Help Desk Geek – Help Desk Tips For IT Pros

Creating scheduled tasks are a great way to save time and be more efficient. Unfortunately, built-in default Windows, Mac OS, and Linux automation software can be difficult to use. For example, in Windows 7, you can use Task Scheduler to create simple tasks.

However, to create a task, you need to setup general paths, triggers, actions, conditions, and settings… Something that is not the easiest thing to do for the everyday computer user.

Rather than having to create multiple paths and parameters using coding, Sikuli uses screenshots to let you automate tasks. This makes it much simpler and allows practically everyone to automate even the more complex tasks.

Using Sikuli

To get started using Sikuli, you first need to download it and install it on your computer. Sikuli is currently available for all three major operating systems: Windows, Mac, and Linux. Download here.

Note: To use Sikuli with Windows, you must have Java installed on your computer. Be sure that Java is installed prior to getting Sikuli, as Sikuli won’t install without it. Get Java.

Upon download and installation, navigate to Start > All Programs > Sikuli IDE to launch Sikuli.

Learn by example. The best way to get started using Sikuli for your own needs, is to first do an example tutorial to show you how everything works. Let’s get started. Your screen should look like the picture below.

Using the click command. The first thing that you need to do, when automating a process, is learn how to click things. For this example, we will be using the click command to start Google Chrome. To initiate the click command, type the following code into the main Sikuli window: click(

The click( lets Sikuli know that it has to click something. Now we have to tell it what to click, which in this case, is Google Chrome. Traditionally, doing this would involve writing code. However, Sikuli uses screenshots to make the process easy for everyone. Click the camera icon to initiate a screen shot.

Now, the whole Sikuli window should briefly disappear and your screen should darken. Wait for the Sikuli window to fully reappear (only like a 5 second process). When it does, you will be in screenshot mode, where you can drag to select anything that you want to click. For this example, the Google Chrome icon in the taskbar.

If you have ever used the Windows 7 Sniping Tool, taking a screenshot with Sikuli is much like that. After you have taken your screenshot, it will appear in the main Sikuli window, after the click( command.

Insert another bracket to close the code. Hit enter/return to go to the next line.

Now, you can test the command to see if it works. Click the green run button. Google Chrome (or your app), should launch. That is how you use the click command and that is basically how you create any automated task with Sikuli.

Next, say you want Chrome to go to a page that you have saved in your bookmarks bar. Simply add another click command below it. It would look something like this:

Next, you need to learn how to initiate a type command. Use the following code:

type(“your type text here”)

Easy right? Just type whatever text you need between the quotes. For example, if you needed to go directly to a website, you would use the click command to open your browser, a second click command to click the URL navigation bar (so you can type in it), and a type command to type the website address.

Now that you know how to click and type, you can automate just about anything you want. Click, type, and using screenshots are just the essentials to using Sikuli. You can also use several other commands such as switchApp and delay. To learn more commands, and more about the Sikuli Project, check out this page.