Macro Express And Terminal Servies

[Token]

Has anyone tried running a macro in a remote desktop session? I mean that ME is installed on the server and I connect and run the macro on the server. It seems to work until i switch away. But when i off my terminal services its start behave funny.

 

my ME works perfet and okay with my locaL desktop and also work same in remote but when i off my terminal services its start behave funny

[joe]

Welcome to the forum!

 

I am having a tough time deciphering what you have written. When you say "behaving funny", what do you mean?

[frlill]

Hi,

I am running Macro Express on our win2K server running Terminal Services as well. I have a similar problem.

All my Macro's will run fine when the session that I use for running the macro's is active. When I disconnect, however, part of my macro's is not executed.

 

I have one macro that I use to convert an audio file to another format using Cool Edit 2000 and then copy the converted file to another directory (the "cuts" directory) on one of the linked network drives.. After everything is executed, the macro sends me an email saying that the job is done and gives me the time and date of the actual time and date of the converted file in the "cuts" directory. As I said, when the terminal services session is active, everything works fien, but when I am disconnected , the converted file is NOT COPIED to the "cuts" directory. I then get the email saying that everything is done but with the date and time of the file MAcEx copied before to the CUTS directory, when the TS session was active. So the file in question is not updated, allthough MacEx says it is done.

 

I also have other macro's where I use "get control" commands. They work fine if the TS session is active, but do not work when disconnected.

 

I have the impression that MacEx has problems running under TS. If that is the case, then Macex would be useless to me. I would greatly appreciate if this problem could be solved quickly.

[villev]

Hi,

 

I am having similar issues with MS Terminal Services Client/Win2k - e.g. scheduling does not work even if you are logged in but not connected.

 

I have not even tried ME locally since there is no physical access to the server I am talking about - it could be that some of the oddities (sometimes macro works and sometimes not) are due to the fact that I am using a Terminal Services connection.

 

I would very much appreciate a solution for this, since I'd like to run Macros scheduled with a Terminal connection user logged in..

[floyd]

My understanding is that Macro Express works just fine with both Citrix and Terminal Services. However, you must be careful as to how the macro is programmed when working with thin-nets. For example, it may seem like your computer is doing the work when actually the Terminal Services server is doing it.

 

You could be seeing something on the client side that is just an "image" of what the Terminal Server is actually doing. In other words, a real window or dialog may be being run, or even displayed, on the Terminal Server, but all you are seeing on the client side is an image of it ... there is no actual window running on your computer. It really depends on where Macro Express is loaded and which computer is doing the work.

 

As to folders not being available when the connection is terminated, this makes perfect sense to me. It would be the same as attempting to access a folder on a local network when the server containing it is no longer available to the network.

 

Because "the flow of the work" is different when using Terminal Services, I would strongly suggest that you contact support at Insight Software to go over your exact situation, and what is going wrong, so they can help you.

[villev]

Hi,

will contact insight. However, the way I am deciphering the messages previously in this thread all the users have issues with ME when running ME remotely so that it is installed on the server and when disconnecting (i.e. the Terminal Services session is alive, but what takes place in the session is not displayed to the user) issues start to appear.

 

This is the case for me, and I understand that this might be also the same case for two other persons posting in this same thread.

 

It is a known limitation (see below the clip from the known limitations/knowledgebase/FAQ) that running macross across Client - Server has issues, which I completely understand. What I do not comprehend is the amount of issues when I am running the macros and ME on the server only.

 

Ville

 

 

============clip from the knowledge base ====================

 

Does Macro Express work on a Citrix or Windows Terminal Server?

 

We have many customers running Macro Express in a Citrix and/or Windows Terminal Services (WTS) environment. You can load Macro Express on the server, on the workstation, or both.

 

If Macro Express is installed only on the server, macros may not be able to load and automate programs that are installed on the workstation.

 

If Macro Express is installed only on the workstation, then some macro commands do not work the way you might expect. For example, when a program is loaded on the Citrix/WTS server, the workstation displays the window and window title. But since what is being shown on the workstation is actually an image of what is happening on the server, commands like Wait for Window Title and Activate Window do not work.

 

If Macro Express is installed on both the Citrix/WTS server and the workstation, you have to be careful that your macros do not conflict. Further, the macros that are running on server still cannot load programs that are installed on the workstation and macros that are running on the local workstation may not use certain macro commands.

 

There is one macro command that is specifically used for writing macros in a Citrix environment. The "Store Terminal Services Session ID" command gets the unique Session ID assigned to each Citrix/WTS session. If you are saving information on the server's hard drive, you may want to use the session ID in the file name or path to uniquely identify what session the information belongs to. The "Store Terminal Services Session ID" is available in Macro Express v 3.4 or later.

 

- Updated: August 26, 2004

 

 

Will Macro Express run a scheduled macro if the system is logged off or locked, using Windows NT, 2000 or XP Professional?

 

No. When the system is logged off or locked, this effectively locks or closes Macro Express. The program will not be able to activate scheduled macros in this state.

 

- Updated: February 3, 2002