Sebastian42

I restored  which seems to have stopped the error message from appearing

Setting the underlined-letter option has made NO improvement.

BUT 

"Change how keyboard shortcuts work" was NOT enabled (have enabled it now). 

Manually I just click on it. Maybe I should have added 'open convert menu' to the macro - I went straight for the ALT2 because that works manually.

I have now tried ALT C and that works to open the Convert menu.

Of possible relevance is the attachments - whose contents seem to contradict the fact the the macro opens the MP3Tag oprogram

Have already tried that - to no effect.

The MP3Tag people whom I consulted first, said the at Macro Express webpage mentions a double ALT.

I looked and did not find that reference, but have tried that - to no effect.

If double ALT really does exist in Macro Express, maybe I did not apply it properly.

The attachment shows the result of the  START of the macro, with the file list already selected, ready for processing. The next step is shown in the CONVERT menu which lists ALT2 as the hotkey - shown in the second attachment. manually, ALT2 works, but the code shown in the third attachment does not work.

When I download some podcasts their name is prefixed with a numerical code - that interferes with the kind of playback which I do. It is easy to use MP3TAG manually to remove those codes, but its a very repetitive process which therefore lends itself to automation by macro. I can launch the MP3Tag program by macro. The next step of selecting all the files to be processed, can be preset within MP3Tag; then the next step is to apply an MP3Tag action which can be effectively called by manually pressing ALT2, but not by macro. I'm looking for suggestions on how to make Macro Express succeed in triggering the effect of ALT2.  

Is it possible (HOW ?) to have a second instance of the Editor open for copying good ideas from an existing one, to one-in-the-making ?

That is so far above my usage, I simply have to take your word for it; but on a general level, I can accept that macros can build more intelligence into processes than batch files can.

"its constraints spark creativity. " amply demonstrated by complex code that can be replaced by one line in a batch file.

Incidentally, I've used up all the available keys with Left-Win and Right-Win for text string entries. I think that has exhausted my potential use of Autohotkeys.

Since I thought I had come to the end of the road in Macro Express, and was going to run the macro from a batchfile anyway, I've explored doing the data copy by batch file code, and with help from someone in the Microsoft Community, I've been able to achieve that with one very simple line of code, which HAS to be preferable to the more complex code suggested in the previous post. Thank you anyway.

Alas, the DATA folder that I want to copy is full of folders.

My predicted return is realised.

To finish the job of this macro, I now want to  copy C:\data to A:\

The Files/Folder category has a 'copy files' but no 'copy folders'.

How to construct the code to do THAT ?

It did not fail after that tweak. Thank you.

I'm sure I'll be finding refuge with you again before long.

Macro Express is a hard Task Master - VERY hard to please.

I have experimented as best I could. If I am on the right track, there is the new obstacle of the dialogs not accepting any text, so I can not enter '%Data%'.

'Data' is the name of a folder, so no extension is required.

Will report back after I have fixed 'variable'; Up to now variables have only perplexed me; maybe I'll gain more understanding today.

Direct Editor was already NOT ticked.

My code now is

<DATE/TIME Format="yyyymmdd" Flags="\x30" Date="5/9/2021 11:52:04 PM" Day_Offset="0" Month_Offset="0" Year_Offset="0" Hour_Offset="0" Minute_Offset="0" Second_Offset="0" Left="Center" Top="Center" Monitor="1" IsDateVar="FALSE"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="1"/>
<RENAME FILE/FILES Source="a:\\Data" Dest="a:\\%Date%" Progress="FALSE" Recurse="FALSE"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="1"/>
<MOVE FILE/FILES Source="a:\\%Date%" Dest="a:\\DataOld\\%Date%" Progress="FALSE" Recurse="FALSE"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="1"/>
<MACRO STOP/>

But it is still ineffective.

Much simpler but mush less effect than my attempt.

<LOCK PLAYER Wait="TRUE"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="Date/Time: Set %Date% to the current date/time using \"YYYY-MM-dd\" as the format\r\n\r\n"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="1"/>
<RENAME FILE/FILES Source="\"a:\\Data\"" Dest="\"a:\\%Date%\"" Progress="FALSE" Recurse="FALSE"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="1"/>
<MOVE FILE/FILES Source="\"a:\\%Date%\"" Dest="\"a:\\DataOld\\%Date%\"" Progress="FALSE" Recurse="FALSE"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="5"/>
<MACRO STOP/>

Could it be that there is an excess of " ?
I'm also surprised to see double slashes...

Looks so much easier !

I could not create a new macro for some reason, so copied an existing one and disembowelled it, by deleting its contents and replacing it with your code.

I modified where your guesses did not match my system.

It failed.

I guessed that time delays may be required between the steps.

I'm working on putting those last steps into proper format.

I did not get notification of your reply so spent much time experimenting and found your first P.S. to be the case.

The aim of the macro is to select the folder called Data, change its name to a date, and then move it into a folder called Data Old.

I did a work around using the mouse location and clicks and got surprisingly far, but Macro Express never fails to trip me up somehow.

I include the full macro text - which works (reliably) up until the last stage (Pasting) where it surprises me with an outlandish claim shown in the attachment :

I might observe that the last step somehow causes the 'name-changed-folder' to become selected again; and so it must look to Macro Express that I am trying to paste it into itself.

<LOCK PLAYER Wait="TRUE"/>
<COMMENT Value="Open A:\\"/>
<OPEN FOLDER Path="A:\\"/>
<WINDOW ACTIVATE Title="A:\\" Exact_Match="FALSE" Wildcards="FALSE" _IGNORE="0x0006"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.5"/>
<COMMENT Value="7 TABs to select \\Data\\"/>
<REPEAT START Start="1" Step="1" Count="7" Save="FALSE"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<TAB>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="1"/>
<END REPEAT/>
<COMMENT Value="Space to change from selection to Focus"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<SPACE>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="1"/>
<COMMENT Value="Move the mouse over the word Data"/>
<MOUSE MOVE Option="\x02" X="250" Y="225" _PROMPT="0x000A"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="1"/>
<COMMENT Value="Left-click to select text"/>
<MOUSE LEFT CLICK/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="2"/>
<DATE/TIME Format="20yymmdd" Flags="\x30" Date="5/9/2021 1:30:28 PM" Day_Offset="0" Month_Offset="0" Year_Offset="0" Hour_Offset="0" Minute_Offset="0" Second_Offset="0" Left="Center" Top="Center" Monitor="1" IsDateVar="FALSE"/>
<COMMENT Value="Enter to confirm"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ENTER>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="2"/>
<COMMENT Value="Right-click to expose Cut"/>
<MOUSE RIGHT CLICK/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="2"/>
<COMMENT Value="Down arrow 6 times to select CUT"/>
<REPEAT START Start="1" Step="1" Count="6" Save="FALSE"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ARROW DOWN>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.5"/>
<END REPEAT/>
<COMMENT Value="Enter to effect cutting"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ENTER>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.5"/>
<COMMENT Value="Down arrow to select 'data old'"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ARROW DOWN>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.5"/>
<COMMENT Value="Right-click to expose Paste"/>
<MOUSE RIGHT CLICK/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="2"/>
<COMMENT Value="Down arrow 8 times to select Paste"/>
<REPEAT START Start="1" Step="1" Count="8" Save="FALSE"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ARROW DOWN>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.5"/>
<END REPEAT/>
<COMMENT Value="Enter to effect pasting"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ENTER>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.5"/>
<MACRO STOP/>

I can get a macro to 'select' a folder whose name I want to change; as my snip shows, the selection is not the usual highlighting which makes it susceptible to right-click, but only makes it encased in a rectangle. How do I convert that to full selection, so I can right-click on it ?

I made other comments, but they did not get posted, because I did not realise I was no longer logged in.

I was able to close the Firefox Window with 'Window Close - Firefox'

but that left the Library open; THAT can be killed by ALT F4,

so there is no need for your extensive macro.

It's finally working as I hoped for a long time that it might.

Once again many thanks for your patience and forebearance.

It's not obvious to me where you got that list of running processes. I looked in Task Manager's DETAILS tab and and found numerous entries for Chrome (which the macro CAN end), but only ONE for Firefox, which the macro can NOT end.

Just in case (Firefox) Library is less obstinate than Firefox itself, I ask for guidance to close the Library - accepting that maybe Firefox itself can not be closed.

I have the macro working perfectly and reliably now.

One difficulty was the placement of the mouse; I had used 'Point Position' to determine the location of the Menu - where the mouse had to be located, but that turned out to be too approximate - I had to do trial and error to  get those co-ordinates right. I also used a mouse click rather than ENTER (that may or may not be significant)

The number of downarrows in the Menu required to get to EXPORT is less in the successful macro than manually - intriguing.

So some 'art' is required as well as 'scientific' rigour !

Does not.

The selection of Menu by moving the mouse is not reliable

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