I am currently developing a web crawler which retrieves data from a specific website and parse it to a xlsx file. I'd like to know if it is possible to create a .exe file where, on windows, you'd only have to execute it to create the webspider, retrieve the data...etc
Thanks
(I'm developing on linux but people using it will be using it on Windows, that's why I'm looking for an easy way for them to use this program)
Related
I'm new to script writing. So I wanted to know if it's possible to write a script that uses another software in the process. For example, I need to run a script to process a directory of images using an OCR software and store the output in another file.
It is possible to do so? And if so, how can I call the software in the script? For instance, if I want to use Adobe's scan to pdf function or ABBYY text grabber?
I've heard that you can take a program that is already installed in a PC and go home to you r own pc and write a program in any programming language to make it work without having to install the program. I wanted to know how does one go about in achieving that.
The class of applications you are describing are called Standalone or Portable Applications.
In such applications all files that are required to run the application are stored in the same directory as the application file itself. Which is not the way with most applications work, so, you cannot make all applications run in that fashion. There are various guides on Google when you search for 'creating portable applications'.
You might want to look at a good directory of portable applications here
How can i call a native app (could be as simple as executing an .EXE file) from within my Flex (AIR Application)?
You can use the NativeProcess class to achieve this. A tutorial is available on the Adobe site.
I'm wondering if there is a way to create a Desktop Application that is essentially a Browser, except that it only runs my Application, doesn't need installation and is a static executable that contains the HTML/Images/CSS/JavaScript packaged into it, with an option to access arbitary embedded resources through JavaScript?
I believe Mozilla/Firefox allows this through their XUL Framework, which is actually used for Applications (see Celtx). However, the last time I looked into it (~3 years ago), it was a horrible experience and overly complicated.
Has this changed? Or is there a WebKit based option?
You should try Chromeless.
.. doesn't need installation and is a static executable that contains the HTML/Images/CSS/JavaScript packaged into it, with an option to access arbitary embedded resources through JavaScript?
Chrome supports .crx files which is essentially a zip file with the resources archived into it. It doesn't technically require installation since it's run on the Chrome browser itself.
I know it's not directly relevant to your question but I think building web apps with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript is the way to go. You can even package it and have it install like an app and distribute it via an app store even.
I went with XULRunner in the end. The latest version is much improved over the one I looked at several years ago.
You could use NW.JS:
https://github.com/nwjs/nw.js
NW.js is an app runtime based on Chromium and node.js. You can write
native apps in HTML and JavaScript with NW.js. It also lets you call
Node.js modules directly from the DOM and enables a new way of writing
native applications with all Web technologies.
Basically you create a folder with your entire html app. On Windows, just add 4 files (or more depending on your needs): package.json, nw.exe, nw.pak, and icudtl.dat. When you run nw.exe, your app will launch in a packaged version of chrome with node.js support. You can access the file system using node commands directly from your original html.
The drawbacks: NW adds ~60MB to your application and additional memory overhead.
I have designed a custom Windows application in C#. Now, I would like to automate it using Win32OLE library in Ruby. I have absolutely no experience in using Win32OLE, so I would like to know when I create a new Win32OLE object using:
customApp= WIN32OLE.new('MyApp.Application')
it gives an error since it returns a null Win32OLE object.
Do I need to have a COM file for my application? If so, why is it needed? Also, could someone point me to all the files required by my custom application before I start trying to automate it using Win32OLE.
What exactly do you want to automate? If its by simple actions (tab,enter,etc. mimic the keyboard plus waits for some windows actions) you can use AutoIt.
http://codesnippets.joyent.com/posts/show/829
Everything starts with:
require "win32ole"
au3 = WIN32OLE.new("AutoItX3.Control")
It comes as a requirement of the rubygem watir. But you can see if there a more simple way to install autoit (its a .dll) for your ruby needs.