Use Autoit in C++ programs

**Miguel9614** · 12-22-2007

Well I've been a leecher much too long, so I'm way overdue on giving something back. Hopefully this will be useful to some people, as I had trouble with it when I first tried. I apologize if this has been covered before, I have not seen any topics on it.

This guide is how to set up AutoitX3.dll to use in you C++ programs. I will cover both Visual C++ and Bloodshed Dev-C++. You will need to download AutoIt from AutoIt v3 - Downloads .
I'd recommend downloading the full installation.

Visual C++

1. start a new project
2. go to your Autoit directory (usually C:\Program Files\AutoIt\ )
3. go to the AutoItX/StandardDLL/VC6/Example folder within your Autoit directory
4. copy the following files to your project directory: AutoIt3.h AutoItX3.lib AutoItX3.dll main.cpp
5. in visual studio, go to Project->Add To Project->Files
6. change the "Files of type" dropdown to "all files"
7. Select: AutoIt3.h AutoItX3.lib and main.cpp and add them to the project
8. Your project should now compile and run. the example opens notepad and sends some text to it.

NOTE: you may need to change "APIENTRY WinMain(....)" in main.cpp to "main()" depending on the type of project you made

Now you can use AutoIt commands in your C++ program. Look at the example main.cpp file for an idea of how to use AutoIt functions. Also, look in the AutoIt3.h file for all the functions and how they are to be used.

Dev C++

1. start a new project
2. go to your Autoit directory (usually C:\Program Files\AutoIt\ )
3. go to the AutoItX/StandardDLL/DevC folder within your Autoit directory
4. copy the following files to your project directory: AutoIt3.h libautoitx3.a AutoItX3.dll main.cpp
5. in Dev-C++, go to Project->Add to project
6. Add the following files to the project: main.cpp AutoIt3.h

NOTE: You may need to remove the "main.cpp" file that Dev-C++ automatically adds before adding the autoit example. just go to Project->Remove from project or right click on the file on the left hand side and click "remove". If it asks you to save click no.

7. Now go to Project->Project Options and click on the Parameters tab
8. Click the button that says "Add library or object"
9. Select the libautoitx3.a file
10. the program should now compile and run. the example opens notepad and sends some text to it.

Now you can use AutoIt commands in your C++ program. Look at the example main.cpp file for an idea of how to use AutoIt functions. Also, look in the AutoIt3.h file for all the functions and how they are to be used.

Using AutoIt Commands

I decided to add a small section on actually using the commands, incase anyone has trouble figuring it out from the example file.

Basically all commands start as

Code:

AU3_

. So in AutoIt the command is

Code:

Sleep(1000)

And using the dll it would be

Code:

AU3_Sleep(1000);

As I said before, all the functions are in the AutoIt3.h file. Look there to see how to use them.

I hope this guide was helpful to anyone. Just trying to contribute