Mouser, I already mentioned RocketDock earlier but have you heard of Microsoft Research's GroupBar (http://research.microsoft.com/vibe/groupbar.aspx)? It is not really an app launcher, it is more of a task manager (a replacement of the default windows taskbar). The cool thing about it is that it can "remember" the documents that you had open and it can reopen them later. It is quite cool, although it is only a proof of concept and not really useful as it is.

I think the AutoIt exes are kind of bloated though, and the language could have been nicer. I'm almost tempted to do something of my own based on LUA, but... well... AI3 does the job and I can live with the exe sizes.

-f0dder (January 29, 2006, 12:44 AM)

Bloated? They hardly are bigger than 150 KB, and I've never seen a compiled script bigger than 200 KB! That is small enough for me! :) Although I must recognize that the size has gone up since the last version, since the GUI stuff was added, as it used to be smaller than 100 KB. The reason is that a compiled AutoIt script includes the actual AutoIt scripting engine. But is that different from AutoHotKey? I believe that both are based on the same code (I think that the AutoIt 3 team is even credited for it in the AutoHotKey web page) although perhaps the AutoHotKey scripts are smaller if they do not have some of the newer stuff (like COM support)?

But I do not want to sound like a fanboy (although I fear that I probably am ;)). In the AutoIt3 forum there have been a lot of requests for an updated compiler that is able to leave out the functions that are not used from the compiled script. The problem is that the function "Eval" which allows you to execute any arbitrary code requires to include all the functions and the devs fear that it would be cause for a lot of problems if some functions were removed.

The things that I miss most in AutoIt3 is a debugger and being able to create proper structs (which would be handy for XML parsing, and for some COM programming, for instance).

I don't know about LUA but you made me curious. Can you give me more info on it? Basic was the first language that I ever learned and that is perhaps why I find AutoIt3's syntax so natural but I understand that some people might prefer a more C like or BAT like language.

this might also be a good time to state my view (and a view talked about on this forum in the past with regard to paying for software), that there are a lot of issues that go into deciding which program to use besides just the actual program itself.  ie. support, community, documentation, etc.

-mouser (January 29, 2006, 12:39 AM)

You are totally right. For me the support on the AutoIt forums plus the really good documentation that comes with AutoIt were 2 of the most important factors that really made me start using AutoIt3 for a lot of my projects. That and the power of the scripting language itself, which I find amazing :D

Did you know that there is a version of the text editor Scite which has been totally customized for AutoIt3? It is called Scite4AutoIt3. It has code completion and a code explorer and it is integrated with the tools that come with AutoIt3 (like the script compiler and more). You can find the latest version in http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/scite/downloads.php. There is also a very cool (although not fully finished yet) GUI designer tool called Koda Form Designer which lets you make GUIs with AutoIt3 code in a snap (find it in http://www.autoitscript.com/fileman/users/lookfar/formdesign.html).

As you can see I really like AutoIt3. It has been incredibly useful for my job in the past year :)