nuggles Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Hi everyone, I have a macro that I use inside of firefox...I am wondering if it is at all possible to make this thing run in the backround? So, there would be a seperate instance of firefox opened to do this macro, even if i am working in firefox at the moment the macro is scheduled to run... thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acantor Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Hi everyone, I have a macro that I use inside of firefox...I am wondering if it is at all possible to make this thing run in the backround? So, there would be a seperate instance of firefox opened to do this macro, even if i am working in firefox at the moment the macro is scheduled to run... thanks It is possible to run macros on a schedule, but what you might want is a macro that is activated by an event, such as a specific web page appearing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 I am wondering if it is at all possible to make this thing run in the backround? So, there would be a seperate instance of firefox opened to do this macro, even if i am working in firefox at the moment the macro is scheduled to run Windows does not accept keyboard entries or mouse clicks in a program that does not have 'focus'. So normally, the answer is No. You may, with some applications, be able use the Window Controls on a program without focus. There is a tutorial about how to use Window Controls in the help. Also check out the 'Calc ulator and Note pad' macro in the samples.mex macro file installed in the same folder as the Macro Express Pro program files (by default, c:\Program Files\Macro Express Pro'). However, it is my experience that browsers do not have a lot of support for Window Controls. (Whether or not the Window Control macro commands work depends upon how your program is written.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 The short answer is "No" but I have a suggestion.................................... As soon as you start writing macros to automate parts of your life or business you will instantly realize that you have to fight with the macro for time on your computer! EG you’re typing away in the Macro Express forum when [blam!] it fires up another browser and starts doing something. There are several tactics like waiting for idle time, warning the user with sounds and so forth but I have found a solution that solves it all simply. Ideally you would want another PC to dedicate to running these macros but that’s money, electricity and complication. I know, I’ve done it. The solution is to use a Virtual Machine. I use MS’s Virtual PC but VMWare has one too and both are free and simple to install and set up. Simply imagine a windowed app on your PC with a start menu and other applications running in it independent of your real machine. You can even minimize it, stop and stop without rebooting and you can keep it as simple as you need to perform these automated macros. You can even set it up so that the two can communicate. EG the mule VM goes out to a web page looking for some new content every minute and when it finally finds a change it drops that change as a file on your real machine and your macro running there notices the folder change and alerts you. It works brilliantly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rberq Posted October 26, 2009 Report Share Posted October 26, 2009 Great outside-the-box thinking, Cory. Now I see why we keep you around .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory Posted October 27, 2009 Report Share Posted October 27, 2009 I thought it was just for my good looks. BTW it was actually Joe’s idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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