# What can you automate with Ruby? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [September 7, 2006, 5:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-can-you-automate-with-ruby/67889 "2006-09-07T17:57:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chrisfinne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@chrisfinne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chrisfinne)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 5:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-can-you-automate-with-ruby/67889/1 "2006-09-07T17:57:30Z")
Hi all, I’m a newbie - please have patience. I am not sure if anyone uses Ruby as an automation tool - I think it would be a cool thing to do. I have heard of the WIN32OLE extension - it sounds cool - does anyone use this and why? I was wondering if this automation only applies to these Windows applications or is there any more you can control with a Ruby program? I use the graphing application Origin - could I use Ruby to automate, i.e. put data in and plot graphs. Thanks in advance, Chris ---
**Author:** ![chrisfinne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@chrisfinne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chrisfinne)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-can-you-automate-with-ruby/67889/2 "2006-09-07T18:21:30Z")
Chris F. wrote: > applications or is there any more you can control with a Ruby program? > > I use the graphing application Origin - could I use Ruby to automate, > i.e. put data in and plot graphs. Let me put it this way. If an automation facility exists that allows the behavior of applications to be orchestrated by software, and if the facility is reasonably flexible, then Ruby will be able to perform the automations. ---
**Author:** ![chrisfinne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@chrisfinne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chrisfinne)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-can-you-automate-with-ruby/67889/3 "2006-09-07T18:27:31Z")
On 9/7/06, Chris F. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > applications or is there any more you can control with a Ruby program? > > I use the graphing application Origin - could I use Ruby to automate, > i.e. put data in and plot graphs. > > Thanks in advance, > > Chris It depends on what you want to automate. Ruby can do (almost) anything any other language can - on windows that means COM, commandlines, WIN32API, registers, etc. You can even automate GUIs via AutoIt .dll/COM interface, although in most cases pure AutoIt is easier. There is watir package to control/automate the browser if I’ve understood it correctly. On unix, the possibilities are similar, so the main question is, what means/protocol/whatever you need to use to automate your target? ---
**Author:** ![chrisfinne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@chrisfinne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chrisfinne)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-can-you-automate-with-ruby/67889/4 "2006-09-07T18:28:00Z")
> If an automation facility exists Is there a standard way to find out if an application enables automation? or can you suggest a way? > if the > facility is reasonably flexible Could you expand upon this please? Thankyou Chris ---
**Author:** ![chrisfinne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@chrisfinne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chrisfinne)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-can-you-automate-with-ruby/67889/5 "2006-09-07T18:49:34Z")
Hi Chris, Coincidentally, I am also a Ruby N., and just found out about WIN32OLE. So far, the documentation I’ve found is very spare. One trick I did learn in combing through the web was to use your system to print out the methods available for the various applications: require ‘win32ole’ # Win32OLE Variables excel = WIN32OLE.new(‘Excel.Application’) word = WIN32OLE.new(‘Word.Application’) puts excel.methods puts “\n\n” puts excel.ole\_methods puts word.methods puts “\n\n” puts word.ole\_methods puts “\n\n” puts word.Documents.ole\_methods This gave me at least a start. You might also want to look at the help file that is available on Office Automation at [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302460/](http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302460/). If anyone else has any information on Office Automation, and specifically how it fits into Win32OLE, I’d really appreciate it - what I’d really like to have is a “canonical” list of all methods for each available Office module. But I haven’t found anything close to that yet. James ---
**Author:** ![chrisfinne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@chrisfinne](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chrisfinne)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-can-you-automate-with-ruby/67889/6 "2006-09-07T20:33:46Z")
Chris F. wrote: > > If an automation facility exists > > Is there a standard way to find out if an application enables > automation? or can you suggest a way? > > > if the > > facility is reasonably flexible > > Could you expand upon this please? Okay, a decent, flexible automation facility will allow calls using plain-text arguments. Some proprietary automation facilities require rather baroque instructions, and a lot of very specific coding (like C-style structures). My remark appplies to the former case. What I am saying is Ruby code is at best platform-independent, so it shouldn’t require a native-code section in order to accomplish its goals.