Therefore, I would like to make a script (preferably a .bat script), that would first copy my password into the clipboard -so that I don't have to retype my password on every log on attempt- , then launch the application (easy part)
First, I store my passwords in the Windows Credential Vault (Windows Vista and greater). For this, I use Python's keyring library, but you can just as well use something like CredMan (Powershell) to manage them. Using the Windows Credential Vault means the password never has to be typed on the command line, so is unlikely to leak (such as through a command-line history).
AutoIt v3 is a freeware BASIC-like scripting language designed for automating the Windows GUI and general scripting. It uses a combination of simulated keystrokes, mouse movement and window/control manipulation in order to automate tasks in a way not possible or reliable with other languages (e.g. VBScript and SendKeys). AutoIt is also very small, self-contained and will run on all versions of Windows out-of-the-box with no annoying "runtimes" required!
AutoIt was initially designed for PC "roll out" situations to reliably automate and configure thousands of PCs. Over time it has become a powerful language that supports complex expressions, user functions, loops and everything else that veteran scripters would expect.
Do you know how to use the Command Prompt? If you do, you can write a batch file. In its simplest form, a batch file (or batch script) is a list of several commands that are executed when you double-click the file. Batch files go all the way back to DOS, but still work on modern versions of Windows.
A batch file is simply a text file saved with the .bat file extension. You can write one using Notepad or a more advanced plain text editor like Notepad++ or Visual Studio Code (VSCode), but don't use a word processor like Microsoft Word. Word processors usually insert additional stuff related to formatting that will prevent your batch script from executing correctly.
PowerShell scripts and Bash scripts may be more powerful, but batch files can still be plenty useful if you need to run basic Windows commands. They still work on both Windows 10 and Windows 11, and will for the foreseeable future.
You now have a batch file with the .bat file extension. Double-click it to run it. This particular batch file sets ECHO off (which cleans up the output by hiding the commands from being printed at the prompt, prints the text "Hello World" to the screen, and then waits for you to press a key before it ends.
If you didn't add PAUSE to the file, the batch file would simply run its commands and then automatically close. In this case, it would print "Hello World" to the window and then immediately close the Command Prompt window. When you want to quickly run commands without seeing the output, you can omit this. If you're running several commands, you could place the PAUSE command in between them.
It's fundamentally simple to create a batch file. The only thing you need to change is what you type into Notepad. To run several commands, you type each one on its own line and the batch file will run each one in order.
For example, let's say we want to write a batch file that runs several network diagnostic commands. We might want to run ipconfig /all to view network information, ping google.com to see if Google's servers are responding, and tracert google.com to run a traceroute to google.com and see if there are any problems on the way.
You might also want to add the "ECHO OFF" command to the beginning of the file. This is typically added to the start of most batch files. When you do this, the commands themselves won't be printed to the Command Prompt, but the results will be. For example, you'll see the network connection details but not the "ipconfig /all" line. Most people don't care to see the commands, so this can clean up the output.
There are other directions you could go with a batch file like this. For example, you might want to have your batch script run the above commands and then dump the output to a text file you can view later. To do so, you'd use the >> operator after each command to append its output to the text file. As we're going to read the output from the text file anyway, we can omit the PAUSE command.
After you run the above script, you'd find a file named results.txt in the same folder as the batch file with the output of the commands. The Command Prompt window will automatically close once the batch file is done running.
The example we're using above relies on actually printing information to the Command Prompt so the user can read it. However, many batch files are designed to be run non-interactively. For example, you could have a batch file that deletes multiple files or directories whenever you double-click it. You'd just need to use the del command to delete files or the deltree command to delete directories. Remember, you're just using the same commands you'd run in a Command Prompt window.
The Microsoft Windows Script Host (WSH) (formerly named Windows Scripting Host) is an automation technology for Microsoft Windows operating systems that provides scripting abilities comparable to batch files, but with a wider range of supported features. This tool was first provided on Windows 95 after Build 950a on the installation discs as an optional installation configurable and installable by means of the Control Panel, and then a standard component of Windows 98 (Build 1111) and subsequent and Windows NT 4.0 Build 1381 and by means of Service Pack 4. The WSH is also a means of automation for Internet Explorer via the installed WSH engines from IE Version 3.0 onwards; at this time VBScript became means of automation for Microsoft Outlook 97.[1] The WSH is also an optional install provided with a VBScript and JScript engine for Windows CE 3.0 and following and some third-party engines including Rexx and other forms of Basic are also available.[2][3][4]
It is language-independent in that it can make use of different Active Scripting language engines. By default, it interprets and runs plain-text JScript (.JS and .JSE files) and VBScript (.VBS and .VBE files).
Users can install different scripting engines to enable them to script in other languages, for instance PerlScript. The language-independent filename extension WSF can also be used. The advantage of the Windows Script File (.WSF) is that it allows multiple scripts ("jobs") as well as a combination of scripting languages within a single file.
Windows Script Host is distributed and installed by default on Windows 98 and later versions of Windows. It is also installed if Internet Explorer 5 (or a later version) is installed. Beginning with Windows 2000, the Windows Script Host became available for use with user login scripts.
The WSH, the engines, and related functionality are also listed as objects which can be accessed and scripted and queried by means of the VBA and Visual Studio object explorers and those for similar tools like the various script debuggers, e.g. Microsoft Script Debugger, and editors.
WSH implements an object model which exposes a set of Component Object Model (COM) interfaces.[7] So in addition to ASP, IIS, Internet Explorer, CScript and WScript, the WSH can be used to automate and communicate with any Windows application with COM and other exposed objects, such as using PerlScript to query Microsoft Access by various means including various ODBC engines and SQL, ooRexxScript to create what are in effect Rexx macros in Microsoft Excel, Quattro Pro, Microsoft Word, Lotus Notes and any of the like, the XLNT script to get environment variables and print them in a new TextPad document, and so on.
The VBA functionality of Microsoft Office, Open Office (as well as Python and other installable macro languages) and Corel WordPerfect Office is separate from WSH engines although Outlook 97 uses VBScript rather than VBA as its macro language.[8]
Python in the form of ActiveState PythonScript can be used to automate and query the data in SecureCRT, as with other languages with installed engines, e.g. PerlScript, ooRexxScript, PHPScript, RubyScript, LuaScript, XLNT and so on. One notable exception is Paint Shop Pro, which can be automated in Python by means of a macro interpreter within the PSP programme itself rather than using the PythonScript WSH engine or an external Python implementation such as Python interpreters supplied with Unix emulation and integration software suites or other standalone Python implementations et al.[9][10] as an intermediate and indeed can be programmed like this even in the absence of any third-party Python installation; the same goes for the Rexx-programmable terminal emulator Passport.[11] The SecureCRT terminal emulator, SecureFX FTP client, and related client and server programmes from Van Dyke are as of the current versions automated by means of the WSH so any language with an installed engine may be used; the software comes with VBScript, JScript, and PerlScript examples.
As of the most recent releases and going back a number of versions now, the programmability of 4NT / Take Command in the latest implementations (by means of "@REXX" and similar for Perl, Python, Tcl, Ruby, Lua, VBScript, JScript and the like and so on) generally uses the WSH engine.[12] The ZOC terminal emulator gets its ability to be programmed in Rexx by means of an external interpreter, one of which is supplied with the programme, and alternate Rexx interpreters can be specified in the configuration of the programme.[13][14] The MKS Toolkit provides PScript, a WSH engine in addition to the standard Perl interpreter perl.exe which comes with the package.
VBScript, JScript, and some third-party engines have the ability to create and execute scripts in an encoded format which prevents editing with a text editor; the file extensions for these encoded scripts is .vbe and .jse and others of that type.
c80f0f1006