case/end case

[randallf]

The documentation in the program states:

 

Switch (T1)
 Case: Found
Text Box Display: T1 contains Found
 End Case
 Case: Done
 Case: Finished
 Case: Completed
Text Box Display: The comparison is done
 End Case
End Switch

 

This seems to imply the 'contains' condition seen throughout the IF VARIABLE statements.

 

Ok then.

 

 

From "Macro Express Explained"

 

The "Case" command compares for exact equality and is case sensitive. There is no Case command for "less than","greater than", or anything else other than "equals".

 

 

Which is correct? It seems that the second statement is the correct one, as none of the CASE stuff I'm putting together works right...

 

I have some really long and complicated IF CONTAINS THEN stuff and I really would rather use CASE.... is there a way to hack it?

[kevin]

Switch (T1)
 Case: Found
Text Box Display: T1 contains Found
 End Case
End Switch

 

In this context, 'contains' means 'equals'. I understand how it could be confusing when you are comparing with the If statements. We will change the example to say 'T1 equals Found'.

[paul]

I think this is yet another case (pun intended) of needing to resort to AutoIt or VBScript to do real work! But that doesn't work so nicely in ME3 - ME4 gives you seamless integration with several scripting languages.

[randallf]

I think this is yet another case (pun intended) of needing to resort to AutoIt or VBScript to do real work! But that doesn't work so nicely in ME3 - ME4 gives you seamless integration with several scripting languages.

 

Interesting point you bring up, my company happens to own an ME3 license so that's what I use for making this stuff that's intended for production, (all of this btw is just automating my normal job, (making it easier/faster so that I have more time to write macros to make it easier and er... how am I winning in this scenario?) only recently have I been concerned about disseminating it to others) but it's seriously lacking.

 

Obviously ME PRO would be way better however we don't own that license. I think it really sucks how they did 3/pro but maybe that's just because I'm suffering for it and have no control over it. I could buy pro myself but why would I want to do that when I will become the only one that can use those macros?

 

I must say however that while I knew BASIC pretty well before as well as how to use most of those same functions in PHP (and html/unix/bash/CMD scripting experience), but I was by no means a programmer. ME3 seems to have kindof edged me into that world, I might be far better prepared to use something like VB in the future...

 

Also, for better or worse ME3/PRO is PERFECTLY suited to the environment in which we use it... it's a requirement here to have it installed... though I digress, my point is that I feel so severely limited by ME3 at times and it really SUXXXORZ (for me).

 

Though I must admit, at any rate, I love writing macros. I just do.

 

Thanks for the replies guys, always appreciate the help and feedback.

[rberq]

....

[stevecasper]

I could buy pro myself but why would I want to do that when I will become the only one that can use those macros?

 

That is actually exactly what I did. I did it for a few reasons. Mainly, I did it in order to learn the MEP fuctionality so that if the company ever did decide to splurge, I would be prepared for it. However, I also tend to be the only person who uses Macros for most of my work (everybody else seems to fear them), so I figured I would at least be able to benefit from the enhanced product.

 

Of course the few macros that everybody else uses are tried and true and they don't have to live with the bugs that are still being tweaked out of MEP the way I do.

[randallf]

(everybody else seems to fear them)

 

oh brother do I live in that world

 

have you had any success getting others to adopt them and if so how

[stevecasper]

oh brother do I live in that world

 

have you had any success getting others to adopt them and if so how

Honestly, no. My company purchased about 10 licenses to be used exclusively in my department almost 2 years ago. I was tasked with building macros to distribute to the rest of my team.

 

I was limited by a number of factors, however:

• I was given absolutely no on-the-clock time to build macros. Forcing me to sacrifice personal time to build them (what I really ended up doing, was building the macros for myself while I should have been working, then utilizing those macros to play catch-up so my productivity didn't suffer - and then I tweaked them (read: dumbed them down) for distribution.
  
• All macros I built had to be submitted to the guy who actually researched automation tools, but who had little-to-no experience actually building macros.
  
• All macros submitted to him had to be approved by senior management for the department.
  
• All macros had to be password protected to prevent fiddling (read: tweaking/improving) by other members of my team (I couldn't change their minds about that), despite the fact that no two computers in the department are even close to the same (the closest we get is that most PCs are HPs, and all are running XP Pro, but the rest of the specs vary widely)
  
• Most of the people I work with range from technilogically challenged to technophobe, with one or two others whow are either "too good for automation" or so set in their ways, that learning to run a macro is just too much work... or something.
  

 

So, thanks to the first 2 or 3 items above, distribution was a nightmare. Training on using them was a bear. And actually following-up with people to see if they were using them, and if they had any suggestions or problems was non-existent.

 

Though I love the potential MEP has, as buggy and inconsistent as it is on my machine (I used to have the worst machine in the department, so any macro that worked on my machine would work on everybody's... my new machine is in the top 2-3, performance-wise, so if they don't run on mine, they won't run on anybody's), there is no chance I'll be able to ever convince management to upgrade our licenses. At least not in the near future.

[randallf]

Honestly, no. My company purchased about 10 licenses to be used exclusively in my department almost 2 years ago. I was tasked with building macros to distribute to the rest of my team.

 

I was limited by a number of factors, however:

• I was given absolutely no on-the-clock time to build macros. Forcing me to sacrifice personal time to build them (what I really ended up doing, was building the macros for myself while I should have been working, then utilizing those macros to play catch-up so my productivity didn't suffer - and then I tweaked them (read: dumbed them down) for distribution.
  
• All macros I built had to be submitted to the guy who actually researched automation tools, but who had little-to-no experience actually building macros.
  
• All macros submitted to him had to be approved by senior management for the department.
  
• All macros had to be password protected to prevent fiddling (read: tweaking/improving) by other members of my team (I couldn't change their minds about that), despite the fact that no two computers in the department are even close to the same (the closest we get is that most PCs are HPs, and all are running XP Pro, but the rest of the specs vary widely)
  
• Most of the people I work with range from technilogically challenged to technophobe, with one or two others whow are either "too good for automation" or so set in their ways, that learning to run a macro is just too much work... or something.
  

 

So, thanks to the first 2 or 3 items above, distribution was a nightmare. Training on using them was a bear. And actually following-up with people to see if they were using them, and if they had any suggestions or problems was non-existent.

 

Though I love the potential MEP has, as buggy and inconsistent as it is on my machine (I used to have the worst machine in the department, so any macro that worked on my machine would work on everybody's... my new machine is in the top 2-3, performance-wise, so if they don't run on mine, they won't run on anybody's), there is no chance I'll be able to ever convince management to upgrade our licenses. At least not in the near future.

 

You got way further than I did. Nobody really understands their purpose and the others on my team are somewhat non-technical, (read: frustratingly ignorant) so it's hard to get more than a couple of them to want to even try it, let alone the fact that I am working my ass off trying to disseminate them.

 

The biggest thing I've found that helps is finding anyone who agrees with you on it lol

 

 

gatta run

[randallf]

The other huge thing that helps that worked for me on the last team that I was on was to create a macro suite that made me so highly efficient that it could simply no longer be ignored because I was totally outperforming everyone else on the team by a factor of three to five. That really turned heads, but that was a different environment.

 

heh I just had a talk with my sup about it, they might be interested in using them to help standardize message formatting... maybe we'll get a good look at macro implementation in a production environment out of it

 

 

Edit: I've learned so much. It seems what I'm asking for here is for macro express 3 to have function for regular expressions which is an extremely unlikely candidate for late implementation into a sunsetting product. Oh well.