macros scheduled to run at start up

[ejs]

How does ME Pro handle macros that are scheduled to run at startup when there is more than one startup macros. Does it run these macros in sequence or does it run them simultaneously (considering that Pro can run more than one macro at a time)? If it runs them in sequence, will I be able to control which macro is run first, second, etc.?

 

In v 3, the macros were always run in the sequence in which they were created, which was a limitation because you might create a new start up macro tomorrow which you want Macro Express to run before it runs the start up macro you created yesterday.

 

I put in an enhancement request for v 3 to offer the ability for the user to define the start up sequence. I do not know if anything happened since then.

 

Another solution to this problem, if ME Pro supports it, is to have just one start up macro where that macro calls each of the other macros in the sequence you want. The problem with doing this in v 3 is that if one of the called macros fails (eg, the web page did not load in time), then none of the subsequent macros will be attempted. The new feature in ME Pro to make this approach reliable would be an option that tells macro express to continue playing the rest of the main macro even if a callled macro fails. (Without this error recovery feature, I would need to include otherwise unnecessary error recovery commands in each of my start up macros, which is a waste of time since each macro would need a unique approach to identify and ignore the errors.)

[kevin]

How does ME Pro handle macros that are scheduled to run at startup when there is more than one startup macros.

All macros scheduled to run on startup run simultaneously. This could cause problems if more than one of the macros contains things like Text Type commands or mouse click commands. To avoid these problems you can use the Lock Player and Unlock Player commands.

 

If multiple macros are scheduled to run on startup and contain Lock Player and Unlock Player commands then the first macro to hit the Lock Player command, when no other macros are running, will run first. Subsequent macros will queue up in the order that they hit their respective Lock Player commands. There is no logic in Macro Express Pro to set or adjust the order which they run.

 

...will I be able to control which macro is run first, second, etc.?

As you suggest in your post, you can write a macro that runs the other macros. You will, however, need to add the Catch Error commands to keep a called macro from stopping all the rest when an error occurs.