terrypin

I was wrong - I haven't fixed it. Exactly the same problem has been re-occurring repeatedly. It seems to arise when I run ME after using my DVD drive. Now becoming really annoying. Can you help isolate and fix please? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Thanks - I should have spotted that! -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

I'm a novice myself, but I'm pretty sure the reason it fails and gives you a blank line is because it's blank to start with - due to your Clipboard Empty command! I tried this code <TVAR2:99:03:><TMVAR2:21:99:01:001:000: ><ACTIVATE2:Textpad><TEXTTYPE:%T99%> in Notepad and it worked fine. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

OK, thanks Jason, understood. How did you actually post the boxed command line extract that you showed earlier under 'CODE' please? If I copy from Scripting Editor to clipboard and then paste elsewhere (e.g. into a forum post), it reverts to 'raw' format. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

I wanted to make hotkey activation of a macro specific to the program PaintShop Pro 8. That program wasn't running, so I used the button 'Select from a list of installed programs'. That created a list of nearly a thousand entries - but not including my program! The only entry of relevance is PaintShopPro8_Premium.exe, which I cannot find anywhere on my hard drives, nor in Add/Remove Programs. The actual name of the executable that runs PaintShop Pro 8 is Paint Shop Pro.exe. Naturally, the macro does not get activated from its hotkey. How does ME compile this list, and how can such an error arise please? More worrying than the spurious entry is the absence of the correct entry. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Thanks Jason, I'll try both of those. BTW, did you see my post yesterday, in 'Text Variables', asking you how to paste from Scripting Editor please? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

I've written a simple macro that saves a JPG file after editing it in IrfanView. It keeps the same name permanently. So directly before the save IrfanView displays the usual question "Replace file ...". At present in my ME macro I'm using a Pause: Complex to wait while I answer Yes to that, and Resume. But is there a more elegant way please? I'd like to assume the Yes, and avoid manual intervention. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

OK, thanks. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

[i thought I posted this here last night, but no sign of it now, so re-posting.] One of the example macros that comes with ME is called 'SAMPLE: Type Dates and Time'. If I view it in Scripting Editor, why does it contain unprintable characters, as shown here? http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/Images/ME-OddChars.jpg I usually see these in the Direct Editor (although I have never understood their significance), but I didn't think they were supposed to appear in the Scripting Editor? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Jason: I'd like to learn more about using loops myself, so thought I'd try your example. But is there no way to simply 'paste' it in please? Or do I have to re-enter those lines individually by hand? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Pleased to report that I have finally succeeded in getting this working. I did as you suggested, and focused on hotkey activation. Several key combinations failed. I think they must be in conflict with one of my many other programs. But with Win+Alt+r (for example), the macro works a treat. The main thing I've learned from this exercise is not to rely on Run Now or Step Through (F8), which I had been doing. Thanks for the help. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

OK, thanks, I'll have another go at it soon - albeit without much optimism! -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Thanks. But I think I may have found and fixed it earlier. I had downloaded a number of user contributed macros from http://www.macros.com/share.htm#User to try at some time, and suspect one or more of them may have started running somewhow. As you can tell, I'm not exactly confident of this! But after deleting some and disabling all the rest, and rebooting again, and running a couple of HD and registry cleaners, I haven't so far had a re-occurence of that strange message. As well as the Regedit search I described before, an exhaustive check through all of the keys you specified found none referring to H: -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

The mysterious problem I mentioned in another thread has returned. Exactly the same as described previously, i.e: - I start ME - I click the tray icon to get the Editor - A window appears with the error message: macedit.exe - No Disk There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk into drive H: After many uses of 'Cancel' it disappears, only to pop-up again immediately, whatever my next step. ME is installed in C:\Program Files\Macro Express3, and that's where I store my macros. The only reference to H: that I got on searching the registry for 'Macro Express' was an aparently innocuous one in the Recent Files section, from installing the CD 'Macro Express Explained' which accompanied the book of the same name. But that was several weeks ago, and this issue has arisen only a couple of days ago. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

No, as I said, drive H: is a CD/DVD drive. Macros are same place they always were, on C: That's why I was surprised... Why would you not expect Stepping or Run from Macro Explorer to work? Are there some restrictions/pitfalls associated with these? I've also tried hotkey activation, but that fails at same point too. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

I rebooted and was pleased to find that side issue has disappeared. (Still curious about it though.) Unfortunately, even with D1 set to 5 or 10 seconds, the macro still fails. Using F8 to step through, the left click still produces only a very brief appearance of the menu. BTW, typically what content do you use for your WAV files, and how long are they? I used one arbitrary file for each command, about 2 seconds long. Any more ideas please? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Thanks. I tried delays like those in your first suggestion, and some longer ones, before posting originally. But I like your neat approach using a variable, so I'll have a crack at that. I've hit an unrelated obstacle! I start ME as usual, then click its icon in my XP Home system tray to bring up the editor - but I'm repeatedly getting this error message window macedit.exe - No Disk There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk into drive H: Never seen that before, and have no idea why ME should want me to have a DVD or CD disk in that drive! After many uses of 'Cancel' it disappears, only to pop-up again immediately, whatever my next step. I'll do some general house-keeping, reboot, and try again. Any idea why it occurs please? BTW, when I have ME working properly again, is there a clever way to paste your code directly into a new macro please? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Thanks, appreciate your help. But I think maybe you've misunderstood. The button marked MENU is within the application, not ME. It simply pops up a list of actions. Here's a screenshot showing the button and its items after manually clicking it: http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/Images/...enuProblem1.jpg As I said, in MoTV I can then click on one of the menu items, just as you can in countless other applications. But from within an ME macro, the menu just flashes up momentarily. The ME command that should display the menu is Mouse Left Button Click. I've tried variations of code, with delays, waits, etc, but here's a typical example: Mouse Move Screen 815, 466 Mouse Left Button Click Text Type: <ARROW DOWN><ENTER> The move to the button works OK, and the first left click, but the menu is not displayed long enough for anything else to be performed. Using another mouse move and left click instead of the 2 keystrokes gives same result. I've since tried another macro program I've used for many years, called Stiletto (now obsolete, replaced by PowerPro), and that displays and holds the menu fine. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

In my program MemoriesOnTV (MoTV), I can click a button called Menu and it pops up a list of 4 items. I can then activate one of them either by clicking it or using the Down Arrow key and pressing Enter. But in the equivalent ME macro, the menu just flashes up briefly and disappears - so any following commands fail. Added wide range of delays but no change. (The macro uses Mouse Moves and Left Clicks, as Controls do not work.) Any suggestions please? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Really? That surprises me. I'd have thought that after such a long period of practical experience, you'd have at least a rough idea! Both as a result of your own tests (on programs other than Notepad and Calculator) and from reports and queries by users, including here. Whatever. Within a week or so, I expect I'll have a feel for the proportion myself, after similar tests with say another dozen of my regular programs. Any other users here with any useful feedback they can share please? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Aha, thanks Kevin, that was the one. It clearly wasn't the 'general set of macros' that I'd thought then, so no big deal that it's now obsolete. Appreciate both of your prompt replies. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Thanks Kevin. I had tried with and without the 'Using Text' option, but it made no difference. Meanwhile I've settled for simply moving the mouse to the button and clicking it, which seems to be what that Capture Control method uses. (I couldn't get the other two options of Capture Control to work.) Of course, that limits the macro's flexibility. In general, what proportion of controls do actually work in practice please? Is it a minority? Or is this application of mine a fairly rare exception? -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

I've just made my first simple attempt at using Controls, but it failed. I just want to click the Done button to close a dialog window. Using Get Control (with the Using Text option) seemed to work correctly. For example, a thin rectangle appeared over the button when I positioned the cross-hairs over it. And Display Details gave me information about the control. Meaningless to me but FWIW: - MOTV.EXE Ï . - Picture/Video Settings - [#32770] - [#32770] - CCtrlTabPanel - [AfxWnd80s] - CCtrlTabPanelPg - [AfxWnd80s] Done - [button] But when it got to the command Mouse Single Left Click on Control %C1% ME gave the error: "The specified control, C1, could not be found. The macro will be aborted." I tried adding a 0.1 s delay after the Get and before the mouse click, but no joy. Anyone have any ideas please? If it helps, the program is a video editing application called MemoriesOnTV, from Codejam. -- Terry, West Sussex, UK

Hi, just joined the forum. I'm now beginning to wonder if I imagined it, but I could swear that sometime in the last couple of days I read about a source of downloadable macros, but I'm darned if I can find it again. They (or it?) was called something like 'Pop 'n Play' or 'Pop-Up 'n Play', or something along those lines. Does it ring a bell with anyone here please? It's possible I read it in the book I'm working through, 'Macro Express Explained', or maybe it was mentioned in one of the associated video tutorials on the accompanying CD - but, if so, it's now become very elusive I have already downloaded a selection of the Insight and User macros from http://www.macros.com/share.htm but I'm sure this 'Pop' thing was something else... -- Terry, West Sussex, UK