Noggin the Nog

With the full macro running, I think this is what happens. Remember there are two windows open even though you can only see one. You close the main window "g-lock spamcombat [unregistered version]". This will start to close the program. Window "g-lock spamcombat", the nag screen is still present behind but about to close. ME sees window "g-lock spamcombat" and activates the macro. The macro runs, typing Alt C. Alt C on window "g-lock spamcombat" is what normally starts the main program in the freeware version. The program restarts. I've provided an explanation plus a working solution to start the program and kill the nag screen. That's it from me.

I got the prog. I guess you are trying to defeat the nag screen when activating via a normal shortcut .lnk . This macro works as an ME startup: Program Launch: "gsc.exe" Delay 2 Seconds Text Type: C I have it activating on a shortcut key but if you want to automate it, it could be on a timed or other basis. I had similar problems to your original problem when I tried using window activation. I have a feeling it's to do with the nag screen. Funny though, if the code is just: Text Type: C and it is simply activated on window title "G-Lock SpamCombat", a normal window shortcut it seems to work fine. "C" is apparently not active in the main window. later edit You probably noticed that when the application is running there are actually two open window components of which only one is visible. I also checked with a macro of mine that lists all open and hidden windows. When the nag screen first comes up you have: g-lock spamcombat g-lock spamcombat When the nag screen is cleared you have: g-lock spamcombat g-lock spamcombat [unregistered version] If you try to do anything that is unavailable in the freeware version, the nag screen is brought to the front. I don't use the window activation to start any macros so have limited experience but with two windows up with similar names, I anticipate care is needed. I have one application that runs four open windows with the same name and if you are doing window mouse moves, you have to be sure you are focussed on the right window component.

Hi Lars, I mentioned the running of the shortened macro because when you noted it was logged as running, you did not qualify it as an expected event. Protection programs regard ANY program/file that tries to affect their operation as hostile, no list required! That is why you see many pc forum posts from people trying to uninstall that type of software after it goes wrong. It resists deletion/uninstall. I've not had problems with ME and my various protection programs. Those seem to consider ME's actions the same as user actions. It does not mean it could not happen and it may depend on the software writer's experience. As I said, it's a long shot. You do not seem to have the problem with any other software sooo.... The only other thing I can think of is to write the macro over again from scratch as a completely new macro in a new macro file on the offchance that there is something you are overlooking in the existing one or some other macro is coming into play. later edit Re-reading your symptoms it sounds to me like something is restarting the application, not just opening the window. It is not clear whether windows other than the main window of this application are open at the time the macro runs. A few more things to try. These may seem trivial but you have not listed what you already tried so here's what I would do: Try to close the window with ME disabled/off. You probably already did. Try to close the window with another macro file loaded (with no relevant macros) Try re-writing the macro as previously mentioned Activate existing macro with a shortcut key or time of day basis. Remove all code from the existing macro so it simply runs and stops. I took a look at the specs for SpamCombat because spam blocking is really a low priority protection. SpamCombat does more than just blocking spam (including virus detection) so it may have more smarts to cause conflicts.

I'm not sure if this is one of those questions that seems simple but isn't. Why can't you just type the @ symbol as you would normally do (= shift+2) in the Text Type box? example: myname@myserver.com edit If you don't have the standard english keyboard (ie no @) then another way of getting the @ is to click "Symbols" in the Text Type dialog, then "Alt-Key sequence" and enter the number 64. If you have something other than the ANSI character codes the number may be different. This is how it looks in the Text Type box: Text Type: <ALT:64>

The macro is bound to run when the unregistered version window appears (activation is based on partial title only). As a long shot answer, protection programs (antivirus/spyware/firewall) are usually protected from malicious interference by other programs. Could it be that ME is seen as hostile and SpamCombat is restarting the window to protect itself? Does this phenomena occur using similar macro with other standard progs on your pc?

Hi Joe, Thanks for the pointer. I had figured what the attrib statement had to be but could not see how %1 was directed to %T2%, ditto for %2. On the Direct Editor listing you posted it can be seen but is not obvious from the Scripting Editor listing (which is what I read). The Help files don't seem very good in this area (Command Line/DOS/Batch operations). It is not clear in Help that the Program Parameters can be applied to basic DOS statements in this fashion. A few examples would be have been useful. Most of the Help is related to switches.

Hi Joe, I'm fairly rusty on DOS. I can't figure how the batch file parameters %1 and %2 get their values from the text strings %T1% through %T3%. I assume it's a background function of ME. %1 shoud be "c:\temp\xfer.zip", which is %T2%, so is there an offset, %1 = variable 2, or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

Hi Joe, You're right about alternative methods no longer being practical due to web design. My first reaction to jokeefe's problem was to use a leeching program like LeechGet (one of the better non-spyware downloaders). Unfortunately it will not work if the link pointed to is a web page or one protected against leeching. I would not choose to scan for colours. However the method I outlined requires two successive pixels of specific and different colour. The chances of that happening randomly are about nil (10**16?). I'm not sure that the screen scrolling is a problem. If the logic used to go to the next link is ok (open link in new page/close page/find next occurrence of search string on first page?), it should not matter where it is. The highlighted link will be on the screen and be found by the colour search. Haven't tried it so can't be sure. If looking for link colours, it would also be better to set IE to use the user's colours rather than the page's colours. My method of two colours should not make that necessary. later edit I wrote a macro to scan for a unique pair of pixels. Works great. Problem - when you find the link text in IE using jokeeffe's little routine, the area highlighted goes (typically) to blue background/white text which are very common Windows colours. The link colours disappear. Not good because blue/white will be elsewhere. Back to the drawing board for me. even later edit It's impossible to tell if any link has been visited if it is highlighted. The link colours disappear into highlight colours. You could tell with some very complex logic. A totally different route to take is to compare the filename to be downloaded with a list of previously downloaded files. Use the Find to get to the first link. The page needs to be preserved so that the link remains highlighted and the page is not reset. After the first link has been processed, use Find Next to get to the next link. Process all links in this fashion. The method to check for previously downloaded files depends on your surfing/file moving habits. At each link, do the necessaries to save the file to disk such as right-click/Save Target As or whatever. If the file has been previously downloaded and is still on disk in the download folder, you will get an error message about replacing file (window Save Web Page). Get the macro to respond No (type N, Esc after all saves). If you frequently move files out of the download folder the procedure is a bit more complicated. Each time a file is saved, append the filename to a text file. When doing the file save operation, copy the filename to the clipboard, save as a variable and compare with the list of downloaded files in the text file. If already downloaded, cancel the save. If the file is not previously saved, save and append the filename to the text file list. The text file list can be partly cleared manually or by macro when it gets too big. Not knowing the nature of the link makes it difficult to be precise. Eg is the link to a web page with a file link, or direct to a file? What type of file? This is the method I would use because I have a number of macros that could be adapted to each phase.

Hi Joe, Any reason why the web page cannot be directly scanned looking for the colour of a highlight/unvisited link? I have not scanned the screen myself but there are plenty of posts on the subject. Do the find link logic as far as the Tab. Then scan for the screen highlight colour (typically blue) and find the first point where the next pixel is an unvisited link colour (assumed scanning left to right). You have the location of an unvisited link and can then do the Enter etc. Logic needed to find successive links.

File/Import/Import a Playable Macro. edit Once you have imported, it can be treated like any other macro. It was not intended as a playable macro (easiest way to send the code). To determine the menu color you can make a macro to do it. Alternatively, there is a text box (disabled) in the macro which gives the four measured color values. On a plain part of the screen, three will be the same and the fourth will be the menu color. If you enable the text box and shift it's position within the macro, you can run the macro and note the color value. Disable or remove after use.

Just for fun I wrote the right mouse click trap macro, which works surprisingly well. The attached file is set to check 100 times at 1/2 sec intervals. Modify repeat to suit application. Set macro running and then click right mouse within 50 secs. On right mouse click a beep occurs and the macro stops. See macro listing to automatically cancel context menu. Replace Break and Beep to suit application. As a safeguard where the context menu color is used extensively on the screen, one could check if more than one cardinal point is the menu color and give a warning or other logic. Right_mouse_click_test_macro.mxe

I'm sure you would prefer to have your .lnk launches working but you can perform the launch actions directly on the files that the .lnk would start (eg .exe, .bat). Not great if you have many macros already in service. As far as MS updates go, I download security updates but nothing else that I don't have an immediate problem with/need to resolve. Take a look through any pc forum at the number of problems occurring after an update. Your problem may be unrelated to the updates, things sometimes go wrong without help from MS!

In the absence of a flood of ideas (!), here's a really ugly solution: As noted before, this is part of a loop constantly checking the two parameters. For the pixel color Get Pixel Color (System menu) Color goes into variable %N20% If Variable %N20% = color to be detected Actions Endif You may have to write a small test macro to determine the integer color value you want to detect Get Pixel Color (under mouse) %N1% Text box display %N1% For the right mouse click trap: Use the fact a right click normally brings up a context menu. The mouse right button must be held down long enough to bring up the menu plus the loop time. The position of the menu may be at cardinal directions NW, SW, SE, NE relative to the cursor position depending on where the cursor is on the screen. Make a routine that checks the pixel color at each of these cardinal points and looks for the menu background color (gray in standard Windows 13160660). Example for NE (above and right), followed by SE (below and right) only: Get Mouse Position %N1%, %N2% Add 5 to %N1%, Subtract 5 from %N2% Get Pixel Color at %N1%, %N2% Color goes into variable %N21 Add 5 to %N1%, Add 5 to %N2% (the original values of %N1%, %N2%) Get Pixel Color at %N1%, %N2% Color goes into variable %N22% If Variable %N21% = color to be detected 13160660 Or If Variable %N22% = color to be detected 13160660 Actions Endif This will only work properly on pages where the color gray 13160660 is not extensively used. I really meant ugly!!

Even if the reverse tab did not work you can use some ingenuity to find how many tabs there are. You just need one tab field that is identifiable. Let's say the page opens with the cursor at a text box that says "Enter Data Here". If it's not standard you may have to copy into a Text Variable. Clear Clipboard. You tab through the page counting tabs as you go. At each, copy text to Clipboard. Examine text with If Variable. When the text equals "Enter Data Here" you have done the loop and can work out total tabs and can get to any one of them from the start.

I don't know whether you caught my afterthought. Your reply was too quick! I'm not sure the relevance of the Scripting Editor - that's all I use. The Get Pixel/If statement is quite easy but the right mouse click trap is not. I have some ideas but don't want to confuse the issue. I'll post if there are no other workable solutions.

That is quite an easy one, I hope! Just go into an endless loop with: Repeat start If right mouse click or If pixel color Actions (such as Break to exit Repeat and continue macro) Endif Time Delay 1 sec (or whatever) Repeat End To get an endless repeat I usually use something that will never occur such as Repeat Until %N99% = 1 where%N99% is never set (ie always zero) Afterthought You may have trouble trapping a short mouse click so the time delay may have to be removed.

Is it possible to tab through the page so many times to reach the submit button? Obviously depends on page design and where the cursor is initially.

Have you tried drag and drop with the pvr window a decent size? Is the size of the much reduced window a factor eg very small target area? Are you sure you are dragging to the right place? Is the mouse in the correct position above the player after the drop? Have you tried recording the macro (rather than writing code)? During macro recording does the file play but not when the recorded macro is played back? I just tried my simple drag and drop with a video file and PowerDVD, no problem. I have yet to find a manual operation that ME cannot duplicate, even if awkward to write code.

Drag and drop macros works fine with Windows Media Player, providing it is already set in the "Now Playing" tab. If WMP is set to another tab, it won't play the file, it will line it up for burning a cd or whatever. I just did the drag with: mouse right button down mouse move mouse right button up I notice you used left button clicks. Did you try right button? In my experience, keystrokes are the first choice for macros, mouse controls a poor second due to dependence on windows size, position, screen resolution, changes to control and menu bars, and the mouse being accidentally jogged at the wrong moment.

Hi Dean, I'm going to cheat and give a simpler solution rather than answering your question. If Windows Media Player is your default player for the audio file type, once you have selected the file (highlighted) in Explorer or whatever, do a Text Type "Enter" command. It will automatically start up WMP if not running and play the file. This is better than drag and drop because it is independent of window positions.

I checked some pages I access and they work fine. All I do is tab to the drop-down box then use the up or down arrow a preset number of times. Due to the many ways webpages can be coded, some are quite difficult to handle, as you found (and hence Joe's comment). A good approach is to look how you would do it manually. You may have to click on the box arrow to drop the list and then use the mouse to select the line you want.

The solution may be quite simple, not requiring closing the window. Just use: Windows/Programs menu / Terminate Process / Close Program / Select HyperOrder program from list (assumed program is running). To restart use Windows/Programs menu / Program Launch. You may need to use ME to reconnect to the internet in which case you use the Network Menu / Dial-Up Networking. You can also close by closing the Alert Window and any other HyperOrder windows but terminating the process should get the lot in one instruction. I suppose in some cases it may be better to close windows rather than terminating the process (more orderly) but I would try ending the process first because it is very simple. You would choose to only close the alert window if HyperOrder could continue normally after that without needing a restart (Windows/Programs menu / Close Window / Specific Window / Enter "Alert" no quotes). The great thing about ME is that you usually don't have to resort to Command Line stuff.

Hi Kevin, Funny that, I also have a multi-use login macro with about 10 of them stacked, I have the instructions (paste/tab/paste/enter) in each step rather than having Macro Run instructions.

Yes. Basically it's another program and cannot be treated the same as IE. You would not expect IE macros to work with Netscape. What will make matters worse with Firefox is that it is highly customizable so every plugin may change the menu/command structure. As an example I have found with Firefox that it is very slow with some commands. The "save picture as" context item is in a different position on the menu (of course) and the slowness has made me add a 2 sec time delay in my macro (not necessary in IE).

I'll leave Kevin to the main question. I wondered if it is either alphanumeric order(Explorer), sort order or macro scope order. A method of controlling a number of applications is to to make a Global "control" macro operating the suite of macros run by the hotkey, simplified: If prog A running Macro Run prog A macro (A is 1st priority) macro stop Else If prog B running Macro Run prog B macro (B is 2nd priority) macro stop End If Else If prog C running Macro Run prog C macro End If End If Substitute "If prog running" line for whatever is applicable to identify the application and condition. The prog A, B, C macros can be set to "no activation" but should still be set for the particular application scope. I have not tried this method out!