Beta Automation Update

[TigerSoftware]

Figured I better post an update. Last part I am trying to finish is the web scraping. I knew this would be a pain in the ankles... Mainly trying to make it easy for you to select the stuff you want to scrape. I wasn't able to select some data on LinkedIn. They probably made it difficult to avoid the scraping. Which makes me think it may not work on all sites.

Anyway, that is where I am right now.


Thomas

 

[techedge]

Thank you for the update.

 

[schmutly]

That will be ok for now. I was using some regEx for certain things also. I made this currency converter years ago when I didn't have
scraping and just grabbed what I needed from the source page...yeah, it's different than scraping, but I think we'll work it out or approach it
in a different way.
I'm just looking forward to normal ESB and the DB side as I have a few projects that don't need any scraping or automation but the
webapi.
Anyhow, I think were all getting excited and thanks for the update too

 

[TigerSoftware]

That will be ok for now. I was using some regEx for certain things also. I made this currency converter years ago when I didn't have
scraping and just grabbed what I needed from the source page...yeah, it's different than scraping, but I think we'll work it out or approach it
in a different way.
I'm just looking forward to normal ESB and the DB side as I have a few projects that don't need any scraping or automation but the
webapi.
Anyhow, I think were all getting excited and thanks for the update too

Not everyone is a pro-programmer like you and needs a easy way to scrape.


Thomas

 

[Eyasu]

Thomas,
This is a great hope for those of us non-programmers. Hoping you make some videos along the way in the future. Thank you.
Eyasu

 

[TigerSoftware]

Thomas,
This is a great hope for those of us non-programmers. Hoping you make some videos along the way in the future. Thank you.
Eyasu

Thanks Eyasu. I plan on making a ton of videos. Not only will videos help with learning, but should also get the attention of others that may want build programs for their businesses.


Thomas

 

[TigerSoftware]

Started testing and liking what I see.

 

[schmutly]

I'm out shopping for a wedding ring... can't wait to get home and watch this... you made my day

 

[TigerSoftware]

I'm out shopping for a wedding ring... can't wait to get home and watch this... you made my day

A simple test clicking a button and selecting an option from the drop down list. I'll make more short videos as I test more. I just wanted you all to see some of the progress. Appreciate all of your support.


Thomas

 

[TigerSoftware]

Another test, set the email address for the download page and clicked the Get Downloads button.

Will try scraping all the downloads next.

 

[TigerSoftware]

Another update, been going through the script building "wizards" to make it easier. I'm trying to cut out as much stuff as I can to make it simple. I want your average non-technical person to be able to quickly create scripts.


Thomas

 

[Mel Bel]

I want your average non-technical person to be able to quickly create scripts.


Thomas

That's going to be the key to making a lot more sales with it. If people had such a hard time figuring out how to use TSB, how much more with everything you'll have going on in this monster. Most people don't care about the technical aspects or feature details of anything - they simply have something in mind they want to do or create, and they want the easiest way possible to achieve it. If they have to use an API, they'll do it; if AI, then they'll use that; and if neither, then all well and good.

I would say that many of us who have been your customers all these years and have actually used the software are "techie" in some way or other, or we have some appreciation of techie stuff and like to learn and try new things even if they seem difficult. But we don't represent the majority, or even a large minority, of people generally. So, the easier you can make it for people, the better experience they'll have, and you'll benefit from that as well.

I remember reading a comparison review one time about your TSB software and other software that did something similar, and in his comments about TSB he said it was powerful software, no question about it, but the learning curve to use it would probably be too high for a lot of people. And that was just TSB!

TSB was pretty easy to figure out for me and Joan, but when we bought it 10 years ago you had recorded about 5 new tutorial videos that made it a lot easier to get going, and the rest we figured out through trial and error or from the forum. So, I think what you are doing with the video tutorials for this and making the scripts easier to use (plus anything else you can think of to make it easier) will help a lot of people who buy in when you're ready to sell it.

Mel

 

[TigerSoftware]

Thanks Mel,

I don't know how well I will succeed at making it easy for everyone, but that is the goal. In any case, hopefully it will be easier. There is a lot you can do with it and I think it can be overwhelming. So I am trying to look at specific scenarios that someone may want to automate and make it easier for them to do so. I do plan on doing a lot of videos once everything is released leaving me with more time. Not only will the videos help in learning, but I do think it will get the attention of more people regarding the programs.

With that said, we should all be making a lot of sales building programs for others. People are making 6 figure incomes building automation programs for others. Back in the day they were making good money building Microsoft Access programs for businesses. That was the original reason I built TSB. I wanted to quickly make simple programs and sell them. haha


Thomas

 

[TigerSoftware]

Added a new field on the reports that will allow your users to set where they want a report to be saved too when our automation scripts run. As of right now, we set the path where the report is saved in our scripts. Our customers will probably want a specific location, on their computer, for their reports. You should still still set the file path in case they don't (it will default to their desktop if no path is set). If there is a path added by the user it will use that one.


Thomas

 

[TigerSoftware]

Another update...

There are two types of automation scripts. One is a Schedule Script that can be run on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. The other one is called a Auto Script which is based on our forms/records. Previously you would set the forms/record scripts to run based on the record being saved. The customer changes a property, clicks save and it runs the script. The ID for that record will be added to the script so we know which record we need to work with.

Now the customer can just click on the record and select from a list of automation scripts to run it. They don't need to edit the record and save it. The record ID will still be added to the script like before so we know what record our scripts will need to access. I'll definitely make videos on this, just wanted to inform everyone of the progress.

I've been going through everything to clean it up and make it easier. I'm changing everything that makes me scratch my head wondering what the heck I was thinking. haha


Thanks!


Thomas

 

[TigerSoftware]

Ok for automating word documents I have included the following...

You can add the contents of a file to a new document or to an existing document .

You can add content directly depending on the type (html, rtf, text, images). This will be helpful if you are scraping data from a website and want to add it to a document.

You can merge the content of multiple document records into one.

You can save the document to a file on your computer.

You can print a document if you have a default printer set up and turned on.

Snap Reports is a way to create reports using Word like features. I added the ability to save your snap report to a document once it is created.

All of this can be saved to your database.

Any ideas on what would be some additional features you would like to add?

Documents are incredibly important in business settings so I wanted to build this out more.


Thanks!


Thomas

 

[TigerSoftware]

Ok, finally got this one working.

We use variables within our automation scripts. Variables store information/data temporarily. For example, say we have a sales form and want to set the date of the sale, or the amount, or the quantity. We would set this to a variable to hold it and then use the variable to update the sales form (database). We can update many different forms with the same variable.

Most of the snippets I built will create your variables for you. But on the off chance you would like to create your own, it was not user friendly at all. I hated doing it by hand so I can only imagine how difficult it would be for those that have no programming background.

So I added a Variables section to make it a lot easier. You can create a variable and set the variable to a default value. Or you can leave it empty and set it within your script. Example, you got a list of sales from a website and want to update your database. You would set the sales data to a variable and then use the variable to set your form which would then be saved to the database.

You can edit or delete variables as well.



I think I have this about as easy to use as I can make it. Which means now I will put my effort into testing and hopefully will have this out very soon. I definitely need to get this out as soon as possible!

Thanks for your patience!


Thomas

 

[schmutly]

Yeah, that's great. Easy, it makes sense. Similar to before but & a neater too. I am getting excited.
Getting "" on the 12th of July and then back into this 110%. .
How many snippets did you add/change? I assume we can still make our own and
import/export them to share with the clan? doy!
Hopefully, we start selling sooner, that'd be good and hoping we're not far off from builds (after bugs.)
Ps: We all appreciate your ongoing hard work and remember, we're here to help with the testing, all in this
together Boss

 

[TigerSoftware]

Still can import/export snippets. No plans on changing that as it will come in handy.

Don't think we are too far from getting it tested and ready to sell. Only thing I can think of that needs work is web scraping. I'm not going to hold up releases based on that. I'll work on it while fixing any bugs we find.

Was wondering when the big day was. That is awesome brother. I'm pushing to get this into your hands before that so no pressure. Haha

Thanksl

 

[TigerSoftware]

We have FTP actions that can be used to upload/download files and folders to and from our webserver. The way it is set up is great for someone who is building scripts that will run for themselves. Not so great for building scripts for others since we have to set the ftp login username and passwords within the script.

I was thinking of adding a FTP form that we can add to our programs. That way the user can open up the FTP form and add their login details. Then the script grabs the FTP record and uses that to login and upload or download files.

I also wondered if I should add a way for them to upload/download files from the FTP form if they want to do it themselves.

What do you think?

Thanks!


Thomas