How does someone go about writing a "macro"?

[xarzu]

I know something about software engineering. I can write and run a program. But I would like to know
something about MACROS. I don't mean the ASSEMBLY language kind. I am talking about those programs that
you can use perform repetitions actions on another program. I am talking about those programs that you
can use to record a series of events on your computer, like, mouse movements and button clicks and then
you can play them back. Some of them are elaborate enough to run only on a paricular app that you
designate.

I wrote one of sorts once. It was a program that launched an Excel sessions and then used the dynamic
data exchage pipe of some kind to feed the excell session script commands. It worked.

But something on the level of the operating system, I imagine, is a whole different story.

How does someone go about writing a "macro"?

 

[nasaboy007]

I think you want to program a program that can create macros, not just make a macro. (If you want to simply make a macro, AutoHotKey is the best one out there).


To make such a program, you'd have to look into the Windows API and learn about hooks and such. I've never actually dabbled with this (and I've always really wanted to), so if you find any really good tutorial, please share.