Automate a Webex Meeting outside of work?

I'm trying to schedule a daily meeting, end the meeting, then open it back up each day. Its just a meeting where agents / friends can join to chat outside of the regular work meeting.

The main issue I have is that the computer I intend on automating this with, is my work computer on days I work, so any foreground tasks / scripts can get in the way.

Right now, I'm just using AppleScript and SystemEvents to open Safari page, click a few things and then the meeting is opened. I am testing the simplest way to do this first, before I turn it into a scheduled task.

Since I have to log into Webex, adding credentials in AppleScript would be nuts, so I'm stuck having to log in before starting the script, which pretty much defeats the purpose, since most days I'm not working and leave the computer and when I'm there, I start it up like normal anyway.

I was thinking of maybe using my backup Android phone to just be plugged in all the time, and use some Root Macro app or if I can, a terminal script or something. Its all cracked and beat up so i dont vare about screen burn and all that.

Any tips / advice? Webex Meetings does have a scheduler, but I dont think it actually starts the meeting

Solution 1:

Well scheduling a reoccurring meeting in WebEx is not a problem there's a checkbox for that and you can define Daily, Every weekday and duration. You can also use Outlook to schedule the WebEx meetings.

Sounds more like you want to automatically launch the meeting instead of having the meeting saved with a reminder on a calendar app?

If you install the WebEx App on macOS and have it configured to start automatically there is a notifications setting so it pops up a reminder. Then it's just a single click on Start Meeting. Or you can use the calendar of choice to do the same after importing an iCal Webex meeting.

Or if you look at the scheduled meeting page and drop down the arrow on the green Start Meeting button there's an option to open with browser or the app. If you choose to open with the app you can then inspect the page and find a long URL webexstart://launch/. Copy that code and then launch it with command line open "webexstart://launch/..etc..etc..". That opens the App and brings you to the meeting where you still have to click Start Meeting. You could do the same with the meeting URL itself to launch the browser but that wouldn't be the webexstart:// but https:// instead. Similarly you'll need to click the Start Meeting button.

Since WebEx can activate the microphone and camera its a security risk to just auto-connect and requiring at least some user input to make the connection is recommended. Password protecting meetings is highly recommended.

Having a Cisco compatible video conferencing hardware endpoint connected to a network, then you could as a WebEx engineer / admin configure it to start the meeting and connect automatically. This is how physical conference rooms are setup. But then you need more privileges on the WebEx backend as well as some hardware infrastructure and the software to hook it into the Cisco WebEx backend. Also the latest best practice is to not auto-connect for security reasons and a physical conference room will typically have a touch panel showing the scheduled meetings and have a Join button that becomes available at the appropriate time. That way if no one shows up to that room the room won't automatically connect. You don't want someone wandering by to eavesdrop on a meeting if no one is using that room. For sensitive meetings it is normal to require a passcode even for a physical room so that means tapping Join and typing in a numeric passcode to join the meeting.

Automating your own connection is of course your own choice. But consider the scenario of having your meeting auto-connect at an inappropriate moment, etc.