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Scheduled activation: half hour after last time?


terrypin

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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

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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.

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  • 6 months later...
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.

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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.

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