Sebastian42

I doubt whether waiting will achieve the desired result. It seems that the default-highlit icon in the 'list' is not stable.

When I first reported success, the icon had indeed reverted to the generic folder one; but when I tried it just then, it is a different icon from the generic I approve of. SO even in your macro there is instability....

With the merits of automation that you refer to in mind, I have written many macros that I eventually abandoned because although they COULD achieve the desired end, they often did not, so I must have chosen some ambiguous steps resulting in unreliability - a case that comes to mind, is storing a snapshot of the desktop.

Once I deleted commands 1 & 2, the macro performed as required. Thank you very much.

I'm puzzled by all the code you have included.  I recognise similarities to the 'macro-that-works' but it seems much more complex.

I am not sure what you mean by 'control for the "Macro Stop"'

The CTRL_1 'malfunction' can be left till last to be sorted - after the macro works.

I inserted a Macro Stop after every step.

The original failure led me to try a different hotkey : CTRL_5

When I clicked on the target desktop shortcut and then pressed CTRL_5, a Properties window opened, but for a shortcut to the right and below the target one.

Since you thought CTRL_1 was the hotkey, I reverted to that, but pressing CTRL_1 caused a blimp, but did NOT open a Properties page.

So for now, the hotkey will be CTRL_5, and the next task is to lock-in the correct shortcut......

Thank you for the very lucid detailing of the steps involved. Armed with that information, even I might be able to achieve success within a lifetime. I know YOUR life does not depend on it, but I plan to try-and-report; and based on past experience, it will be often.

Acantor - if your macro works - I think it is the very thing I was hoping for. I will probably know later today - and will report back.

Cory - deleting thumbs.db is I think what DiskCleanUp does; disabling 'the feature in File Explorer' would, I suspect, have much unforeseen and potentially undesirable ramifications. Moreover, I would have to go and discover what 'this feature' is.

I allocated the macro to CTRL_1; I clicked on the 'offending' shortcut - various windows opened, eventually a video processing program stayed open, but the shortcut did NOT lose its thumbnail-tainted icon.

Because the talent at this forum can produce an effective macro in much less time than I can, I will put this job 'out for tender' (joke only), rather than spend innumerable hours gradually inching towards a solution.

The problem : On the desktop IN PARTICULAR POSITIONS, I have shortcuts-to-folders which hold videos temporarily. That leaves the icons of the shortcuts 'contaminated' with video thumbnail elements. While I can do a disk-cleanup to restore the generic icons of the shortcuts [and that MAY be simpler than the alternative], I know that deleting the shortcuts, and re-creating them is another way.

I would like a macro that will achieve the end result of 'leaving the shortcuts where they are, and labled as they are' [as a disk cleanup would], but with generic icons (without thumbnail remnants).

That did the trick. Thank you SO much.

The application is vDosWP a 'modern' program that allows the DOS program, WordPerfect, to operate in 64bit Win10. WIN_F12 increases the size of its window.

I KNOW it is available, but at the time of trying, I could not find the Text Type trigger;  so instead clicked on an icon/tool that exposed a window offering text input.

I clicked on 'Win', but had to TYPE in the F12, so the MACRO showed 'WIN F12 WIN F12 WIN F12'

When it's hotkey was pressed, the WP/vDosWp program's window merely showed 'WIN' 'WIN' 'WIN'  instead of being resized.

I can see how the code YOU provide is likely to have the effect I want, but I repeat, I could not find the correct tool in the left pane to let me enter that code.

I need to apply WIN_F12 three times to a (text) window to achieve the resizing that I want. The macro I created simply TYPES 'F12' three times into the window instead of resizing it
- how to make it effective ?

<COMMENT Value="ENTER to select Bookmarks"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ENTER>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="1"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<CTRLD><SHIFTD>o<CTRLU><SHIFTU>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="100"/>

What I need is for the Bookmarks MANAGER to open - your '<CONTROL><SHIFT>o' merely highlights the  Bookmarks Bar entry.

I repeat that I have a working macro already, but I'm trying to understand why I needed to employ a work-around.

The format of '<CTRLD><SHIFTD>b<CTRLU><SHIFTU"/> had already worked for selecting Bookmarks.

I COULD change it to '<CTRLD><SHIFTD>o<SHIFTU><CTRLU"/>, but will not bother without your encouragement.

I did get email notification again.

I had become aware of that 'capital letter issue' in a recent comment (from you ?) in another thread.

My invocation of B worked fine.

What did NOT work, and what I was asking about, was the failure of 'CTRL SHIFT O' to trigger Bookmarks Manager, forcing me to use the work around I described above.

By the way, even though 'Notify me of replies' has been 'activated', I have not received emails - probably since the thread went to page 2. 

"Open chrome and paste in this address. "chrome://bookmarks". It will not be painful, I swear. " I did and reported that the results were as you predicted.

Replacing the Program Shutdown with Close Window did the trick.

So now I have a functioning macro ans should be satisfied.

But I want to draw your attention to the code that was a work-around, because a direct approach did not work. I should be able to select Bookmark Manager manually with 'CTRL SHIFT O' , but that did not work; nor did 'down arrow x 4' to Bookmark Manager in the macro. So my work-around was to select 'Show Bookmarks Bar' and then to down-arrow once to Bookmark Manager. Can you improve on that ?

I am (as usual) confused about your 'repeat' comment. I was not aware of the 'Repeat Start .... End Repeat' option until your example drew my attention to it. I think it is a more elegant way to achieve the same effect, so I emulated that higher up in the macro but incurred your displeasure - I'm puzzled WHY !

Thank you for the compliment. Why would the last line not execute ? There is already a pauze before it. How can it be made to execute ?   More accurately, how can opening of Gmail be prevented and closing of Chrome be promoted ?

<COMMENT Value="Launch Chrome"/>
<LAUNCH PROGRAM AND ACTIVATE WINDOW Title="New Tab - Google Chrome" Exact_Match="FALSE" Wildcards="FALSE" Path="C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe" Mode="\x00" Default_Path="TRUE" Wait="1" Wait_For_Program="12"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.1"/>
<COMMENT Value="ALT f to open the Menu"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ALT>f"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.1"/>
<COMMENT Value="Down-arrow x 6 to highlight Bookmarks ; using Repeat... End repeat"/>
<REPEAT START Start="1" Step="1" Count="6" Save="FALSE"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ARROW DOWN>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.1"/>
<END REPEAT/>
<COMMENT Value="ENTER to select Bookmarks"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ENTER>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.1"/>
<COMMENT Value="CTRL Down SHIFT Down B CTRL Up Shift Up to select Bookmarks Bar"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<CTRLD><SHIFTD>B<CTRLU><SHIFTU>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.1"/>
<COMMENT Value="Down arrow to select Bookmarks Manager"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ARROW DOWN>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.1"/>
<COMMENT Value="ENTER to open  Bookmarks Manager"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ENTER>"/>
<COMMENT Value="A longer delay is here required"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="1"/>
<COMMENT Value="TAB to select the Bookmark Manager's Menu"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<TAB>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.1"/>
<COMMENT Value="ENTER to open  Bookmarks Manager's menu"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ENTER>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.1"/>
<COMMENT Value="Down-arrow x 5 to highlight Export"/>
<REPEAT START Start="1" Step="1" Count="5" Save="FALSE"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ARROW DOWN>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.1"/>
<END REPEAT/>
<COMMENT Value="ENTER to activate EXPORT"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ENTER>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="1"/>
<COMMENT Value="Delete to be rid of the prompted name"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<DELETE>"/>
<DELAY Flags="\x01" Time="0.1"/>
<COMMENT Value="Types the path for the export which is to be saved "/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="C:\\data\\Chrome\\Bookmarks\\file.html"/>
<COMMENT Value="ENTER to 'press' the Save button"/>
<TEXT TYPE Action="0" Text="<ENTER>"/>
<PAUSE Flags="\x11" Message="replace file date" Left="Center" Top="Center" Monitor="0"/>
<PROGRAM SHUT DOWN Option="\x01" Title="Bookmarks - Google Chrome" Partial="TRUE" Wildcards="FALSE" _IGNORE="0x0006"/>

The item - NOT chevrons, but single side arrows -  you have pointed arrows to, was missing when I did the graphic post. It is present NOW, so I will re-post using that.  

"And you're not showing me your code." I am happy to change that, but THIS post does not provide me with the pairs of chevrons that I used before to post code, so I can only send a graphic  - which method you have objected to. But because it is long, I have to do it i n two parts with the bottom of the first overlapping with the top of the second

Quote

 

<PROGRAM SHUT DOWN Option="\x01" Title="Bookmarks - Google Chrome" Partial="TRUE" Wildcards="FALSE" _IGNORE="0x0006"/>

In my own clumsy way, I've managed to get the Export done. I thought I would 'clean up the job' by closing Chrome at the end, but there is yet again an obstacle. I made the second last line a complex pause, to give me a chance to delete the old Export file and put today's date into the new Export file. So once I have done that I click on RESUME, but the final line fails to execute.

I've been able to successfully replace my  six-times-down-arrow with your 'Repeat Start....End repeat' .

I've been able to successfully replace your complex delays with my 0.1 seconds (extended where needed).

I should NOT have to make the selection of Bookmarks Bar in two steps - but it does work.

I'd like to know how those two steps can be reduced to one.

I can see the need for a Save As that you referred to, but can not find that option in the macro commands. Chrome prompts a name that I am happy to accept, but introducing a left mouse click leaves the prompted name highlit rather than confirmed; the saving path I can write code for, but I have no idea how to put that in front of the prompted name .

Still far from a satisfactory ending.

I've had another go at it - once again it did NOT work. So although the code CAN achieve my aim, it does not do so RELIABLY. CONFOUND ! Now it has just worked 3 times in a row !

I had already typed your code in before, and it had not worked, but this time I cleared away the repeats, and sure enough the Save dialog opened, - so impressive progress - thank you.

I will leave the SAVING till a time when I can bring a fresh mind to the task. But I am confident (and optimistic) that it will happen satisfactorily. If not, I'll report it in this thread.

File name I think I may be able to cope with - having recently done something similar.

But it is getting way ahead of me, because I can not yet select EXPORT.

Sad to say - more obstacles

1. the code looks unfamiliar to me

2. when I pasted it in where my code for TAB had been, it showed a single entry that appeared to be a repeat of all YOUR code above that point

3. When I tried to run it, there was an objection to the NAME :  ExportChromeBookmarks - I chose to not change it

4. It told me that delays were unspecified, and when I offered to set values, opened a dialog that I'm unfamiliar with.

     It offered to set them automatically - I accepted.

5. When I ran the macro, it stopped where my own efforts had also stopped - NO PROGRESS.

I have pasted your code into a new macro and see that I should have pasted it into my exiting macro instead of the faulty code lines - a work in progress.