Okay, I've got a fair to middling handle on AutoIt v3 basics, but from here on the learning curve looks pretty foggy to me -- which is my problem of course, but still, I don't know what to read next and where to find it. Somewhere between the language basics and a some basic functions and so forth, and on the other end, actually implementing my goals of having a few applications perform automated tasks in their GUIs, lies a gulf of ignorance waiting for me to get lost inside. What lies in the middle? Some currently unknown (to me) Windows API calls or what? What's the operational programming map as well as learning map look like?
I'm a multi-decade, highly experienced systems programmer, but NONE of my work has been on PCs of any type or any PC operating system (I've done lots of embedded through high-end engineering computers instead). I'm working on Windows XP and 7, but only as a user, not a programmer. I don't know any Windows APIs whatsoever, and I don't particularly want to learn anything much more than is necessary to program AutoIt for manipulating a half-dozen apps.
To put a more practical EXAMPLE topic out there for those who prefer it such, in a current script, I'm going to activate an app, but first I want to know it it's already running. I tried obtaining and looping through a WinList() looking for a Window title that matches my app's name, but it turned out that a folder with the same name was already open, so my primitive script confused a Windows Explorer folder window name with the desired application's name because they were identical. What do I have to do to distinguish the two cases? I figure there's some additional info I should be able to find using the Window handle(s) -- such as the name of the process which created it -- but I don't know where to find that kind of info on the documentation or learning map. So I'd prefer a fuller reply than only a suggested solution to this particular practical question if possible.
Thanks for your patience folks!