Enter keypress suddenly acts as if it were backspace

[margaret]

Having a very odd problem. I was making some changes to a macro, and it was acting as if it had pressed Backspace, and meanwhile it was not pressing Enter, which it was supposed to for the first step. Now I think it's somehow interpreting the instruction to press the Enter key as if it were an instruction to press Backspace. I've never seen this before.

 

On a related note, should I expect that a "wait for keypress" command should NOT work if the immediately following keypress is the same as the one the wait command was waiting for?

 

Thanks,

Meg

[Yehnfikm8Gq]

Short of remapping the keyboard or jamming keys, the keystroke should be per Text Type (assumed that's what you are doing). Could it have anything to do with what you are trying to type into? Perhaps that does not like "Enter" or it's a multiple choice and the default is not the one you think it is. Does the letter have any significance? PowerDvd and ThumbsPlus for example use simple letters as commands once you are in the program (L=menu, C=adjust color).

 

If you double up on the "Wait for Keystroke" key it should make no difference. Some people may put 2 in to be sure it works. Presumably the macro is not continuing after the keystroke for you. An instance where I would add a time delay between the two key presses to see if there is an interaction.

 

If you are getting lots of keystroke problems you could also suspect the keyboard. Not too likely.

[margaret]

Short of remapping the keyboard or jamming keys, the keystroke should be per Text Type (assumed that's what you are doing). Could it have anything to do with what you are trying to type into? Perhaps that does not like "Enter" or it's a multiple choice and the default is not the one you think it is. Does the letter have any significance? PowerDvd and ThumbsPlus for example use simple letters as commands once you are in the program (L=menu, C=adjust color).

 

If you double up on the "Wait for Keystroke" key it should make no difference. Some people may put 2 in to be sure it works. Presumably the macro is not continuing after the keystroke for you. An instance where I would add a time delay between the two key presses to see if there is an interaction.

 

If you are getting lots of keystroke problems you could also suspect the keyboard. Not too likely.

 

This is the only keystroke problem I'm having (except for a new one that I'll mention next). In the program I'm typing into, at that point in the data entry, "Enter" is how you create a subfield, and it's the only way you can create a subfield, and "Enter" is what I'm sending via Text Type (and it works in other similar macros). I faked it out by putting in what seems like an unnecessary delay, which seems to work so far.

 

What would make Macro Express type in the text of a sequence like SHIFT DOWN, ARROW DOWN, SHIFT UP instead of performing the actions?

[Yehnfikm8Gq]

You've got to love those unnecessary time delays.

 

If you are actually getting the text rather than the actual command, it sounds like the <> that surround each command are missing. Remember the commands in the Text Type box are Upper Case? I was going to suggest in the previous email that you check the commands in the Direct Editor but it seemed superfluous. May be worth a check. It may also be why Enter did not work, ENTER instead of <ENTER>. The first letter "E" being typed may have some significance to the application.

 

I have no idea what would cause that unless you typed directly in the Text Type Box and forgot the <>. When you click the actions below the edit area, the <> are automatically entered. If those are hit and the <> are missing, you may need to do a Repair Install. Seems unlikely.

[margaret]

You've got to love those unnecessary time delays.

 

If you are actually getting the text rather than the actual command, it sounds like the <> that surround each command are missing. Remember the commands in the Text Type box are Upper Case? I was going to suggest in the previous email that you check the commands in the Direct Editor but it seemed superfluous. May be worth a check. It may also be why Enter did not work, ENTER instead of <ENTER>. The first letter "E" being typed may have some significance to the application.

 

I have no idea what would cause that unless you typed directly in the Text Type Box and forgot the <>. When you click the actions below the edit area, the <> are automatically entered. If those are hit and the <> are missing, you may need to do a Repair Install. Seems unlikely.

 

I don't type directly into the Text Type box (unless I'm typing only text, which in these macros is rare). The <> are there, the caps are there. I got around the problem another way. I wanted to select what was in the field and delete it. Wouldn't do it. The text to delete would vary in size. So instead I copied what was in the field, put the length into a variable, and then had the macro press Delete as many times as the text had been long. Now that works, go figure.

[Yehnfikm8Gq]

I assume at this point you would have restarted ME a few times and done a reboot. You need to figure out some simple tests to show whether ME is the problem, the particular application or other things on the PC.