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BrowserAutomationiMacros

BrowserAutomation
FromiMacros

Contents
1iMacrosAutomation
1.1Play(Loop)Button
1.2Shortcuts
1.3CommandLineInterfaceandBatchFiles
1.3.1Checkonthereturnvalueatbatchlevel
1.4ScheduleTasks
2DialogManager
2.1Login
2.2Javascript
2.3WebPageDialogs
2.4Print
2.5SecurityDialogs
2.6Certificates
2.7PageErrors
3SavingWebSites
3.1WebSiteScreenshot
3.2SaveWebsiteElements
3.2.1DownloadFiles
3.2.2SaveItem
3.2.3SaveElementScreenshot
3.2.4SaveTargetAs
4ProxyServer
5ErrorHandling
5.1Macrolevel
5.2Batchfilelevel
5.3Scriptinglevel
5.4ErrorCodes

iMacrosAutomation
ManytasksyoucanautomateusingiMacrosrequiremultipleorregularexecution,likefillinginanonlineform
withmanydatasetsorregularlydownloadingastatusreport.iMacroshasseveralfeaturestosupportthiskind
ofautomation:
Play(Loop)Button[AllEditions]
Shortcuts[AllEditions]
CommandlineinterfaceandBatchFiles[PROandSCRIPTINGEditions]
ScheduleTasks[PROandSCRIPTINGEditions]
ScriptingInterface[SCRIPTINGEdition]PleaseseetheWebScriptingChapter

Play(Loop)Button
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ThePlay(Loop)willrepeatthemacrouptothemaximumloopnumberspecified.Note
thatyoucansetthe!LOOPvariableinsidethemacro,soitdoesnotneedtostartat1.

Shortcuts
InsteadofopeningtheiMacrosBrowser,markingthemacroyouwanttoplayand
clickingtheplaybutton,youcancreateashortcuttostartiMacrosandautomaticallyruna
predefinedmacro.
Tocreateashortcut:
Locateimacros.exe.ThisistheiMacrosBrowser,typicallylocatedinC:\ProgramFiles\iMacros.
Rightclickonimacros.exeandselectthe"CreateaShortcut"option.
AnewfilecalledShortcuttoimacros.lnkwillbecreatedinthesamefolder.Selectthefileandrightclickon
it.
Select"Properties"andthefollowingdialogwillcomeup:

IntheboxTargetyoufindanentrysimilartoC:\Program
Files\iMacros\Ipswitch\iMacros\imacros.exe.
Changethisto"C:\ProgramFiles\Ipswitch\iMacros\imacros.exe"macro
yourmacronoexit.Youmustusequotationmarksaroundthecommand.
Note:Donotchangethepathinthebox"Startin".
ShortcutProperties

Ready!Youcannowmovethisshortcuttoaconvenientplace(liketheDesktop)
andstartiMacrosbysimplydoubleclickingontheshortcut.

Foradetailedexplanationofthevariouscommandlineoptionspleaseseethe
sectiononcommandlineswitches.

CommandLineInterfaceandBatchFiles
Relatedexamplebatch:Examples\BatchFiles
TheiMacrosBrowser(iMacros.exe)andtheiMacrosSidebarforIE(iMacros.Sidebar.exe)includedinthe
StandardandEnterpriseEditionssupportseveralcommandlineoptionsthatcontrolthebehaviourofthe
browser.Also,thebrowsercanbecalledfrombatchfiles.Batchfilesareverysimpleprogramsthatallowsome
structurestheiMacromacrolanguagedoesnotsupportdirectly.Suchstructuresincludeconditional
programming(if...then...else...),loops(for...do...)andfileinput/output.Theyconsistofaseriesofcommands,
canbecreatedandeditedbyanyeditor(e.g.Notepad)andhavethefileending.bat.Batchfilescanbestartedin
thestandardway,bydoubleclickingonthefile,butalsothroughtheScheduler(SeetheScheduleTaskssection
onthispage),whichisapartoftheWindowsoperatingsystembydefault.
Pleasenotethatfileshortcutscanbelookedatassimplyabatchfilethatconsistsofonlyoneline:the
commandlinecallingtheprogram.
ThemostimportantpartofabatchfilethatstartsiMacrosisthecommandlinetostartthebrowser.As
mentionedbefore,thiscommandsupportsseveralcommandlineoptionsthatcontrolthebehaviourofthe
browser.Thegeneralcommandlinesyntaxis
imacroscommand_line_switch1switch_value1command_line_switch2switch_value2...

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AftercompletingthemacrotheiMacrosBrowserautomaticallystopsandcloses.Tokeepthebrowseropen,use
thenoexitswitch.
YoucannowusebatchfilestoconvenientlyexecuteseveraliMacrosinasequence:
echoStartiMacrosbatchfile
imacrosmacroFormExampleMacro
imacrosmacroCheck_Altavista
imacrosmacroBuy_Now!
echoDone!

Intheabovemacrothebatchcommandechoisusedtoprintmessagestothestandardoutput.
Otherimportantcommandlineswitchesarethosesettingvariables.Withthecommandlineswitch
var_varnameyoucancreateyourowncustomvariables.Imagine,youwanttocallamacro(searchEngine.iim)
thatentersthecontentofthevariable"keywords"intoasearchengineandpressessubmit.Youcansetthe
searchvalueviathecommandline:
imacrosmacrosearchEnginevar_keywords"iOpusiMacros"

Notethatthenameofthevariableafterthevar_prefixmustcorrespondtothevariablenameusedinthemacro:
'searchEngine.iim
URLGOTO=http://www.google.com/search?q={{keywords}}

Forsettingmorevariables,youcansimplyaddmorevar_varnameparameters:
imacrosmacrosearchEnginevar_keywords"iOpusiMacros"var_date05/06/2008

Checkonthereturnvalueatbatchlevel
TheiMacrosexecutableimacros.exesetsthepredefinedbatchfilevariableERRORLEVEL.Thevalueiseither
1ifthemacrowascompletedsuccessfullyornegativeifanerrorwasencountered.ERRORLEVELisused
almostexclusivelywithaconditionalconstruct,e.g.:
imacrosmacrosearchEnginevar_SEARCHSTRINGiOpus[SP]iMacros
IFNOT%ERRORLEVEL%==1ECHOProblemencountered

Formoredetailspleaseseetheincludedexamplebatchfile"ExampleErrorlevel.bat".
PleasenoteanimportantrestrictionhereisthateachcalltoiMacrosrunsinaseparatebrowserthatisclosed
whenthemacrofinishes.Thismeansyoucannothavesubsequentmacroscontinuingfromwheretheprevious
onefinished.Tohaveamacrologintoawebsiteandsecondmacroloopthroughthesiteyouneedtousethe
scriptinginterface.

ScheduleTasks
iMacrosisfullycompatiblewithallstandardtaskschedulers,includingthebuiltinMicrosoftWindowsTask
Scheduler(pleaseseethisarticleforimportanttipsaboutschedulingmacros).
TheMicrosoftTaskSchedulerispartofyourWindowssystem.It"hides"inthe"ControlPanel"folder,which
islocatedinthe"MyComputer"folderonyourdesktop.

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ByusingTaskScheduler,youcanscheduletaskssuchasiMacrosorsystemtoolsliketheDiskDefragmenterto
runatadefinedtimethatismostconvenientforyou.TheTaskSchedulerstartseachtimeyoustartWindows
andrunsinthebackground,checkingifanyscheduledtaskisdue.WithTaskScheduler,youcanschedulea
tasktorundaily,weekly,monthly,oratcertaintimessuchassystemstartup.
YoucanaccessthisfromtheStartMenuandclickingonSettingsandthenControlPaneltoScheduledTasks.
FormoreinformationpleaseseetheTaskSchedulersamplecodechapter.

DialogManager
TheDialogManagerallowsyoutomanageallthosepesky
dialogsthatappearwithInternetExplorerfromtimeto
time.BecausetheiMacrosBrowseremulatesInternet
ExplorerthesamedialogsappearintheiMacrosBrowser
too.
Important:YoucaninserttheONDIALOG,ONLOGIN
(etc.)dialogcommandsanywhereinthemacrobutithasto
bebeforetheTAGcommandthattriggersthedialog.
Thedialogmanagerisalwaysenabledandactive.Ifsome
dialogsquicklydisappearduringreplay,itisbecausethe
Dialogmanagerclosesthemautomatically.
iMacroshandlesallthesedialogs

Login

iMacrosfillsalllogindialogsforyouusingtheONLOGINcommand.Thepasswordisstoredwiththemethod
youselectedontheSecuritytaboftheOptionsdialog.Moredetailsaboutthedifferentpasswordstorage
optionscanbefoundhere.

Javascript
(Relatedexamplemacro:DemoJavascriptDialog)
iMacroshandlesallJavascriptdialogboxesforyouusingtheONDIALOGcommand.
YoucanevenextractthetextofadialogbyaddingSET!EXTRACTDIALOGYEStoyourmacro.

WebPageDialogs
(Relatedexamplemacro:DemoWebPageDialog)
WebpagedialogsaresimilartoJavascriptdialogs,excepttheydisplayHTMLcontent.iMacroscancontrol
themusingtheONWEBPAGEDIALOGcommand.Sincewebpagedialogscancontainanynumberofbuttons
orboxesyoucanautomatethembysendingaspecificlistofkeyboardcommandstothem.Forexample
"KEYS=Hello{ENTER}{CLOSE}"willentertheword"Hello"onthedialog,pressENTERkeyandthenclose
thedialog.
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Duringreplay"ONWEBPAGEDIALOGKEYS={WAIT<sp>2}{CLOSE}"isactivebydefaulttoclose
unwantedaddialogs.
Notes:
1.WebpagedialogsarenotnormalHTMLbrowserwindows.Thereforetheydonotopeninaseparatetab,
butpopupinfrontofthecurrentwindow.
2.Webpagedialogsareeithermodalormodeless.Amodaldialogboxmustbeclosedbeforeyoucan
continueworkingwiththerestofthewebapplication.TheONWEBPAGEDIALOGcanautomateboth
typesofwebpagedialogs.FormodelesswebpagedialogsyoucanusealsousetheDirectScreen
Technology.
3.Therearealsootheroptionstoautomatewebpagedialogs.

Print
(Relatedexamplemacro:DemoPrint)
Thedialogmanagerworkswiththeprintdialog.FormoredetailspleaseseetheONPRINTeventandthe
PRINTcommand.

SecurityDialogs

Securitydialogscanoccuronmanysecurewebsites.TheiMacrosDialogManagerautomaticallyclicksthe
securitydialogboxessoyourmacrosarenotinterrupted.ThisisdoneusingtheONSECURITYDIALOG
command.
BydefaultthesettingsareBUTTON=YESandCONTINUE=YES.Thesesettingsareactiveevenwithoutan
ONSECURITYDIALOGcommandinyourmacro.

TheSecureandNonSecureItemsWarningMessageisnothandledbytheDialogManager,asthisisanoptional
messagethatcanbedisabledintheInternetExplorer(IE)settings.TheIEsettingsalsoapplytotheiMacros
Browser.

Certificates

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Somesecurewebpagesaskyoutoselectaclientsidecertificate.Thedialogmanagercandothisforyouusing
theONCERTIFICATEDIALOGcommand.

PageErrors
(Relatedexamplemacro:DemoOnError)

Pagescripterrorscanoccuronmanywebsitesforavarietyofreasons.TheiMacrosDialogManager
automaticallyclickstheInternetExplorererrordialogboxessoyourmacrosarenotinterruptedbyscripterrors!
ThisisdoneusingtheONERRORDIALOGcommand.
BydefaultthesettingsareBUTTON=YESandCONTINUE=YES.Thesesettingsareactiveevenwithoutan
ONERRORDIALOGinyourmacro.
FormoredetailspleaseseeIsthereanywaytoverifyifanyjavascripterrorshavebeenthrown?.

SavingWebSites
(Relatedexamplemacro:DemoArchivePage,DemoSaveAs)
iMacrosautomaticallydownloadsandsaveswebpagesforyou.UsetheTasksdropdown
andselect"SavePage","SaveScreenshot",or"SaveExtractedData".iMacroswillthen
insertaSAVEAScommandinthemacro,holdinginformationabouttheformatandthe
locationwherethefileissaved.Thedefaultlocationisinthedownloads\directoryofyouriMacrosinstallation.
Thiscommandisveryeasilytweakedafterthemacrohasbeenrecordedtofityourneeds.
Youhavedifferentoptionsastowhichformatyouwishusetosavethecurrentlydisplayedwebpage.These
optionsare
CPL
Thecompletewebpageissaved.Thefilesandimagesaresavedseparatelyandstoredinafolder.
MHT
Thewebpageplusimagesaresavedinasinglefile(WebArchive).
HTM
Thewebpagesourceissavedwithnoimages.IfthepagehasframesallframedHTMLpagesaresaved
automatically.
TXT
OnlythewebpagetextissavedallHTMLtagsareomitted.
PNG
Ascreenshotofthewebpageissaved.Use"SaveScreenshot"torecordthiscommand.
EXTRACT
Thevalueofthevariable!EXTRACTissavedinCSVformat.Use"SaveExtractedData"torecordthis
command.

WebSiteScreenshot
(Relatedexamplemacro:DemoTakeScreenshot)

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TheiMacrosBrowsercanautomaticallytakescreenshotsofwebpages.This
includesthepart"belowthefold",i.e.iMacrostakesthescreenshotofthe
entirewebpage,nomatterthelength,evenifitscrollsoffscreen!
Totakeawebpagescreenshotusethe"Tasks"option"SaveScreenshot"
whilerecordingamacro,orinsertaSAVEASTYPE=PNGcommandintothe
macrolikeinthisexample(fortheFOLDERandFILEsettingsseethe
documentationfortheSAVEAScommand):
SAVEASTYPE=PNGFOLDER=*FILE=My_Screenshot.png

iMacrosusesthestandard,losslessPNGformat.Thisfileformatcanbeused
withanyimageeditor.

SaveWebsiteElements
iMacroscaninterceptfiledownloadsandevendownloadpicturesandother
elementsfromthewebsiteyouarevisiting.
DownloadFiles
(Relatedexamplemacro:DemoDownload)
Wheneverafiledownloadisinitiated,InternetExplorerwillpresentyouwith
thedialogshown.Thisdialogallowsyoutoselectwantyouwouldliketodo
withthefile.Ifyouchoosetosaveititwillalsoaskyouforthefilenameand
location.

iMacrostakesscreenshotsof
theentirewebpage,nomatter
whatlength

DownloadsarecontrolledbytheONDOWNLOADcommand.Ithastwo
parametersthatcontrolthefilenameandthefolderinwhichtosavethefile.It
mustappearbeforethemacrocommandthatstartsthedownload.
Note:Thegeneralwebpagetimeoutalsoappliestodownloads.Somakesurethat
thetimeoutvalueislongenoughtocoverthecompletedownloadtime.Ifneeded
youcanalsoincreasethetimeoutvaluemanuallyinsidethemacrowiththe
SET!TIMEOUT_PAGEcommand.

SaveDialoghandledby
iMacros

SaveItem
(Relatedexamplemacro:DemoImageDownload)
ThetypicaluseforSAVEITEMisautomatedimagedownloading.Todownloadanimageswitchtorecording
mode,navigatetothepageandpress"ExtractImage"intherecordingtab.TheImageExtractionWizardopens
andwhateverimageyouselectfromnowonwillbedisplayedonthepreview.TheproperTAGcommand,e.g.
TAGPOS=1TYPE=IMGATTR=HREF:http://imacros.net/wpcontent/uploads/2013/12/imacrosipswitch.pngCONTENT=EVENT:SAVEITEM

willbeautomaticallygeneratedand,ifyouaresatisfiedwiththefinalresult,youcanaddthecommandstothe
macrobeingrecorded.Youmayalsochangethefinalfolderlocationandfilename.
Youcanalsocreatedownloadtaglinesmanually.Duringrecordingsimplyclickonthewanteditemandadd
"CONTENT=EVENT:SAVEITEM"tothegeneratedTAGlineinaneditorofyourchoice.

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ThedownloadedfilesarecopiedfromInternetExplorercacheto
theiMacrosdownloaddirectory.UsetheONDOWNLOAD
commandtospecifyanameandlocationforthedownloaded
image.
Somewebsitesuse"tricks"tomakeimagedownloadstricky.But
notforiMacros:Youcanalso"takeasceenshot"oftheimage
instead.Thishastheadvantagethatitworkswitheveryimage,but
doesdownloadtheoriginalfile.See
SAVE_ELEMENT_SCREENSHOT
Usetheimageextractionwizardtocreate
TAGcommandsforsavingimagesfroma
website.

SaveElementScreenshot
(Relatedexamplemacro:DemoImageDownload)

ThiscommandissimilartoSAVEITEM,whichisthedefault
commandforimagedownloading.However,unlikeSAVEITEMitdoesnotaccesstheimagewhichwas
storedinIEcachebutitmakesa"screenshot"oftheimageelement.Thiswaythesavedimageisexactly
theonedisplayedonthebrowser.Thiscanbeanadvantageonwebsiteswhereimagesareconstructed"onthe
fly".
ForelementsoftypeIMG,youcanusetheImageExtractionWizardtoproducetherightTAGand
ONDOWNLOADcommandsforusingtheSAVE_ELEMENT_SCREENSHOTbychoosing"Takescreenshot
ofimage"asMethod(radiobutton).HoweverSAVE_ELEMENT_SCREENSHOTcanbeusedonanyelement
type,andinthiscase,youneedtomanuallyeditarecordedmacro.Clickontheelementyouwishtodownload
andiMacroswillproduceacommandlike
TAGPOS=1TYPE=H2ATTR=TXT:Online<SP>Store

Thiswouldsimulateamouseclickonthelink.Sincethisisnotwhatwewantweneedtoeditthemacroand
add"CONTENT=EVENT:SAVE_ELEMENT_SCREENSHOT"totherecordedTAGcommand.Youwillthen
have
TAGPOS=1TYPE=H2ATTR=TXT:Online<SP>StoreCONTENT=EVENT:SAVE_ELEMENT_SCREENSHOT

TheimagefilesproducedinthiswayarealwaysinthePNGformat.UsetheONDOWNLOADcommandto
specifythenameandlocationforthedownloadedimage,howeveryoucannotchangetheimageformat,even
youuseadifferentfileextension.
SaveTargetAs
(Relatedexamplemacro:DemoSaveTargetAs)
Todownloadanykindofwebcontentsuchas.WVMor.AVIvideos,soundfilessuchas.MP3,ordocuments
suchas.PDF,firstclickonthelinkthatconnectstotheitem.Inthecaseofa.PDFfilesuchalinkistypically
called"Opendocument"orforavideofile"Showvideo".iMacrosrecordsaTAGcommand:
TAGPOS=1TYPE=BATTR=TXT:Open<SP>PDF<SP>Document

Thiswouldsimulateamouseclickonthelink.Thisisnotwhatwewant,weneedacommandsimilartothe
rightclickcommand"SaveTargetAs"inInternetExplorer.Thiscanbeachievedbyeditingthemacroand
adding"CONTENT=EVENT:SAVETARGETAS"totherecordednormalTAGcommand.Youwillthenhave:
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TAGPOS=1TYPE=BATTR=TXT:Open<SP>PDF<SP>DocumentCONTENT=EVENT:SAVETARGETAS

ThefilesdownloadedinthiswayarecopiedtotheiMacrosdownloaddirectorybydefault.Youcanusethe
ONDOWNLOADcommandtospecifythenameandlocationforthedownloadedimage.

ProxyServer
ThePROXYcommandinstructstheiMacrosBrowsertoconnectto
theInternetthroughaproxyserverbyusingthesettingsyouspecify.
Aproxyserveractsasanintermediarybetweenyourinternal
network(intranet)andtheInternet,retrievingfilesfromremoteWeb
servers.Youcandefineaspecificproxyserverforeachmacro.Each
runninginstanceoftheiMacrosBrowsercanhaveitsownproxy
server.

ProxyServer

Ifaproxyserverisactivetheword"PROXY:"isdisplayedinthestatusbar.
ThefollowingexamplesshowthegeneraluseofthePROXYcommand.E.g.,thiscommandusesalocalproxy
serverforbothhttpandhttpsattheaddress192.1.8.1andtheportnumber8080.Sincenobypassisspecified
thedefaultsettingsareused.
PROXYADDRESS=192.1.8.1:8080

Thiscommandspecifiestwodifferentproxyserverforthehttpandhttpsprotocol.Nobypassisdefinedso
iMacrosusestheseproxyserversevenforlocaladdresses.
PROXYADDRESS=http=192.1.8.1:8080<SP>https=192.1.8.2:8080BYPASS=NULL

Touseaproxyserverataddress66.98.229.110,buttonotuseitforURLsincludingtheword"iMacros"use
PROXYADDRESS=66.98.229.110:8080BYPASS=*imacros*

Youcanalsousethesamecommand,butwithURLinsteadofIPaddress.
PROXYADDRESS=imacros.net:8080BYPASS=*imacros*

ErrorHandling
iMacroscanhandleallerrorsthatoccurduringreplay.Sincereplayofmacroscanbeachievedbydifferent
meanstheerrormanagementisdifferentaswell.

Macrolevel
YoucandecidetoignoremacroerrorswithSET!ERRORIGNOREYES.
YoucanalsoperformsophisticatedlogicandgenerateanerrorconditionusingtheEVALcommand.

Batchfilelevel

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Thevariable%ERRORLEVEL%isfilledafterthemacroiscompleted.Valuesgreaterthanzeroindicate
success,negativevaluesindicateaproblem.
RelatedExampleBatchFile:ExampleErrorlevel.bat

Scriptinglevel
PleaseseethechapteronWebScriptingforsophisticatederrorhandlingviatheScriptingInterface.

ErrorCodes
SeeErrorandReturnCodes
Generalclassification:
1xx:Userinteraction
8xx:ErrorsspecifictotheFirefoxandChromeAddOns
9xx:ErrorsspecifictotheFirefoxandChromeAddOns
1xxx:iMacrosBrowserandIEpluginreplayerrors
AdetailedlistofErrorandReturnCodesisavailable.
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