Cartwheels

Window Activate: Macro help required willing to pay ASCII File Begin Process: "C:\Users\YourUserName\Documents\Temp\YourFile.txt" (Tab Delimited Text (.txt)) Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): <CTRLD> Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): f Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): <CTRLU> Delay: .3 seconds Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): %T[1]% Delay: .3 seconds Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): <TAB> Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): <ESC> Clipboard Copy Variable Set String %Results% from the clipboard contents Text Box Display: Results If Variable %T[1]% Equals "%Results%" Text Box Display: Results2 // Found Else Text Box Display: Results3 // Not Found End If ASCII File End Process This may help get you going in the right direction, recording results and number of hits would require more time, which I may have tomorrow. Other people may have ideas on how to accomplish this project as well. There is another way too, but need real world example of what we are trying to do.

I think this is the default Window 7 notification area. It is about 20% of the screen width. I think it expands if I have more icons set to "show notifications". I cant't expand it by pulling it over like I can with the Quick Launch. The green running icon issue must be with older Windows programs.

Once I right click on the running man icon and it halts or terminate the macro then on the next run of the same macro the running man is not on the in the notification area on the task bar like the 1st picture. You would have to push the little up arrow to show the hidden icons (2nd picture) at which point you can right click to halt the macro. This also the area where the settings are for the notification icons like "show Icon and Notifications","Only Show Notifications ". Press customize, see 2nd picture. On the picture I attached, on the left is the up arrow/ triangle. Once you push that arrow this is where the running icon would be after halting the macro (if you run the same macro again, 2nd picture). Interestingly, if you run a different macro the running icon shows properly in the notification area (which would be to the right of the little up arrow in the picture). Until you halt it that is, then issue starts up again on the next run of that same macro.

I'm using 3 various Win 7 machines and also Server 2008 r2 service pack 3. I've seen the issue on all so far. After playing with this for some time I have figured out that the problem may be somewhat different than I originally thought. In the icon settings, I can choose the choice on the green running icon to "show Icon and Notifications". When I run a macro and even macros that have sub-macros it works correctly and shows the entire time. What I'm finding is that if I restart my computer, run a macro the green icon will show but if I right click on it and halt it, it will no longer show on any macro after that. Also when the computer is restarted the icon setting for the green man reverts back to "'Only Show Notifications". On my work computers I have witnessed often the green icon show then disappear usually with macros running sub-macros, though I'm having trouble recreating the issue on my home computer right at the moment. I have a feeling it is part of the same issue as above.

I figured out that when a MEP macro runs another MEP macro the green running man disappears from the taskbar notification area. I have many macros set up this way and didn’t have this issue in ME3. Is there a way to keep the green running man icon showing in the taskbar area. I have employees that use ME3, I would like to upgrade them to MEP, but I’m afraid they will be confused by this.

I combine the the 2 a lot. I do things similar to you if not the same. If I start off with excel, I will use vba to get to the cell and even use the copy command in vba before triggering MEP. I’m sure you are aware of the command line triggers for vba that start a MEP macro. Then if there are more cells I use MEP to navigate to those cells. If it is a larger range of cells I use ASCII. ASCII is great for getting lots of info through into variables, but the data needs to be organized in rows and columns. If running MEP first, active excel (macro enabled worksheet) if it is 1 cell use F5 to get the “Go To” window use MEP to type in the cell (or range for ASCII). Like your example, an excel macro by using alt F8, use MEP to type in the name of the excel macro. I like to use a unique name to avoid screwing things up. By combining these to methods you can trigger back and forth between the programs.

I threw together a macro using ASCII File Process. Hope this helps. BTW, i'm using ME3 not MEP but there shouldn't be any differences here. This file process seems to ignore blanks. Hope this helps! How this works is that each loop it moves down a line. So data from A4 = %t1%, B4 = %t2%, ect. When it loops A5 = %t1%, B5 = %t2%, ect. That is why you would only need %T1% // Save a text file called asc processing file.txt // Have a spread sheet called Microsoft Excel - Book 1 Temp open Activate Window: "Microsoft Excel - Book 1 Temp" Text Type: <F5> Delay 0.5 Seconds Text Type: Sheet1!A4:A204 Text Type: <ENTER> Delay 0.5 Seconds Clipboard Copy // // Settings: "Save Clipboard to a Text File" // // Settings: You will need to browse to the .txt file and choose it Clipboard Save Text: "asc processing file.txt" Delay 0.5 Seconds Text Type: <F5> Delay 0.5 Seconds // Below puts it back into excel but you would need activate what ever program when you run the real deal. //Putting it back to excel was just for testing Text Type: Sheet1!B3 Text Type: <ENTER> Delay 0.5 Seconds ASCII File Begin Process: "asc processing file.txt" (Tab Delimited Text ) Text Type: %T1% Text Type: <ARROW DOWN> ASCII File End Process

You would have to use logic that is something like, if %t1% > 0 then text type %t1%, end if. I'm using an iPad right now so I can give you better directions tomorrow. %t1% would need to change to %t2% also, for the next code.

Not sure if this would work for you but I use the ASCII file processing in ME for something similar. It is a file processing loop. You can copy a row or even a whole table and save it to a text file file. Then begin the process loop where it will take each row and can spit them out in any order you wish %t2%, %t4%, %t5%, %t1% ect. Then on to the next row and the process starts over again. I use the method quite a bit and have grown fond of it. You could even use a hot key, lf "x" is pressed, ME spits out %t4% and %t1%. It takes a little bit of playing with, but once you get it you can save yourself a ton of work!!

Maybe I'm missing what you are looking for but... Shell ("C:\Macro Express3\MeProc.exe /Ayour_macro_name_here") In other words Shell ("C:\Macro Express3\MeProc.exe /A Then put your MEP macro name in after the A You would have to change the path to MacroExpressPro and point to wherever you have your macros stored. I use this in ME3 and would assume that it works with MEP???

Looks like it was a while ago that you posted this. Did you get it figured out? I use an ASII processing loop for this kind of thing. It works fabulously!

Do I need to clear varibles at the beginning of my macros so they don't accidently get recycled? In other words do the varibles get carried over from the last time they were run? I had a macro do something kind of odd, so I'm trying to figure out why it did what it did.

Here is another good trobleshooting tool to help find where the trouble spot is in a macro. Works great! You can use a sound wave file. You just insert where you think the problem is, if that is not it, you can move it around. The command is under multimedia in ME. There are a lot of .wav files. You can do a search on your computer to see where they are at. This is where this one was located on my computer: C:\WINDOWS\Media\Windows XP Exclamation.wav> Sound Wave File: Windows XP Exclamation.wav

Excellent!!!

On a network, depending on which computer the macro is running on, I would like to be able to print. Each computer has more than printer. So I was looking for some logic in my macro to discover which computer it is being run on then select a printer based on that discovery. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you Scasper This must be what I was thinking of. One other good one is to put some 5-10 second delays in so you can make sure your cursor is in the right spot. This also gives you time if something is not correct to right click on the little running man to stop the macro before it goes off track. Later, when all works good you can go back and reduce the delay(s). If anyone else has new macro troubleshooting tips, feel free to add them on.

Is there a way to display the text of the macro in a text box as it is playing out on your computer? I thought I had seen this done before, but now I can't figure out how to do it. It would help for new macros when you get hung up somewhere, but your not sure the exact spot. Any other tips for this type of problem would be helpful also. Thanks.

So, I guess what I'm asking is... Can I move the program file folder for Macro Express from the C: drive to the F: drive (the F: drive is where most of our data is) without consequence. I know that I will have to change my short cuts to reflect the move, but other than that. Would I be alright with that move?

I would like to run the same Macros on my server that I do I my client station and be able to run them from lines in excel like: Shell ("C:\Program Files\Macro Express3\MeProc.exe /Acartwheel macro") I can link up to the same libraries. That really isn't a problem. I'm having problems running ME Macros from both client and server from VBA lines in Excel. Should I move all the ME files to something like F:\Cartwheels\ME? Then I could do F:\Cartwheels\ME\Macro Express3\MeProc.exe /Acartwheel macro") Is that the right way to go? Thanks in advance.

You know your right, for some reason I was thinking that once they were loaded I would have to do something with them, but if I don't use the them the will be renewed with the info for the next line. They will not screw up the sequence. So one less thing to worry about. It just keeps getting better.

One possibility too is if you are on the Macro Editor screen and you push on the icon that looks like a folder it goes to my documents. You'll see macex.mex and macex.001, macex002, macex003. If you click on one of those with the numbers. everything looks the same, but I think those are like back up copies or something. They are not the main macro folder. I believe macex.mex is. I made this mistake in the begining, I'm still kind of a newbie so I could be wrong. Worth a check.

This is working great and it so much faster then the method I was using before. It is amazing me how much better this is going to work! I have one instance I am going to need help with. I will be using if variables for T1. Most the time when the info gets entered into Payroll it will be: T1 enter T2 enter T3 enter T4 enter T5 enter. But if T1 is 60 for example it will be entered into Payroll this way: T1 enter T2 enter enter enter enter. At this point I need to get rid of T3-T5. If I don't they will screw up the sequence and get enered on the next line as T1-T3. Is there a way to skip or get rid of those so that the sequence stays right.

Ok I figured out my error. I needed to move ASCII File End Process to the bottom. Now it great. This very Interesting. I'm going to have to play with it a little now. Is there a way to stop the process if T whatever = 9999, for example or change gears if it comes across a certain number? Also where I have Text Type T%1% ect at the bottom is there a way to have that increment up +1 without having to build a macro that has T1 to T99? I'll have to say I'm really excited about this! Edit: I answerd my own questions. I only need to go T1 to T5 then loops back to T1 again which is absolutly perfect. I will easily be able do all kinds of stuff with it from here. Steve, and every one, a big THANK YOU! You helped me a ton!

Wow, this has taken a much different direction then I was originally thinking! I really think this is going to work and have been playing with it for awhile now. I able to get the info into the text file. I'm not deleting it for now so I can see that it is all there, but the text box displays are blank while processing. I have it text typing back into excel for now and I'm just getting blanks. I think I must be doing something wrong. I'm very close. Activate Window: "Microsoft Excel - Book1" Delay 1 Seconds Text Type: <ESC> Delay 1 Seconds Text Type: <CTRLD>g<CTRLU>A8:E26<ENTER> Clipboard Copy Clipboard Save Text: "testbook1.txt" Delay 2 Seconds ASCII File Begin Process: "testbook1.txt" (Tab Delimited Text ) Text Box Display: Line contents ASCII File End Process Activate Window: "Microsoft Excel - Book1" Delay 2 Seconds Text Type: <ESC> Text Type: <CTRLD>g<CTRLU>G8<ENTER> Text Type: %T1%<ARROW RIGHT> Text Type: %T2%<ARROW RIGHT> Text Type: %T3%<ARROW RIGHT> Text Type: %T4%<ARROW RIGHT> Text Type: %T5%

Edit: I just posted this, but it took me a long time and had not checked for recent posts, So I need review your post Steve. Thanks guys! I wish I could paste columns of info into the accounting program, unfortunately it it does not allow any paste what so ever. From excel it must be typed from the clip board one at a time. So I take 5 cells worth at a time, just because that is the way it is organized. I assign a seperate variable to those 5 cells of info. Then it gets typed into the Pay Roll Program and repeat till it gets to the end. I have to have logic in there to controll when it gets to the end and other things as well. Since this is a new thread I'll mention again what I'm trying to do. I currently have a macro doing the above pretty well. It just has to toggle back and forth quite a bit. So I was thinking that it might be more efficient to copy as much as I can from excel and toggle over to the payroll program and type it in. Each cell would have to its own variable. I believe the info from Excel also has to have the formatting trimmed out before you type it out. The info has to land in the right spots so I was thinking I could start with T1 and increment up from there, then the same when it is being typed out in the Pay Roll Program. Here is what the excel spreadsheet looks like. The yellow area plus the rate area which is one column to the right is the info I transfer to the other program. Edit: I should also mention I have to enter in the P/R Program one line at a time, in other words "Code", "Hours", "Field", "Phaze", "Rate". I can't do columns.