terrypin

Thanks Joe, but no, turns out to be some strange glitch. For anyone else who ever encounters a similar problem, here's the email response I had from Stan at ISS: "I'm not sure how the column would disappear. I have tried from the interface and couldn't do it. Maybe a change in the registry. To restore the Category column, you will need to close Macro Express - Player and Editor. Open My Computer and go to the folder where you installed Macro Express Pro. Double click on the macdef.exe file to run this small utility. It will restore the program to all of its default settings, including restoring the category column. You will need to go back into Options | Preferences and reset anything that you have changed from the defaults." Duly did that and now happy to have a Category column for first time. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Definitely no Category column here, however wide I make the view. From left to right my columns are Icon, Index, Nickname, Activations, Scope, Modified, Last Run Time Screenshot duly sent by email to ISS Support as requested. I never had a category column in ME 3 either. Nor can I see any illustration anywhere in Help showing it, or in 'Macro Express Explained'. The new columns in ME Pro I have are Index and Last Run, but no Category! Categories only appear here in the left hand folders pane, which of course doesn't address my question. Are you 100% sure about this being a default column Kevin? -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Well I'm darned - thanks Cory! Never seen that before. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Thanks Paul. Going OT again for a minute, I'm pleased to report that I seem to have fixed that Stiletto message. I thought I'd focus on the file it implicated, PSAPI.DLL. I found several versions of it elsewhere, more recent than that in \Program Files\Stiletto. I copied one across from \Windows\System32 - and so far have had no more of those error messages! -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Thanks Cory. But if you mean the Notes tab, that doesn't show up alongside the command in your script. So yes, it's a work-around, but nowhere near as handy as a proper Comment. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Is there a good reason why there's no Comments tab for several commands? For example, Clipboard Copy and Clipboard Paste? I often want to explain what I'm copying or pasting, but cannot do so. Similarly, I'd like to be able to say what and/or why I'm left or right mouse clicking. Placing a Comment before or after these commands is an unsatisfactory second-best IMO. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Is there any way of getting ME to include a Category column in the Explorer > All Categories view please? It's the view I use most as it's not only the quickest way of identifying the most recent macros I've worked on but also lets me sort by Activation so that I can select an appropriate new one. But it doesn't tell me what category that macro is filed under, and sometimes finding that can be tedious. Nor does Properties show the category, which surprises me. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

That summarises exactly what I'm seeing here. Kevin: I did about a dozen further tests covering activation of all 4 options of Window Title. About three quarters proved erratic. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Yes. Minimal installing, converting, re-configuring and re-learning effort! In truth, I tried to upgrade at the time PowerPro replaced Stiletto but ran into all kinds of problems getting it to work smoothly on many of my existing routines. So I abandoned the attempt and reconciled myself to continuing with Stiletto, even though its author Bruce Switzer no longer supported it. Do you have any idea what might be causing that strange message please? --------- BTW, returning on topic, I had no response from you to my question 11 days ago in Post #16 of http://pgmacros.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=3568 -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

OK, thanks Kevin. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Thanks Kevin. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

The following simple macro should display a message as soon as this window is opened Text Box Display: Window Close: : Entry Point Not Found Delay: 100 milliseconds Macro Return But it doesn't work. The macro doesn't get run at all. I tried alternative Window Title options like Window Gains Focus, etc, but none work. If I make the activation another window, like my text editor etc, it works correctly. It's therefore presumably something to do with this obscure window itself. So a few background comments might prove relevant. It's some sort of conflict that arises with my power utility, Stiletto, and a few other programs. In particular, it consistently appears when I click any menu item (e.g. Tools, Help, etc) in Internet Explorer (v6 and v7). -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

If a macro is activated by the Window Title method and I d-click that entry under the Activation tab, instead of that just opening the Properties for that entry as it does for all other activation methods, it also runs the macro!. A bug? -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Puzzle solved I think! I bet you're using Vista, whereas I have XP Pro. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Pleased to hear you're sorted. I'm happily using that routine in many of my macros and so far it's proved very reliable. Re that red versus blue Stop icon. I hate unsolved puzzles, so ... have you possibly customised your theme? I always stick to defaults, and haven't so far come across anyone else with a blue icon. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Open the macro in Script Editor, d-click the Get Pixel command and click the Launch Mouse Locator button. The box that then appears will show you Pixel Colour as an 8-digit integer at the bottom. I have FF 3.0.6 but I'm positive my Stop icon has been red for ages, if not forever, so I'm surprised yours is blue. But of course that has no effect on the macro, which merely looks for that particular grey. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

I chose StopColour because it reminds me later what it's about, but it does take a couple of seconds extra to define. But you can just use N[1] instead then. I'm assuming you do know the basics of how to use variables? If not then you have some basic reading to do! Meanwhile, to get it working you can respond to that message you mentioned as follows: Choose Integer Variables from the Variable Type drop down list. Type the name, e.g. StopColour if it's not already present. Leave the other two boxes as they stand for now. Click OK and that's it. You can now use that variable in your commands. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

OK, if I now understand you correctly you're processing only one line at a time, but progressing line-by-line down through the file on successive runs of the macro. In that case there's no need to do any deleting. Just use the facility (that you'll find described in the Help topic I pointed you to) which allows you to select which record(s) to process. Here's the revised macro in ME Pro. ME Pro Variable Restore: Restore Integer Variables Variable Modify Integer %N[2]%: Increment Text File Begin Process: C:\Docs\SUNDRY\Macro Express\webbhogg-data.txt // String manipulation demonstration for webbhogg Variable Set Integer %N[1]% to the position of "," in %Both% // Find where the comma occurs Variable Modify Integer %N[1]%: Decrement Variable Modify String: Copy a substring in %Both%, starting at 1 and %N[1]% characters long to %T[1]% // Get email into T1 Variable Modify Integer: %N[1]% = %N[1]% + 2 Variable Modify String: Copy a substring in %Both%, starting at %N[1]% and 25 characters long to %T[2]% // Get password into T2 Text Box Display: Result so far Text File End Process Variable Save: Save Integer Variables Macro Return <VARIABLE RESTORE Option="\x02"/> <VARIABLE MODIFY INTEGER Option="\x07" Destination="%N[2]%"/> <TEXT FILE BEGIN PROCESS Filename="C:\\Docs\\SUNDRY\\Macro Express\\webbhogg-data.txt" Start_Record="%N[2]%" Process_All="FALSE" Records="1" Variable="%Both%"/> <COMMENT Value="String manipulation demonstration for webbhogg"/> <VARIABLE SET INTEGER Option="\x0E" Destination="%N[1]%" Text_Variable="%Both%" Text="," Ignore_Case="FALSE" _COMMENT="Find where the comma occurs"/> <VARIABLE MODIFY INTEGER Option="\x08" Destination="%N[1]%"/> <VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x09" Destination="%T[1]%" Variable="%Both%" Start="1" Count="%N[1]%" _COMMENT="Get email into T1"/> <VARIABLE MODIFY INTEGER Option="\x00" Destination="%N[1]%" Value1="%N[1]%" Value2="2"/> <VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x09" Destination="%T[2]%" Variable="%Both%" Start="%N[1]%" Count="25" _COMMENT="Get password into T2"/> <TEXT BOX DISPLAY Title="Result so far" Content="{\\rtf1\\ansi\\ansicpg1252\\deff0\\deflang2057{\\fonttbl{\\f0\\fnil\\fcharset0 Tahoma;}{\\f1\\fnil Tahoma;}}\r\n\\viewkind4\\uc1\\pard\\f0\\fs16 Both = %Both%\r\n\\par Email = %T[1]%\r\n\\par Password = %T[2]%\\f1 \r\n\\par }\r\n" Left="Center" Top="Center" Width="300" Height="200" Monitor="0" OnTop="FALSE" Keep_Focus="TRUE" Mode="\x00" Delay="0"/> <TEXT FILE END PROCESS/> <VARIABLE SAVE Option="\x02"/> <MACRO RETURN/> The ME 3 version will look very similar. File contents (unaltered throughout): name1@email.com,password1 name2@email.com,password2 name3@email.com,password-maxlength-say-25 name4@email.com,15-chars-abcdef name5@email.com,11-chars-xy name6@email.com,10-chars-x name7@email.com,08-chars Text message on 1st run Both = name1@email.com,password1 Email = name1@email.com Password = password1 Text message on 2nd run Both = name2@email.com,password2 Email = name2@email.com Password = password2 Text message on 3rd run Both = name3@email.com,password-maxlength-say-25 Email = name3@email.com Password = password-maxlength-say-25 etc. Obviously you'll need to adapt it a bit to suit, including a reset routine and/or an end-of-file routine. If you do want to physically delete successive lines of the file, then you will need a different approach that opens it first (which I understood you didn't want) and then saves it in its progressively shortened form. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

"Then we will call for the first email/pass..." ?? If you mean, "Get and process T1 and T2 for line 1 of the text file", then the macro I posted does that. There's no need to do any 'moving' etc. Whatever it is you want to do with T1 and T2, that is done automatically for each line where I showed the Text Display command. Read Help > Index > Text File Process if you need further clarification. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Well, it will depend greatly on the sort of work you do. But the most obvious recommendation is just to do more of the same. IOW, use macros to replace frequently-typed text, whether code or data. I activate some of mine with hotkeys but the majority with shortkeys that are reasonably easy to remember. They cover a wide range of stuff, such as my email ID, PC spec, full address, various signatures for forums and newsgroups, words that I often otherwise mis-type, like 'appreciate', file paths for use in Open and Save As boxes, etc, etc. An additional tactic could be setting up your various working environments. A hotkey or mouse click could pop-up a menu, and a click on one of its choices would open a set of applications, folders, utilities, etc, and take you to your typical start point for that particular 'work type' or task. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Here's the main part, with a Text Display to show you what's going on. ME 3 Text File Begin Process: "webbhogg-data.txt" Variable Set Integer %N1% from Position of Text in Variable %T3% Variable Modify Integer: Dec (%N1%) Variable Modify String: Copy Part of %T3% to %T1% Variable Modify Integer: %N1% = %N1% + 2 Variable Modify String: Copy Part of %T3% to %T2% Text Box Display: Results Text File End Process Macro Return <BTFBEG:003:000001:000000:C:\Docs\SUNDRY\Macro Express\webbhogg-data.txt><IVAR2:01:13:3:,><NMVAR:09:01:0:0000001:0:0000000><TMVAR2:10:01:03:001:N01:><NMVAR:01:01:1:0000001:2:0000002><TMVAR2:10:02:03:N01:025:><TBOX4:T:1:CenterCenter000278000200:000:ResultsEmail = %T1% Password = %T2%><BTFEND><MRETURN> ME Pro Text File Begin Process: C:\Docs\SUNDRY\Macro Express\webbhogg-data.txt // String manipulation demonstration for webbhogg Variable Set Integer %N[1]% to the position of "," in %Both% // Find where the comma occurs Variable Modify Integer %N[1]%: Decrement Variable Modify String: Copy a substring in %Both%, starting at 1 and %N[1]% characters long to %T[1]% // Get email into T1 Variable Modify Integer: %N[1]% = %N[1]% + 2 Variable Modify String: Copy a substring in %Both%, starting at %N[1]% and 25 characters long to %T[2]% // Get password into T2 Text Box Display: Result so far Text File End Process Macro Return <TEXT FILE BEGIN PROCESS Filename="C:\\Docs\\SUNDRY\\Macro Express\\webbhogg-data.txt" Start_Record="1" Process_All="TRUE" Records="1" Variable="%Both%"/> <COMMENT Value="String manipulation demonstration for webbhogg"/> <VARIABLE SET INTEGER Option="\x0E" Destination="%N[1]%" Text_Variable="%Both%" Text="," Ignore_Case="FALSE" _COMMENT="Find where the comma occurs"/> <VARIABLE MODIFY INTEGER Option="\x08" Destination="%N[1]%"/> <VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x09" Destination="%T[1]%" Variable="%Both%" Start="1" Count="%N[1]%" _COMMENT="Get email into T1"/> <VARIABLE MODIFY INTEGER Option="\x00" Destination="%N[1]%" Value1="%N[1]%" Value2="2"/> <VARIABLE MODIFY STRING Option="\x09" Destination="%T[2]%" Variable="%Both%" Start="%N[1]%" Count="25" _COMMENT="Get password into T2"/> <TEXT BOX DISPLAY Title="Result so far" Content="{\\rtf1\\ansi\\ansicpg1252\\deff0\\deflang2057{\\fonttbl{\\f0\\fnil\\fcharset0 Tahoma;}{\\f1\\fnil Tahoma;}}\r\n\\viewkind4\\uc1\\pard\\f0\\fs16 Both = %Both%\r\n\\par Email = %T[1]%\r\n\\par Password = %T[2]%\\f1 \r\n\\par }\r\n" Left="Center" Top="Center" Width="300" Height="200" Monitor="0" OnTop="FALSE" Keep_Focus="TRUE" Mode="\x00" Delay="0"/> <TEXT FILE END PROCESS/> <MACRO RETURN/> I've assumed that you don't really mean the file is a fixed 7 lines, but is indeterminately long. I've also assumed your email addresses contain no commas. And that your passwords have a max length of 25. Your description about replacing line 1 with line 2 is unclear to me. If it's meant to be repetitive, then it seems you'll end up with just a single line, the last! -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Thanks - although I'm unfamiliar with most of it! -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

I assume you mean with ME Pro? (I ask because there has been a lot of discussion about this in the ME 3 forum, in the thread http://pgmacros.invisionzone.com/index.php...c=3575&st=0 ) 1) That does seem very slow. A quick test here on my quad core PC gave a barely measurable time. So I changed to 1,000 loops and that took 8 seconds. The alternative two-command method took 11 seconds. But obviously it will depend amongst other things on individual PC specs. 2) Paul originally made that assertion in the ME 3 thread, but has repeated it here. So I suppose it's fair to assume it is meant to apply to ME Pro? If so then my test above contradicts it, like yours does. In fact in my case the simple Clipboard Empty was about 30% faster (11s v 8s). Given its simplicity, I'll be using this method. 3) But any such tests need to specify other key settings. In particular, in ME Pro, that under Options > Preferences > Playback > milliseconds between failed clipboard commands. Mine was set to the default of 250 ms until I recently discovered what a major impact it has on these sort of tests. The times above of 8 and 11 seconds were with my new setting of 10 ms. Here are a fuller set of results, showing that it's roughly directly proportional: ME Pro, Clipboard Empty Method, 1,000 loops: 250 ms (default) ==> 244 s 100 ms ==> 108 s 50 ms ==> 58 s 10 ms ==> 8 s 2 ms ==> 4.2 s 1 ms ==> 2.2 s 0 ms ==> less than 1 s BTW, in ME 3 it's interesting that the setting doesn't include the word 'failed': Options > Preferences > Delays > Delay (in milliseconds) after clipboard commands (Default = 250 ms; my current setting = 10 ms.) -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

ISS: Any comments on this please? Can you reproduce the comparison? Generalising, does this mean that ME Pro is often much slower that its predecessor, rather than faster as claimed? -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK

That was our resident Date/Time expert Cory, not me! -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK