Quoth Chad Perrin on Thursday, 11 November 2010: > On Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 06:09:15PM +0000, Bruce Cran wrote: > > On Wed, 10 Nov 2010 09:57:17 -0800 > > Chip Camden <sterl...@camdensoftware.com> wrote: > > > > > However, for automating repeated tasks (as distinguished from running > > > automated tests of the GUI itself), scripting a GUI is the wrong way > > > to do it. It's layering on an entirely unnecessary layer of > > > abstraction (the UI), and then working around it. > > > > This is why at least on Windows there's often a C/COM/.NET API that > > allows the same level of control that the GUI provides, so that > > customers can automate tasks. > > It's too bad such APIs require so much more knowledge, and present so > much more of a barrier to entry for automating tasks, than a simpler CLI > filter's interface provides via something like the Unix pipeline. > > -- > Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]
True -- let's say the customer wants to have their application send email notifications. If I tell the customer to open a pipe to mutt or mail, they can pop that in and test it in a few minutes. If they have to automate Outlook, or use the MAPI or CDO interfaces, then we're talking about a project. In fact, I've billed quite a few hours doing just that sort of work. If all I cared about was the money I could fleece off of them, then I'd steer more customers towards these unnaturally complex solutions. -- Sterling (Chip) Camden | sterl...@camdensoftware.com | 2048D/3A978E4F http://camdensoftware.com | http://chipstips.com | http://chipsquips.com
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