retrieve the velocity from this sheet. I'm able to select and copy the "green velocity value" manually, but what I need is a script that automatically selects and copies the value every second (or more) and pastes this in my own program.
I will use this velocity value to calculate the distance the car has traveled.
I think you're out of luck then.
Unless you can find a way to communicate directly with the car computer, without going through that software (which is very advanced stuff).
Your best bet is going to be to try a different piece of software.
It's pretty hardcore indeed... maybe I can find a software package that automatically saves the velocity to a specific data-file. That would be the easiest way to solve my problem i guess.
Thanks for your input MuddyMole
If you have Developer, I could show you a way to do it. :)
Hey StephenL,
Really?! Interesting! I don't have the developer version, but I know some people who do and maybe they can help me out a bit.
What would be your solution to this particular problem. :D
It would be a work-around, but you could grab the window with Kernel object, select your elements (in this case maybe the "green velocity value"), and copy it somewhere by simulating mouse clicks/keyboard commands. I have made applications that use this method.
ah sweet! I was thinking of such a solution, but I didn't think MMF2 would be capable of doing such a thing. I guess I was right because I need Developer to do that :)
It would be an interesting challenge. I just have to convince one of my friends to make it for me haha.
I guess it would be difficult to do anything else when this "macro" is running, right? Because of the windows switching and stuff?
Thanks for the tip mister!
Perhaps using a combination of AutoIT and MMF2, you can achieve the desired results.
In the event that you cannot export data from an application, AutoIT is pretty good at grabbing text from Windows controls in any running application. You'd then have to parse the information to extract the required data and use it in MMF2 as required.
I suggest using the Memory Object for things like that, it works in Standard. I use it to get any data from other programs and it works great. You just need to get the memory address of the velocity value in the program. You would need a memory scanning program for that, I recommend Cheat Engine.
Wow thanks for the creative ideas you guys! I will do some research to AutoIT and Cheat engine and will see which method works best.
My friend with Developer doesn't have much time for me so this would be a more convenient solution! Also, making it myself is always more fun! :D
Hey Greg and Digitalic!
Cheat engine looks pretty neat! If the car-diagnostics-tool writes the velocity to one memory address, will I be able to use the memory object to extract the data I need? I haven't checked the memory object yet because I'm at work. I hope it works! It looks fairly easy, but I have to find the address every time I start the program (that's not a big problem of course).
I also checked AutoIT. It looks very powerful, but I think a higher learning curve is needed to master the coding. Perhaps I can find some examples on the web that will help me. I think that program is better for regular use.
I will try both ways and see which shows best (short term) results :)