Cliff S

Problem Identified by trial and error. The missing keystroke commands were finally found. to display them the user must click on "Toggle The Direct Editor" button located between the left and right windows.

As a result of the problem described previously, another mystery has emerged in the process of renaming either a file or folder. The user can no longer just select the name and just delete it, the type in the new or changed name.

In this newer version the user must go to the all commands menu an select the Files/Folders category.  From there the user must select either the "Rename Files/Files or Rename Folders.

At this point a window will appear wanting the user to specify the path to the file or folder to be changed. For some strange reason the user must enter a new second path.  Take it at face value it implies that this command will rename the file and then move it to a new location. I cannot imagine a situation that a user would ever intend to rename a file and want to move to another location. unless it not performing a move, but is actually marking a copy to be placed in the second location the user specify.  To complicate the situation even more. I know of no occasions that file  or folder is not already displayed and chosen in the file explorer the users selecting the file by the mouse click on the file being worked on.

The purpose of the mouse click is to direct the PC focus on the specific file location.  At any  point  in time the PC automatically knows the location of file put in focus by the mouse clicks. There should be no need to copy and paste the location redundantly and manually. This is just bizarre. Tnx 

Macro Express Editor finding missing keyboard keystrokes for "Home, End, Backspace and other cursor movements.  I just downloaded the current version of Macro Express. Many keyboard commands are not listed. A previous version displayed the on the bottom of the editor. Where are they?

terrypin

"t it looks to me as if you've not opened the activation properties properly".

As seen on many websites you can only activation globally, and has for many years.

"How long is it since you used the program before working on this particular task?"

Years

"Have you started afresh and written a simple macro that delivers keystrokes."

Yes

"- to other apps?"

Yes, they work as usual.

"- to this WP app?"

Yes, they work as usual.

.".and (in that new macro) explored changing activations, to ensure that you are following the correct steps."

All other activations tried do not work either. In addition, from reading many other post on the subject the open office app can only be activation via the ME3 scope set to the default "global". This has also been the practice for many years.

"Also check that your version is up to date"

Yes it's 3.9. I doubt that it is backward incompatible.

"And try re-installing ME3."

Been there done that before I started the post.

" Or, if your usage justifies it, upgrade to ME Pro."

Upgradeding is not under consideration, as nobody can state whether the problem is due to ME3, Windows 10 or any third party app. I might as well just guess which one is the culprit. The command Text Type: <ALT>I is a pretty rudimentary command and always worked in the past. Don't know of anything that Pro can do that I could not already do, or want to do.

"Good luck."

Waiting for good luck could take a lifetime, that I don't have or want. Time to move on.

This is still a lost cause, going no where. Spending alot of time and effort. Time to move on. Tnx 

16 hours ago, terrypin said:

 

Clearly this is a lost cause. I have decided to abandon it in favor of other ways to accomplish my intended objective. As a last effort below I am going to address both your questions and issues. Again my apologies. It appears to me that the system does not allow me to designate both of you as best answer person, so I will do it here in this post. Tnx

 

terrypin

 

"My reply below is now arguably academic, because your latest post finally makes your question clear with the screenshot requested six days earlier."

 

My apologies for not getting the screen shots to you sooner. My laptop does not show a F key labeled "PRT SCN". It appeared to me that Windows had quietly removed this function. I took time for me to track down the "Snip Tool". I have just found out that that the "PRT SCN key has been relabel to "SYSRQ".

 

You: Not quite sure that I understand this. Are you saying that the macro being created, the first line should be instructions to point the mouse to the first tabs coordinates. Then have the macro perform a left click? That sounds like a good work around.

 

"Yes. But that's typically used with web browser tabs."

 

Ironically I have never had a situation before where ME3 could not execute a tab related mouse click either in the web or a third party software.

 

"You've identified the application as Open Office Writer. So I loaded up a very old copy from my XP days and wrote the following one line macro which does what you say MEP cannot do, namely select all text. As @samrae said, use lower case 'a'."

 

You: My apologies if I had previously made a similar post. It must have been a long time ago. I don't recall that the old post was related to getting to a tab that contained the select all command.

 

My apologies again for not remembering the name @samrae. There was alot of text to try and keep track of. I had already tried using lower case letters in the macro and found it made no difference.

 

"It was not a long time ago, but very recent, 19th Sep."

 

My apologies again for not remembering the name @samrae. There was alot of text to try and keep track of. I had already tried using lower case letters in the macro and found it made no difference.

 

"You: The screen shot resembles no screen I have ever encountered before. It did not come from me. I don''t recall a @samrae."

 

My apologies again. I was not quite clear enough. I meant to say that I had never seen that particular screen on the programs on my two laptops.

 

"That's why we asked you for your screenshot. And I told you the source of my screenshot."

 

"@samrae answered your recent post, whose link I gave you. You did not reply but presumably you do now appreciate the distinction he (and later I) made. Here's the link again:"

 

My apologies again for not remembering the name @samrae. There was alot of text to try and keep track of. I had already tried using lower case letters in the macro and found it made no difference. Thus no reply.

 

Acantor

 

"The first line of your script should open the Edit menu. I would expect your command will cause the Edit menu to be visible."

 

It did so for many years, but became a problem a later.

 

"It's not unusual for a script like this to need a short delay after to give time for the menu to open. Some people find this works better, although I don't usually find it necessary:

 

I first encountered the need for a delay shortly after purchasing my first version of ME. I found that the delay was particularly important when using the repeat start and repeat start command in a macro. The macro would become wildly erratic and unstable. Worse the macro could not be stopped or terminate.

 

Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): <ALTD>e<ALTU>"

 

Interesting Idea. But a couple of test runs of the above macro line. It did not work as hoped. When I ran the above as the only command in a macro, I found that the cursor moved downward one line. It performed the Alt Down comand and stopped. It did not type the letter e or perform the Alt Up command.

 

"If it's still not working, the source of the problem might be the activation you have chosen, Ctrl+6. For fun, try changing the activation to a function key without a modifier key, e.g., F11. I've seen instances of Macro Express accepting the Ctrl key as input and output, so the application might be seeing Alt+e as Ctrl+Alt+e. If this is what's happening, there may be workarounds."

 

I tested this with the activation set to F11. It did the same thing as it did using the Ctrl+6 activation. It just moved down one line.

 

If you have unchecked the checkbox that says "Wait for the Hotkey to be released before activating" in Properties -- the Properties button is at the bottom of the "Activations" tab in Macro Express -- check the checkbox, save the macro, and try again. Unchecking this checkbox can cause all kinds of mischief.

 

My version does not have a checkbox that says "Wait for the Hotkey to be released before activating" in Properties tab. In the activation portion of the properties tab at the top it was a Line called "Activation to display in Macro Explorer:" That has a pull down menu showing "Hot Key that is blacked out. In addition there is no buttons at the bottom of the activations tab.

 

 

 

 

 

Screen Shots Macro Express 

On 9/20/2019 at 4:24 AM, terrypin said:

.” Are you saying that a command in your macro to simulate typing Home for example does not do so?  Not exactly. If the macro contains the instructions Alt+O it will not perform it. If the macro has the command Text Type  Rainy day, it will type those words.

 

Are you sure that the application is in exactly that state and has focus when the macro runs? Yes this problem occurs when the document is open and the Macro Express Explorer is minimized. The SETI screen is minimized.

 

By "...simply click on the first tab before further navigation"  I mean do so with your macro, not manually! IOW,  use Mouse Move and Mouse Left Click commands. Not quite sure that I understand this. Are you saying that the macro being created, the first line should be instructions to point the mouse to the first tabs coordinates. Then  have the macro perform a left click?   That sounds like a good work around. 

 

Also, although I'm guessing (as you haven't yet told us the app or shown us a screenshot), sometimes simply using Backspace repeatedly will halt at the left most tab. From which you can then navigate with tab. (That's Backspace with the macro!)  The app type was in the title of the first posting. "Word Processor"  Using backspace does nothing to influence the tab focusing.

On 9/20/2019 at 4:24 AM, terrypin said:

 

The devil is in the details!

 

EDIT: It's usually more productive to confine a discussion to a single thread. I see you've also posted on essentially the same topic here.

I'll confine my replies to this thread. You've identified the application as Open Office Writer. So I loaded up a very old copy from my XP days and wrote the following one line macro which does what you say MEP cannot do, namely select all text. As @samrae said, use lower case 'a'.   My apologies if I had previously made a similar post. It must have been a long time ago. I don't recall that the old post was related to getting to a tab that contained the select all command.

 

And returning to your tabbing query, in the main Open Office application here, simple commands to access each tab do what they should correctly. The screen shot resembles no screen I have ever encountered before. It did not come from me. I don''t recall a  @samrae.

Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): <CONTROL>a // Select all text
Here's the code:

<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<CONTROL>a" _COMMENT="Select all text"/>

This looks interesting. The ME help page does not find anything about simulated keystrokes. 

acantor
Master
acantor
 

Do accelerator keys appear in any of the "tabs," or does a menu become selected, when you press Alt? Do the accelerator keys and/or menu selections disappear when you press Alt a second time? Yes it toggles them.  The ME3 macro does not.

acantor - pressing the alt key does exactly what is suppose to do. It toggles on and off the focus to the first tab. However this means nothing. What the issue is that a ME3 macro does not do that. Which screen shot?  The document, the tabs, the macro explorer, the macro script or the keystrokes window?

terrypin - The home key moves the cursor to the start of the line. The Ctrl+Home moves the cursor to home at the top of the document . Both just as expected.  This means nothing too. The issue is that a ME3 macro won't do either.  "if your starting screen is consistent in its layout, simply click on the first tab before further navigation."  Which starting screen. I can easily click on the first tab. However that means nothing, what counts is that the ME3 macro does not click on anything. 

ME3.9 types characters, will not perform commands in word processor. In open office writer ME3 will not perform a command like ALT EDIT SELECT ALL. It will not perform the CTRL+A shortcut either. Instead ME3 places a new paragraph at the point the cursor is at. These two commands will work manually and  will type in letters, numbers, etc. I tried reinstalling ME3, that did not solve the problem. I assigned the macro to be CTRL+6, Open Office does not have a shortcut of CTRL+6 to conflict. CTRL+A is assigned internally to Open Office Writer and works manually. Anyone know how to restore normal operation.

I  am creating a new macro that needs to select a specific tab in a row of tabs among other tasks.  The menu for this has a row of tabs. When the menu opens it opens on the tab or dialog box last selected. It does not always open at the first tab in the row.  I can repeatedly press the keyboard tab button until it places to the desired tab. In the macro I am creating I can enter a specific number of tab keyboard commands. This can only work if the menu opens in the same position last used which can be either a tab or a dialog box.  Is there a way to work around it. For instance, can the macro be created with a single task to point the cursor to the bitmap desired position and click on it.  Educate me on this. Thanks

rberq, I copied and pasted the updated version into the direct editor. The result also did not work. I checked the c drive for a temp folder and found none. I'm concerned that this problems solution is beyond my limited level of computing technology (code). The old saying that "someone with a little knowledge is more dangerous than someone with no knowledge . This may apply to me. it might be best to abandon getting a fix. Tnx

rberq, I copied and pasted the updated version into the direct editor. The result also did not work. I checked the c drive for a temp folder and found none. I'm concerned that this problems solution is beyond my limited level of computing technology (code). The old saying that "someone with a little knowledge is more dangerous than someone with no knowledge . This may apply to me. it might be best to abandon getting a fix. Tnx

Bruce, I tried your suggestion. The Macro failed completely. It does look like it your method won't work on Windows 10. Tnx

Rberg. I duplicated your macro for creating a list of windows. The macro failed to find any windows, or even an empty list. Tnx 

I'm running ver 3.9A on Windows 10 Home. I need to create a macro to launch a program and open it's window. The program responds with a message that the Window Title does not exist. I thought that the Window Title was found in the upper left hand corner each window. Is this incorrect. if not where is the title located. I also tried unchecking the title search box. It still failed to work. Is their another issue that causes this problem? Tnx