floyd

Have you tried the Set Window Order command?

Yes, but because this is Access maybe Paul could show you how. Access is not what we do. Excel is. Anyway, Paul's example above is very close to what you need. The Select command would change, as would the value being returned. As a side note, you will see this capability in our Excel Extended Library when we get to the "range" functions. Also, the ability to return a range in a csv format.

I'm curious as to why you don't like using the ASCII File Process command. Doesn't it do exactly what you are doing? That is: it chews through the data tab by tab. And you are exactly correct. It's almost certain that Joe is referring to extracting a range of data and copying it to a CSV file for MX3 to process. Maybe some sort of sequence like this: Macro Express command Macro Express command Macro Express command Run extraction script Wait for extraction script to finish Macro Express processing command Macro Express processing command Macro Express processing command O we are! We are! But after the Excel Library comes the Internet Explorer Library.

I've looked at your code. The "Invalid Item Combination" is not a Macro Express error message, so it must be coming from your app. Maybe your app will only accept 2-digits. I would suggest the following: Add 250 ms delays after each clipboard command. Maybe the macro is running faster than Excel can keep up. Slow it down. You have a command at the top that says you are running it 1,000 times faster than normal. The Wait Text Playback commands should be placed after the Text Type commands and not before.

Not sure what you mean. My example did not use Outlook. I do not have Outlook. Macro activation possible also by process name. - Already can be done using Window Control activation. Possibilty to activate a process not a window title. - Already can be done using Window Control. Possiblity to switch through the last tasks (like ALT+TAB) - Not sure what you mean. Wait for Macro (Title) finished Command. (to prevent conflicts) - This is how Macro Express already works. Ability to show/hide toolbars(FM) instantly without letting them gain focus at all. - Not sure if Windows will allow launching a window without setting focus to it. Showing hints while hovering over inactive toolbars. (i know it´s windows fault! ) - Not fault, but design. It makes sense that only the focused window reacts to the mouse, or else there would be pandemonium.

I wanted to test yours but didn't have Outlook, so one thing led to another and ... *POP* ... out comes a macro

The attached library shows how to create a floating menu system. It uses notepad, calculator, and the desktop. Both notepad and calculator have companion toolbars (floating menus). When notepad gains focus, its companion toolbar enables, the calculator toolbar disables, then focus is set back to notepad. The same set of sequences takes place when calculator gains focus. When your desktop gains focus, both toolbars disable themselves, and remain that way until either notepad or calculator regain focus. Macros: Calc Toolbar - Contains the Button 10 through Button 13 macros. Is enabled when calculator gains focus. Note Toolbar - Contains the Button 20 through Button 23 macros. Is enabled when notepad gains focus. Calc Gains Focus - Macro fires automatically when calculator gains focus. It enables and disables relevant toolbars. Note Gains Focus - Macro fires automatically when notepad gains focus. It enables and disables relevant toolbars. Desktop Gains Focus - Macro fires automatically when your desktop gains focus. It disables all toolbars. Disable All Menus - Macro called by the above three macros. It disables all toolbars. To test, open the library in Macro Express Explorer, launch calculator and notepad. Click back and forth on them. Don't be too quick ... Windows has to do a lot of housekeeping between window activations. If you click on the desktop the toolbars disable. FloatingMenusExample.mex

The minimize, restore, and maximize icons on window titlebars are treated differently by the operating system, as is the titlebar itself. They will become active by hovering (and therefore the hint appears) even if the client portion of the window remains inactive. Without doing so, we would have no way to close a window using a mouse. Toolbar icons, on the other hand, don't become active unless the client window becomes active, so no hints appear when hovering. Maybe others are experiencing inconsistencies the same as you are, but since I am not, I really don't have an answer for you. I will say that hints are handled by Windows via messaging. When you want to enable hints for an object, you have your program send an API call to windows saying "I want hint "XXX" to display when the user hovers over this object." But that's it. There is no way to tell windows how long to delay displaying the hint or how long to leave it displayed, or how long a mouse has to unhover before hovering again to redisplay the hint. Not sure what you mean by "press escape", however, the rest reads as if you have a macro scoped to run only if a certain program has focus (Run If On Top is checked). If so, you are correct: since the toolbar has focus, the target program does not, and therefore it will not fire. Otherwise, if you only care that a particular program is running before a macro fires, you could uncheck the box and change the target macro to activate its window before it does anything else. Windows sends keystrokes to the active window. In this case, the toolbar wasn't active but your application was.

You are welcome, but remember that reliability is much more important than speed. If a macro crashes midway through a task because it's running too fast, any time savings is kaput.

I've not experienced this, even with macro libraries (mex) with more than 85 macros.

No. Its intended purpose IS to control the speed of the Text Type command. If, for example, you have Keystroke Speed set for 50, and you are using Text Type to type-out "Macro Express Explained", a 50 ms delay will occur between each character in the string. Therefore, the 23 characters will require 1,150 ms (about 1 second) to type-out.

Which version of Excel are you using? Also, I'm not sure what you mean by "right corner of the paste region".

No need to request it. The command already exists: Keystroke Speed.

It does stop. And unlike floating menus, popup menus can only be run one at a time, like a macro. Once a choice is made, the popup menu goes away and the chosen macro runs. Maybe it would be better to run floating (toolbar) style menus.

1) It is how Windows works and has nothing to do with Macro Express. 2) Sure you can. Once created, a floating menu is activated and deactivated via the Enable and Disable commands. Create a macro that fires whenever a target widow gains focus. Place enabling and disabling commands within If/EndIf constructs to enable or disable the appropriate floating menu(s) for each focused window. 3) Yes you can. See 2) above. 4) Why not? You can certainly have more than a single floating menu running at once, and they are infinitely arrangeable.

That's the question we all ask ourselves about every app for which we want a macro: how do we get Macro Express to decide what to do next? There are plenty of commands. You'll need to take the time to learn and use them. Try a few things.

This is not an unusual application for Macro Express, and you are taking the correct approach in adjusting its speed. Keep in mind that the playback preference setting is for all macros and is based on microseconds rather than milliseconds, so when you state that the setting is 10,000 microseconds, it means 10 milliseconds (1,000 microseconds = 1 millisecond). Another command to look at is the Keystroke Speed command. It is used to control individual macro typing speeds. The value is stated milliseconds (1,000 milliseconds = 1 second) and remains in effect until the macro ends or until changed with another Keystroke Speed command. Something else to consider is the Wait Text Playback command, which simply stops the macro until the keyboard buffer is empty. Sometimes this is better than using Delays. Neither of these, however, can control how fast, or how slow, the target application reacts when simply tabbing from one field to the next. Every app is different in what it does to process keystrokes sent to it. It's natural that Macro Express sends keystrokes to apps faster than they can process them. I'm a pretty fast typist, but there is no way for me to type anywhere near the speed of light that any program, including Macro Express, can type. So, delays are a natural solution.

Thanks. Posting code helps everyone. There is another way to fire your macro besides a HotKey. Use the Mouse Activation. Simply pick a small area on the screen to click. I use a 3 x 3 area at the upper-left corner of my primary display. I shove the mouse over there, click, and a menu of macros pops up ... like yours.

No, the window/program commands do accept variables.

Macro Express cannot be compiled. You can, of course, distribute your macros but your target clients must have Macro Express to run them.

Cory is correct on this. The MRUs are located at HCKU\Software\Insight Software Solutions\Macro Express\MRU. They may also be in the HKLM area (same path but beginning at HKLM instead of HKCU). Simply delete the data values numbered 1 through 7, but only if you are comfortable with deleting things in your Registry.

It is very cool, indeed, Cory. Nice work.

Not a clue. This isn't Macro Express code.

Not sure what you mean, but under the preferences dialog, you can choose to capture, or not capture, mouse movements and also whether to capture the delays or just ignore them.

I've always held the same view: if it makes sense to add a feature, and if it makes Macro Express better, then it's good for me, for Joe, for you, and good for the rest of the world, too. If Alt+Tab is not implemented (I've never tried it), then I'm 100% certain the developers at Macro Express have a reason for leaving it out, but I would not be privileged to know what that reason is. As for the original issue of using Alt+Tab when capturing a macro, I think it's a very bad idea. The same number of windows, in the same order, would need to be in place for the macro to run successfully subsequent times. I'm not a real fan of the capture feature, although as these things go, it's a great implementation of one. But, that's just me ... others find that creating macros by capturing them is useful. And that's all that really matters.