terrypin

I've tried to reproduce your newly described behaviour but still in vain. Left or right clicking the running man icon always terminated the macro during a dozen or so tests. However I have in the past had to resort to the Task Manager, but recall they usually proved due to some inexplicable problem with the specific macro. But in case I've not fully understood your description: where is the setting "'Only Show Notifications" ? Do you mean Options > Preferences>General>Dialogs>Display program is running notification ?

Indeed! But I made a surprising discovery when I reloaded Firefox and tested again just now. I found that the command worked incorrectly only if it was positioned at the top left corner, (0,0)! If instead you drag it away from there, the command does what it should. With it at (0,0) the mouse cursor now always jumps to (0,23). Note that that is different to the behaviour yesterday, when it was working correctly (assuming that I had Firefox maximised). I found the same with Waterfox and Edge. And Google Earth. But not Chrome, in which the destination is always (0,0), regardless of the window size or position. BTW, overnight I updated Windows 10 to version 1903, build 18362.267 in an (unsuccessful) attempt to fix the shortkeys problem I mentioned, although I still see no clear evidence that updates might be a factor. I'm inclined to report it formally as a 'bug', referring to this thread for detail. But first I'd be interested to see if others can reproduce my results. To help, here's the simple macro I'm using: // Assumes the text cursor has been placed directly before running the macro with the hotkey of choice, in this case Alt+F6. For a browser, obvious locations are the Address or Search box, but any text field can be used. Delay: 0.1 seconds Mouse Move: To the Text Cursor Position Delay: 0.1 seconds Get Mouse Position into (nMouseX, nMouseY) Relative to Screen Text Box Display: Mouse position at text cursor CODE: <COMMENT Value="Assumes the text cursor has been placed directly before running the macro with the hotkey of choice, in this case Alt+F6.\r\nFor a browser, obvious locations are the Address or Search box, but any text field can be used."/> <DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.1"/> <MOUSE MOVE Option="\x00" X="0" Y="0" _PROMPT="0x000A"/> <DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.1"/> <GET MOUSE POSITION Option="\x00" X="nMouseX" Y="nMouseY"/> <TEXT BOX DISPLAY Title="Mouse position at text cursor" Content="{\\rtf1\\ansi\\ansicpg1252\\deff0\\deflang2057{\\fonttbl{\\f0\\fnil Tahoma;}{\\f1\\fnil\\fcharset0 Tahoma;}}\r\n\\viewkind4\\uc1\\pard\\f0\\fs20 %nMouseX%\\f1 , %nMouseY%\\f0 \r\n\\par }\r\n" Left="Center" Top="Center" Width="278" Height="200" Monitor="0" OnTop="FALSE" Keep_Focus="TRUE" Mode="\x00" Delay="0"/>

Thanks Alan. If so, I hope Waterfox will soon catch up, as the browser is a fruitful target for that command.

A bug in my view. Even if its ultimate cause is not down solely to MEP, a command has to be consistent or it’s effectively unusable. Referring back to my last but one post, my first thought about the strange ‘reversal’ of behaviour in shortkeys assignment was that it was an overnight MS OS change. But I have no evidence. What is your OS version? Have you tried the command in other applications?

I ran my test macro in a dozen applications, with the text cursor positioned at arbitrary locations. Eight worked correctly: Firefox, MEP, TextPad, File Explorer, Quicken, Excel, GPS Utility, PaintShop Pro. It did not work in these four, with the resulting consistent mouse cursor positions. Waterfox browser: 8,31 Chrome browse:, 8,,0 Edge browser: 0,0 Google Earth: 8,31

Digressing, but ... this is a rather similar scenario to a bizarre issue here. Two days ago I sent a formal bug report. When assigning a short key to a new macro, ALL generated the warning message, even though there was no conflict. IOW, that key was not already in use. Support could not reproduce - but neither could I on the following day! However, essentially the opposite problem was now consistently occurring: NO shortkeys caused the error message! I hate unsolved quirks like this so have spent most of today trying to solve it - in vain. Back to your issue. My test was with Waterfox. Wherever the text cursor was, that command moves the mouse cursor to (8,31j on my 1920x1080 screen. I’ll try other tests later. What OS version do you have?

We crossed in the post. Well done, pleased to hear it.

To run any macro posted to you in the form that I did, you you can either: 1. Type the commands into a new macro of your own, but changing anything that needs it. In this case you don’t have a folder called "c:\users\Terry\Test" so create one of your own and enter that instead. 2. Copy the code and paste it into a new macro, then make the same change.

Yes, same here Alan. Seems to go consistently to (8,31) I'm fairly sure it worked OK in previous version. Bug report?

widevisions: Thought I replied an hour ago to your latest, but seems to have vanished. In short: Did you read the Help extract I highlighted, showing that it does apply to folders? Did you try the example macro I showed you? BTW, I assume the answer to my question about folder v directory is the same as the one you gave about 'mtime' etc, namely that you're using Linux?

Hi Cory, I have Win 10 1803 build 17134.885 which doesn't have a Clipboard section in Settings > System. I assume it's in 1903. Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update tells me I am up-to-date but also, in contradiction, says 1903 is ready for me to install when I'm ready. I recall reading about several serious issues with it so I'm not over-enthusiastic. What's the consensus?

I don't see that behaviour here. The green icon remains while any submacro is running (i.e. any macro started from a Macro Run command). I'm using Win 10 Pro 1803 build 17134.885, with MEP 6.1.1.1. Can you write and upload a simple example macro that exhibits the problem so that we can try to reproduce the issue.

Hi, No apology necessary! But can you be more specific please. Exactly what operations are you trying to perform on a folder with a macro? What is 'atime'? 'mtime'? I see no such fields in the Properties dialog, as shown in my screenshot. Do you mean Date Modified, Date Accessed, etc? What is the distinction you're making between a directory and a folder? Are you referring to folders and subfolders? From Help > Variable Set from File: "The Variable Set from File command obtains either the date and time of a specific file or the path of the file and saves the information to variables." (My bold.) Does the following macro help? (Change test folder to suit.) Open Folder to "c:\users\Terry\Test" Variable Set From File date Text Box Display: Last Accessed info about folder C:\users\Terry\Test CODE: <OPEN FOLDER Path="c:\\users\\Terry\\Test"/> <VARIABLE SET FROM FILE Filename="C:\\Users\\terry\\Test" Option="\x00" Date="\x02" Month="%nMonth%" Day="%nDay%" Year="%nYear%" Hour="%nHour%" Minutes="%nMin%" Flags="\x1F"/> <TEXT BOX DISPLAY Title="Last Accessed info about folder C:\\users\\Terry\\Test" Content="{\\rtf1\\ansi\\ansicpg1252\\deff0\\deflang2057{\\fonttbl{\\f0\\fnil Tahoma;}{\\f1\\fnil\\fcharset0 Tahoma;}}\r\n\\viewkind4\\uc1\\pard\\f0\\fs20 nYear\\f1 = \\f0 %nYear%\r\n\\par nMonth\\f1 = \\f0 %nMonth%\r\n\\par nHour\\f1 = \\f0 %nHour%\r\n\\par nMin\\f1 = \\f0 %nMin%\r\n\\par \r\n\\par }\r\n" Left="821" Top="485" Width="368" Height="158" Monitor="0" OnTop="TRUE" Keep_Focus="TRUE" Mode="\x00" Delay="0"/>

Thanks Alan. I’d forgotten that you too are using VBA. Yes, that basic method does indeed seem to be working reliably here. Just wish I could find something that did it in the background.

Many thanks Cartwheels, some interesting new angles that I will explore. Good to know of at least one other VBA/MEP user. BTW, I’ve sometimes even tried OCR as a data transfer tool (and not just with Excel). It can be very handy for small volumes when other methods are elusive, but of course can never be relied upon at the 100.0% level. Digressing, I’d love an MEP feature that would allow us to hide all external operations initiated by MEP. Even better, the facility to go off and do other stuff after starting a macro!

Thanks Cory, appreciate the fast response and your kind offer. It's tempting to tackle yet another tool but I'm going to pass thank you. I have a hard enough time re-learning enough VBA each time I come to write a new Sub, or even edit one I wrote a year or decade ago! And for the last few weeks I've also been studying the 'Arduino' version of C/C++. I decided I needed Arduino to help me drag my practical electronics hobby into the 21st Century. Downside is a shed workshop full of ancient components that will mostly never get used 😉 But your mention of CSV prompts me to reconsider more carefully in future the relative merits of using Excel versus plain text files. Upsides of Excel include visual appeal for many of my applications (see example below), plus access to VBA (which can be SO much faster than MEP). But Text would let me work more easily in MEP.

I interpreted your question like kunkel321, and use that method frequently. Otherwise, if one of Cory's alternatives are what you're seeking, look at the File > Export menu.

Anyone here using VBA with ME/MEP please? I'm wondering if there's a better method than I'm presently using to get data out of Excel and into an MEP variable. For example my VBA to copy cell B3 in Excel to the existing MEP variable looks like this: Sub CopyTrackDescrToClipbrd() ' Copies contents of B3 in active TrackDataSheet to clipboard ' Remains on clipboard after macro finishes Range("B3").Copy End Sub And my MEP macro includes this: // Source is ACTIVE trackdata worksheet. Window Activate: .xlsm Wait for Window Title: .xlsm Delay: 0.2 seconds Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): <ALT><F8> // Opens Excel's Macro dialog. Delay: 0.2 seconds Text Type (Use Clipboard and Paste Text): PERSONAL.xlsb!CopyTrackDescrToClipbrd Delay: 0.2 seconds Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): <ENTER> Delay: 0.2 seconds Variable Set String %tTrackDescr% from the clipboard contents

Thanks for posting that inspiring video, Alan!

Hi Paul, I’ve learned to live with a few annoying but so far inexplicable issues with ME on my Win 10 Pro PC. One consistent example is an obscure conflict between ME and my ancient image editor, PaintShop Pro 8. Until the latter has been running for roughly 150 seconds, no macros can be activated. None. Not just those related to PSP 8. (I now have PSP 8 running permanently,. It’s frequently used anyway and that period is too long to wait without ME access.) This did not happen on my old XP PC. A year or so ago I even bought PSP 2018, which removed this issue. But for several months it proved glacially slow under Win 10 (most users, not just me). And my scores of macros scoped for PSP 8 would need editing to some degree. Throw in decades of familiarity. So my preference remains PSP 8, warts and all. In case it’s relevant, PSP uses Python scripting.

Thanks Alan, appreciate that thorough explanation. I'll probably experiment further but I'm now committed so heavily to my menu-based workflow that I suspect I won't use that new command much. All menus like that example I gave are displayed by a mouse middle click in the application's title, so access is quite fast. I don't work in Word a lot but for Excel I too have quite a few MEP macros that run VBA macros - a powerful combination. This example runs my Excel VBA macro called 'SelectLastInCol_A' Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): <ALT><F8> Delay: 0.1 seconds Text Type (Use Clipboard and Paste Text): PERSONAL.xlsb!SelectLastInCol_A Delay: 0.1 seconds Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): <ENTER> Delay: 0.2 seconds <TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ALT><F8>"/> <DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.1"/> <TEXT TYPE Action="1" Text="PERSONAL.xlsb!SelectLastInCol_A"/> <DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.1"/> <TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ENTER>"/> <DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.2"/> Further explanatory images attached, although I expect you're more confident with this stuff than I am. Almost all my VBA macros have been written in copy/paste mode, sourced by several Excel forums then tailored, largely by trial and error. But the appeal of this approach is that all the MEP macros follow the same format as above, with all the functionality in the Excel/Word macro. With that being either written (or pasted) in the VBA Editor (Alt+F11 to access quickly), or recorded and edited. -------------------- BTW, why doesn't your initial access hotkey of F1 bring up Word's Help, as it does here? Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Hi @cantor, Briefly tried it (handicapped by lack of help page with an example from Insight) but can't really see its advantage over my familiar menu method using menus. Most of my macros are accessed while working in a specific application. For those most frequently used I probably have a well-remembered KB shortcut or localised mouse click. For others (over a thousand) I use menus like the attached example. And most of my macro names begin with a verb (Copy, Move, Get, etc) so two or three keystrokes would be inadequate. -------------------- Can you please expand a little on how your macro proceeds to run the target macro after getting its full name into the variable via a prompt? Terry, East Grinstead, UK

I have a similar large menu structure like yours, here in Win 10 Pro Version 1803 (OS Build 17134.766). But I've always used the Nickname and Scope setting by choice. Was there a particular advantage for you in using the Windows Default? Three monitors: you must get plenty of good neck exercise! And have a larger desk then me 😉

Thanks, yes, it is possible to export from Waterfox as an HTML. That's ALL bookmarks though, probably over a thousand here. (Time to prune!) I can then open it via Dropbox on the iPhone or iPad and then find and open the one I want (then re-save its bookmark). But that would be slower even than emailing myself the specific URL etc. So I'm still hoping for a neater solution, albeit not optimistically. Maybe the intuitive email route is the best I can do.

Before I tackle this myself I'm hoping maybe someone has already done some similar work and is happy to share? In the absence of specific freeware, which I'm also seeking, I'd like a macro that would quickly copy a bookmark (or multiple bookmarks) to my iPhone and two iPads. Without having to connect each device to the PC. (I do have iTunes installed but hate using it.) I have a Dropbox account so that possibly offers one starting point. Ideally, with a web page selected in Firefox (or Waterfox mostly in my case) I'd like to be able to copy it automatically to the iOS Safari bookmarks.