!Important Note! Variants—Arrays with Differing Data Types

An array using different data types is known as a variant and can contain anything from a number to a Boolean value. Variants are not restricted in AutoIt; however, they are not recommended. Using differing data types in an array—especially arrays within an array—can dramatically decrease the execution speed of your scripts.

AutoIT: Introduction and History

AutoIt started in late 1998 as a C-compiled program used to automate keystrokes during software installations. In January 1999, the AutoIt team released AutoIt v1, which included the Send, Run, RunWait, WinWait, WinWaitClose, WinWaitActive,WinHide, WinActivate, WinClose, WinRestore, Sleep and SetKeyDelay functions. AutoIt v2 was released in August that same year and included the first version of AutoItX, which offered DLL/COM control. Over the next two years, massive updates to AutoIt v2 added many new functions to the language. In May 2001, the AutoIt source code was completely rewritten in C++ and development installed until 2003, when the first beta version of AutoIt v3 was released. Over 100 beta versions later, the AutoIt developers released AutoIt v3 in February of 2004. February of 2005 marked the release of AutoIt v3.1.0, which added the capability of graphical user interface (GUI) creation. This version was the most notable release because it brought AutoIt to the forefront of the scripting world and made it a rival to Visual Basic Scripting, batch files, and other popular scripting languages. AutoIt is free to use and has a strong and helpful community base.

Download the latest version of AutoIt HERE:

I recommend using the SciTE AutoIt3 Editor for writing scripts. It has an extensive help file and color-codes everything nicely. You can download the latest SciTE AutoIt3 Editor HERE