ELAG 2010 Lightning talk about GUI automation with Sikuli

1. GUI automation with Sikuli
Ctibor Škuta
ELAG 2010, Helsinki, Lightning talk

2. Our problem
• 400 new subject headings picked from 653
MARC field (keyword) of our bibliographic
records
• … but then we had to change the 653 field
with given terms to 650 field (authority
subject heading)
• Which means for me to fill the same form
400 TIMES only with one different term
ELAG 2010, Helsinki, Lightning talk

3. Other solution
• Maybe it could be done automatically?
• Aleph administrator: „That‘s not possible.“
ELAG 2010, Helsinki, Lightning talk

4. Totally different solution
• … but maybe we don‘t have to automate the
system itself
• Maybe we can automate the actual human
work (typing, clicking)
ELAG 2010, Helsinki, Lightning talk

5. Our solution = Sikuli
• Picture-driven programming tool
• Recognizes patterns on graphical output
• Multiplatform (code in Java)
• Using Jython (Python implementation in Java)
ELAG 2010, Helsinki, Lightning talk

6. Simple example
terms = ['"moby is from belgium"', '"moby is not from belgium"']
click( )
time.sleep(5)
for term in terms:
paste(term)
type(Key.ENTER)
time.sleep(5)
type(Key.BACKSPACE)
time.sleep(2)
click( )
ELAG 2010, Helsinki, Lightning talk

7. When to use it?
• you want to automate something, but you
don‘t have an access to its source
• you want to avoid repeating, boring or
annoying work
ELAG 2010, Helsinki, Lightning talk

8. Be aware of...
• Unexpected behaiviour of your computer (lags
– just take your time)
• Inconsistent behaiviour of your software
ELAG 2010, Helsinki, Lightning talk

9. Thanks for your attention!
ELAG 2010, Helsinki, Lightning talk