terrypin Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 I want to bring up a reminder every half hour about taking a break. I've done that easily enough by simply activating an image viewer with a specific JPG to come up full screen every 30 mins in the Schedule dialog. But now I realise I need something more refined than that. When the reminder comes up I get up from my PC and come back a variable amount of time later. Might be 2 minutes, might be 20. So I really want to leave the macro running while I'm away, close it on my return, and then not see it displayed again until 30 mins after that. Any suggestions would be appreciated please. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rberq Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Yikes! I want that job, where I can work 30 minutes and take a 20 minute break! Maybe you could do it like this: Schedule a macro to run every minute. Each time it runs, it will: Read in a text file that you have initially primed with the first break time of the day. Get the current time (it is under Text) and compare it to the time saved in the file. If break time is not yet reached, exit from the macro. Otherwise, break time has been reached, so: Pop up your reminder using Text Box Display, with the option to remain open until you click the OK button. The macro will sit waiting patiently while you take your break, oblivious to the fact that it is working while you are goofing off. When you click OK on the text box, the macro will continue running from that point. Write the current time (obtained as above) plus 30 minutes to the text file (overlay the old file). Exit from the macro. Excuse me now, I will be back in twenty minutes. Don't call me, I'll call you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrypin Posted July 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Great, that sounds just the job. I haven't used that Text > Date/Time command before - I'll try it tomorrow. -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gawwad Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 Possible to make it wait for closing the text box and then just add 'Delay 30min' -> ' Repeat End'? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rberq Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 Possible to make it wait for closing the text box and then just add 'Delay 30min' -> ' Repeat End'? Yes, but.... If the macro is sitting on a delay, it is still running, so no other macros can run -- you have effectively blocked ME from doing anything else. I'm talking about ME Release 3 here -- I believe ME Pro has the ability to run more than one macro at a time, so the blocking might not be relevant on ME Pro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevecasper Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 I've got a pretty simple way to make this work for you, Terry (though I admit I hadn't seen this thread till Gawwad brought it back to the top). This works FANTASTICALLY. I've used it for a number of macros. One in particular: I work with a Citrix-based program that requires the page to be refreshed every 4-6 minutes or I have to log back in. That, in and of itself, is tedious. I have macros that access that window from time to time, often no more than once every 8-10 minutes, so I built a macro that will auto- matically refresh my Citrix page every 4 minutes - unless I run one of my other macros in the mean-time that uses the page, in which case, I use this trick to refresh my timer. Anyway, here's my solution for you (I'm sure it will work in Pro, as well): First, set the macro Properties -> Schedule -> Other -> Every (however long). Text Box Display: Time for a Break Macro Disable: Break Reminder for Terry Macro Enable: Break Reminder for Terry <TBOX4:T:1:CenterCenter000278000200:000:Time for a BreakYou've been working too hard. Go get a drink, use the loo, whatever.><MACDEACT2:Break Reminder for Terry><MACACT2:Break Reminder for Terry> You just leave the text box open till you get back, then close it. The Disable/Enable sequence resets the macro's timer to 0. Easy peasy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrypin Posted January 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 Great - thanks Steve, works a treat in ME Pro. Hey, 6 months since my original query; reckon that's a record for me. Thanks for posting, Gawwad -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gawwad Posted January 18, 2009 Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 Great - thanks Steve, works a treat in ME Pro. Hey, 6 months since my original query; reckon that's a record for me. Thanks for posting, Gawwad -- Terry, East Grinstead, UK Haha, didn't notice it was so old. Was searching for schedule related stuff and this came up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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