patgenn123

I was just curious if anyone is using Macro Express or Macro Express Pro for business purposes? In particular, if a self-employed person/company is using ME to help save the companies they contract with money by helping them auotmate. If you use ME as part of the "tools" in your arsenal to help companies automate and save man hours, what are examples of how you use ME? I know there is a webpage in ME that have personal stories, but are there anymore? Just curious. I am thinking about seriously lerning programming and ME pro to go off on my own and sell my services to companies. Sincerely, Pat

I forgot a password on a macro and I need to unlock it. Does anyone know an end around? Pat

Yeah and he had to spend it on my worthless posting..... Chick fil A, I could eat that 7 times a day...... Welcome to my world.... Pat

Ok. That's it! It's arrays I don't understand and being new to the new version, the new way variables are created has me all confused. I don't want anyone to write anything complex for me. I worked with ME pretty well. For some reason, and maybe it's because I am going back to school(and studying hard), it's not forming in my mind. I just can't grasp it right now.That's all really. I am not trying to get under anyone's skin, I just don't get the concept. Must be dain bramage!!!! I will google arrays. Sincerely, Pat

Thanks John, That's awfully simple. I hope I didn't come across as a simpleton! Actually what I am looking for is something a smidge more difficult. For example, when a file is has been moved, how do proceed with that? I want to know the exact file or files that have been moved from what folder to what folder? I know this was mentioned above somewhat, but I am trying to see how fast ME is when it comes to one IF NOT all of those activations working together in tandem. Since this is a new Activation trigger, what I am looking for is how would someone proceed with monitoring if a file has been moved. Does this mean that you would check to see if the file/folder size changes? If so, what do you use in the script? Would you compare text files using a Repeat with Folder and create a massive text file and create another massive text file to compare it to? If so, how would you do it when a file has moved? How fast is it when it comes to 40,000 files, for example, and hundreds of folders? These kinds of things would be helpful. You know I think it would be pretty much a boilerplate macro to just create something that would something like this. It's just not computing right now. Pat

Hello Everyone. I am still looking for a simple example of how this Activation Trigger works. I am befuddled!!!! Can someone from Insight chime in? I am itching to buy this, but I just need a real short example of how this works since there are no samples in the new Help file. A short example for each choice would help me a lot. I think the new version is so neat and fun. I might be able to make a career out of this! Someone? Anyone? Pat

OK. So long as you think it's possible, I will buy it and then fiddle with it. Thanks a bunch! Pat

Cory, Hello. I hope you are well. Can you clarify something for me? With create, rename or delete file activation trigger, How can you make a folder and lots of subfolders dynamic in that whatever happens in any of the folders or subfolders, the macro can catch it? What I mean is, if I move a file to a different subfolder, if I delete a file, if I rename a file, if I create a file, etc. Obviously there would be a different subroutine for each of these, but what would be simple examples for each? I would think there would be 1 master text file and when the trigger is activated, a repeat with folder would compare them, but I would assume that the Repeat with Folder would be compared to the text file AS a whole variable. The question is, for example, how can I get the macro to nail down that I moved a file? If I deleted a file, would you check the recycle bin file to indicate that it was deleted? How about when a file is dragged in from outside the folder and subfolder structure and into the folder/subfolder? In other words, how can the macro tell me exactly what it did? I guess it would be something that would take time to create? Of course it would, but I am not asking for anyone to make a macro for me rather some keen insight on how to approach this. I am itching to buy this, but I need some justification in my mind to do it. Thanks! Pat

Hello everyone, I am very interested in buying ME Pro. From what I've seen, it looks awesome! However, I was wondering if anyone has an example of how the macro is able to check which file is deleted or added using Directory Modification. I would assume that the best way to approach it is to start with a huge text file using Repeat with Folder(using the full file path) to chew through all file names, use "Set Value from File" after the file is created, then when the change happens, fire the macro where the the second part of the macro would compare to the text file to see if the Variable "contains or does not contain". However, the activation triggers are confusing because if I want to have a macro check if a file was deleted, I would have to run the text file against another Repeat with Folder command. If a file was added, then I would have to run the second part of the macro against the text file using the text file process command. This is a lot of work and I am sure the macro would take some time to do both because the activation trigger is not broken down further. So how can i have a simple macro check if either one has happened in a simple elegant way? One that instantly catches the change and nails down the exact area of change? Thank you, Pat

I know I could have directly started the thread with the issue at hand, but I wanted to be subtle about it. I'm sorry. I have been on the internet for a good 1.5 hours trying to find something free and easy to use. The best one is k-9, but it doesn't block objectionale material on Youtube. I am kind of getting distraught about it because there's nothing out there that has high reviews. I've tried a few and they block websites they shouldn't be blocking etc. ME would be perfect for this, but the creators of ME did not put a few safeguards in place for this type of requirement. It might be a little unique of a request, but I guess I can't expect everything. They have a great product. I just wish it was a hair more customizable to get this done. ME WOULD BE SO PERFECT for this. Pat

I am actually using it for my own use. I am trying to keep the kids from having any bad ideas as they enter into that stage of life and I don't want to pay for it if i don't have to. There's some pretty good software out there for free like k-9, but oddly, it doesn't filter out things like youtube's content. That's insane. It's good, but not good enough. Thanks! pat

John, No, not in danger of being blocked. I am attempting to use ME to prevent unauthorized use while the computer is being used not from the the outside world(the big bad internet) Do you have an Autoit script that runs every few seconds that checks to see if a Program like Macro Express is running and if it's not, then have AutoIt re-open it? What I could do is have ME run every few seconds to see if the AutoIt program is running and they could be checking on each other. I could also have ME check to see if the autoit program has been deleted and have ME recreate another one so it cannot be deleted. The only thing left would be to find a way to have some program sense that Macro Express has been suspended. If so, then it would take over. I want to find a solution for this using ME. It's a shame that these options cannot be customized like suspend or uninstall. This would make it airtight and everything then would depend on writing the code in ME. Pat

John, To be honest with you, the reason why I want to do this is because I am creating a macro so that if a bad site(i.e. pornography) comes up, the macro will redirect it to another site, for example cnn.com. Shutting it down won't be a problem because I could have macro express open up when the computer starts and will have the macro running upon start up. It's the shutdown during a Windows session that I want blocked OR RESTARTED. Also, I want the "suspend Macro Express" in the system tray to be blocked also. I wish these options were available. Plus, you would need a code, if one desires, to completely uninstall ME also. Macro Express can market itself as a full fledged cyber nanny! Hey Insight, that's a great idea! You could market this in this way too! What I wouldn't mind seeing is macro express be able to (without right clicking on Internet Explorer or any other browser) the ability to get the source code so I could parse through it so that bad words can be picked up from the HTML code just in case the windows Title is benign. Maybe I could mix AutoHotKey or AutoIt in with a macro, but I wish ME could do this. I am not too adept with writing long lines of code with AutoIt or Autohotkey yet, but if ME had this, it would be a snap! Finally on a different note , it would be nice if ME gave us the ability to do 2 more things: transparent windows and to be able to write /grab text from invisible/hidden windows. Pat

Hello all, Is there a way of having ME automatically restart or a password to prevent ME from stopping? In other words, in Task manager, I could delete both Macedit.exe and MacExp.exe and Macro Express would stop. I either need to protect it from being shut down or I need it to restart again if it is shut down. I would prefer a restart. Any suggestions? pat

Hello everyone, I have been looking for this and I can't find it. It's a simple question. I have a few timed macros that are in conflict with each other. That means, for example, that 2 macros are scheduled at the same time at 7AM. I know you cannot run 2 macros at once with this version, but how can you set ME to run the macros one after the other so that when one finishes, the next one starts? Thank you in advance! Pat

Thanks for the response Kevin! The reason why I ask is because it would be neat if there was a way to create a HTA that has all the options that the schedule Default Activation has that could create macros automatically outside of Macro Express itself using the text in direct editor to form macros based on the HTA. So, for example, if I wanted to create a HTA where I could create a form that I could tell it to schedule to send an e-mail to people I have in a multi-select list box, Macro Express would be transparent in the sense that the commands would be coming from the HTA form and it would give the commands to ME to create the macro in the background. In another instance, in my database I have a "schedule activity" form where I am looking to create actions using ME from the form. The form is always the same and it would be awesome to simplify the macro to ask it to schedule the macro to run based on what I tell the "schedule activity" form in my database to do. So whatever my form does, so does the macro. Pat

Hello everyone! I was wondering if Macro Express can do this: I have a database that creates contacts and the like. Is there a way of creating a unique individual macro that creates the text in the direct editor in a direct way? In order words, I want to create the text that Macro Express can read in the direct editor. Can this text be read from a file by the direct editor or how can the direct editor be used to create a macro from another macro? Also, if you wanted to use an activation trigger, how you do include that in the direct editor? Thanks! Pat

Hello everyone, I use Macro Express as an alarm to wake me up in the morning. I have 7 songs loaded and it takes approximately 20 minute to complete. However, I was wondering if anyone knows how to load the macro in memory so the macro runs without interfering with other macros. In other words, load the whole macro instantly and completely into memory and move on to the next macro so it can play. Right now, the "running man" is in the system tray for 20 minutes playing my "wake up" macro and nothing else can run until this macro completes its 20 minute cycle. Pat

Kevin, I will, but what are the chances if the suggestion is implemented that it would be implemented for this version? If it is OK'd and implemented, how long will it take? I am really upset that the control feature doesn't work at least in a semi-workable way. Everything else with Macro Express is pretty darn good. Pat

I went back to test this out and even this option doesn't work. First off, there is no "IF CONTROL DOES NOT EXIST". Second, none of these options work unless the window/program is visible. Capture Control does not work unless the window is visible. Only GET CONTROL works to capture text that is not visible(i.e. minimized) I suggest that ME fix this by doing two things. FIRST, when a user uses "GET CONTROL" it also nails down the coordinates within it's own command. That way, whatever control is sitting in that location, it will capture the text there RELATIVE TO THE WINDOW AND THE EXACT SPOT ON THE WINDOW. You would think that when that bullseye wraps itself aound a control after the mouse is released over it, it would be able to smartly pick up all four corners or whatever geometric shape it is. I would rather have it this way than having to recapture/redo the control to reset the darn thing over and over again because the software is trying to throw a monkey wrench at the user. Second, the CONTROL DETAILS window should be able to be manipulated by the user so that if I am observing that the control is being changed on the 3rd line of the hierarchical TREE, , then I should be able to tell it to stop at the second line(or whatever line I want it to stop). I cannot believe that the CONTROL DETAILS window in Macro Express is read-only! What? Why can't that be manipulated to fit the user's desire? Combining both of these ideas would give the user reasonable assurance that the control captured using the "GET CONTROL" feature is the same one unless the control has been moved to another location. If the control is in a different location altogether, then the user has to start over or keep what is there and modify the code in the macro itself. In summary: #1) The coordinates captured by using "GET CONTROL" can give the program a reasonable approximation that the control is still there NO MATTER IF THE SOFTWARE CHANGES the control characteristics. #2) The user should have full control to Stop/modify/manipulate whatever line in the CONTROL DETAILS that looks like it could give it a reasonable match. Essentially, we can be reasonably sure that the control is still there no matter what the program does to change its own characteristics. If you combine these two things and fix this issue, it would stop that ANNOYING sound and dialogue box from telling us the control does not exist. it would give us a better way to make a reasonable guess the same control is still there NO MATTER WHAT IT"S TRYING TO THROW AT THE USER BY CHANGING IT"S CHARACTERISTICS. Please please fix this. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. Pat

Kevin, I appreciate your answer, but there should be a way that when the bullseye gets the control that it also captures the coordinates relative to the window. You should have it programmed into the language of capture control that the coordinates are grabbed too so that, for example, if Windows Internet Explorer's address bar is not in the same place(for example, because the window is smaller than when it was originally captured), it could still pick up the text OR THE NEW NAME OF THE CONTROL because it knows where to look for it from the X,Y perspective relative to the window. The center of that bullseye should be what's used to nail down a spot relative to the window. There should be a way to use the "control details" tree for something. None of that is usable to possibly edit a variation of the changing control class. We should be able to edit and manipulate those trees to see how far we can go to get a close to perfect match? I am no programmer, but there has got to be a way to get us a control class/name that is close to the one we orignally chose with the "bullseye". Subsequently,once the command is executed, ME could secretly send a mouse click to "Capture the text under the control" just like Capture control "Beneath the Mouse" and it could work every time because it knows where the X,Y coordinate is relative to the window. Maybe I am rambling and don't know what I am talking about. I love your program, but this really gets under my skin. I wish you could fix this. Pat Gennare

Rick, I feel your pain. The control portion of macro express is the worst I have ever seen. I don't think it works the way they claim it does. For example, When I use Get control. I drag the bullseye/crosshair to the control and it works! The only problem is that it works only for a while. Now I got an explanation that soemtimes the control changes it's control name. Really? I tried to use it to capture Internet Explorer's web address bar. It worked! Then after I reboot the computer a few days later or don't use Macro Express for a while, it cannot find it again. I guess now they'll say that Microsoft changes that too. It's so confusing and their help file leaves a lot to be desired on most things that I have turned to Autohotkey and AutoIt because it works there. If anyone can correct me if I am wrong, please do so, but this is not right and downright misleading. Pat

Thanks Bob, I found the problem. The window title had a "|" in it. I replaced it with space, but it is still not renaming my file. I don't get the error message anymore, but it's not renaming my file. Pat

Hello, This should be simple. I am trying to rename a file. In my macro, I am declaring a variable to be taken from the window title into %T2%. Later I want to rename the file from E:\Personal Folders\RenderedPage.pdf to %T2%.pdf after the file was moved TO E:\Personal Folders using the Macro Express "Change Directory/Folder" function. It works up until it has to rename the file. I keep on getting an error "There are one or more invalid cahracters in the file path. I am not seeing it. Where? Essentially I am changing it from: E:\Personal Folders\RenderedPage.pdf to E:\Personal Folders\%T2%.pdf and %T2% has already been grabbed from the window title. Help? Pat

Is there a way to trigger a macro when I click on a control? The reason I ask such a simple yet idiotic question is because the Activation Tab gives us only two choices: 1)Control on Top 2) Control Focused Well, neither one works. It keeps on triggering the macro when the larger control is visible and I only want the control to be triggered ONLY WHEN I click on a certain button on the larger control. The larger control is a form and the button(which is subcontrol of the larger control(the form) is what I want to trigger the rest of the macro. I have tried different things like the larger control as the trigger, but nothing seems to work. It just triggers it when the control is visible. I don't want that. I want the macro to trigger only when I click the button. This is a dunce question, but certainly would like some help. Thanks all! Pat