Automating Me

[renee]

Can any of you direct me to sample files, books (btw, I've put a request to order the book mentioned on the ME website [Kevin wrote it, I think?]) or anything to help me automate my files better.

 

I rely too much on "mouse moves" and then when one (and I mean ONE) of my doctor moves computers she is getting crashes. Now she may not be , kinda of, sort of, telling the truth!

 

She will complain about a macro, I will go and run it on her computer and it works perfectly. But there is no way she will sit down with me and show me what she is doing. She just wants me to fix it.

 

Now she is telling me some macros she used this weekend CRASHED the program she was running the macros in. It is a proprietary program called Clinician Workstation. Granted, I have found that when I do a mouse move, it can be off by a tad because she has done something to her icons, background, etc. I've not yet played w/making the "display" the same as mine. Maybe I should try that?

 

I've tried to automate them as much as possible but I know I could automate more.

 

I hope I've given enough information for you to see what I'm wanting to do and lead me into the right place to learn automation better. - Renee

[jason]

Mouse move commands require that everything be the same every time. When a mouse move command is issued, it does check to see what is under it before it clicks a mouse button. This means that the icons must be in the same location, and the screen resolution must be the same. If these do not remain constant, the macro runs the chance of failing. If you are using the mouse to move to a program icon to double click on it to run the program, you should instead try using the Launch and Activate command found under Window/Program in the Commands list found in the Scripting Editor. There are several examples of macros available for download on the Macro Express website: http://www.macros.com/share.htm.

[renee]

Thanks Jason. What I'm actually doing is "hitting" things inside a form. I use the tab key and enter key as much as possible. Unfortunatly much of the information I need to hit in these forms can't be used other than a mouse click. I've tried things like this:

 

<GETCONTROL2:01:CWS.EXE:ThunderRT6FormDCAvatar CWS (ASH)000:><IFCONTROL:01:01><WAITCONTROL:000000:000000:01:04><ENDIF>

 

Using the Thunder option where I capture a window... Not sure really what I'm doing with it .

 

That is one way I try to slow down the process so that the macro will run and not get ahead of itself.

 

Another problem I have is I use the wait for ... for instance the left pointed arrow. Some of my reports take a long to run. And as long as the hour glass is showing it runs fine, but if my user hits the mouse and it bounces up and becomes the left pointed arrow then it tries to execute the document before it is ready. I have some code written that basically is written to wait for the mouse to be a steady arrow for 2 seconds, but if it is moved up the screen then it is steady.

 

Ok, that is one problem I have.

 

The 2nd error we've been getting is a run-time error. Again its in this propietary program. If you run it by clicking thru the steps yourself it works. Again it's using a drop down window and I have it automated to ALT E to open the drop down and then using the hidden access keys... do I maybe need to put more time in it at the beginning or have it run slower?

 

These are just some of the issues I'm dealing with... on top of my Doctor's saying "Renee, you fix it!"

 

Ok, I know I don't always make myself clear, but I hope this helps. - Thanks in advance. - Renee

 

P.S. I'll check out those shared macros for sure!!

[aoz]

REnee,

 

for screen differences -

some macro's that I've written, upon startup of the day, I have the physician (me) point to a specific icon (a digital signature icon, for example) - it records this position for this session; then as long as the system/macro is not shut down, the repeat of the macro will trigger that screen position wit mouse click, to sign document

 

then, at home, on 19 inch monitor, screen items have changed positions; but the first time I run the macro it re-positions my mouse cursor for that session.

 

The problem wiht waiting for windows/controls (the thunder thing) , it sounds like your app.is on a server, or it's the app's inside that program, and they don't have as good of windows controls as if it is a straight desktop application, but for what it's worth, I use similar controls.

 

hope this helps

Nick