Weird happenings

[patgenn123]

I have a scheduled macro that I use as an alarm to wake me up in the morning. Lately, it has not been waking me up and I can't figure out why. Well, funny thing happened when I restarted the computer. The alarm macro started at startup! It doesn't have an activation for "startup". Can anyone explain this?

 

Also, with my Alarm macro, I have to create 3-4 minute delays in between the songs in order to not have them start all at once. This creates a macro that ends up being 20 minutes in length. My question is: Is there anyway to force the macro to load into some special memory location where the macro is loaded in a few seconds so other macros can play? Maybe I don't understand how multiple macros can play nice with each other?

 

Thanks!

 

Pat

[Cory]

Just when I thought I had heard of all the uses for MEP I hear a new and genius application.

 

There is a setting in the schedule for "If the activation is missed run at the next available time." Is that checked?

 

I don't understand your second part. Of course you can run multiple macros at the same time.

 

You might consider launching a playlist in your media player instead of multiple macros playing multiple songs.

[patgenn123]

Well from a genius like yourself, I am flattered. I use Youtube.com to launch some songs I haven't bought yet. That's why I use ME. Compared to what you do, put me in the corner and give me the dunce cap.

 

Although I am studying right now for the MCSA certification. I am only on my A+ with 3 more to go after that.

 

Yes, the setting "if the activation is missed run at the next available time" is checked.

 

Nevertheless, in my first post, I mentioned that the macro is perpetually running while the 5 songs are playing. It takes 20 minutes for all songs to play out. While this is happening, the running man is in the system tray "running". I was told that with ME Pro, this would not be happening. Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought the ENTIRE macro would load into memory and play without Macro express devoting it's energy toward it. In other words, I thought this was the way ME Pro was going to get around the whole issue of macros running simultaneously and conflicting with each other like what was happening in the original ME.

 

Pat

[Cory]

There are a lot of dangers of having macros run at the same time. We had quite a discussion once about that but I think that was in the beta forum. One needs to be careful and that's why I try to use as little UI as possible in my macros and use the commands that lock the player in the correct places. The real danger is that keystrokes in a running macro can trigger the hotkey or shortkey activation of another macro. But that can also be useful. EG I had a macro that pushed data to a web window once and at several places entering data could cause a "DNA Patient" warning box to pop up. Now given that the box sometimes took a second or two to pop up if it were ME3 I would have had to slow down the macro an incredible amount just in case what I entered caused the warning. But in MEP I wrote a separate macro that was activated by the window title and would simply click the OK control as soon as it appeared. This way my macro flew and was much simpler.

 

Now as far as your macro running for several minutes I would have to say 'it depends' on how you are doing it. I can think of several ways and a few will cause it to continue running. But even if the macro is running for 20 minutes there's no problem. You can run several macros at the same time and it doesn't hurt. Also the running macro will not suck CPU clocks in cases where it's simply waiting.

[Yehnfikm8Gq]

I cannot envisage circumstances where you cannot use a playlist. It doesn't have to be an m3u, it can be a simple text file with the required content. Whatever instructions each macro uses, you use one macro with a Repeat that pulls the URL or whatever from the text file sequentially, waiting for the current file to finish running, then getting the next.

 

My full repertoire of TV listings is about 250 web pages, all done with my browser because I have to use cookies. It runs for hours during the night. It's a tiny macro that pulls each URL or search string from text files one at a time. In the old days I would have to use a query form which required numerous text and mouse actions. That worked exactly the same way.

[patgenn123]

There was mention of a Virtual PC in a prior post. How does that work? Can macros be run in the virtual PC and have the results be moved to the real PC? I know this has nothing to do with this thread topic, but it would be an interesting technique where two macros with keystrokes don't conflict or running a hidden macro could be of use.

 

Pat

[paul]

There was mention of a Virtual PC in a prior post. How does that work? Can macros be run in the virtual PC and have the results be moved to the real PC? I know this has nothing to do with this thread topic, but it would be an interesting technique where two macros with keystrokes don't conflict or running a hidden macro could be of use.

Yes, but with these caveats!

- You can't directly drive macros running on the VM from the host - all it sees is the VM software, not anything running inside the VM

(although, using MEP, it should be possible to activate macros in the VM by monitoring a folder, and have the host "direct" MEP in VM by passing files in to that folder - but the folder must be a shared folder on the host)

- check with Insight on licence issues (does owning a copy of MEP permit additional use in a VM on the same machine?)

[Yehnfikm8Gq]

check with Insight on licence issues (does owning a copy of MEP permit additional use in a VM on the same machine?)

 

ISS may be the least of the worries. You have to install an OS on the VM. What is MS' view on using your Windows twice.

 

I have no idea of the context that VM was referred to. Using it as a parallel PC seems rather silly. The whole purpose of VM is to isolate from Windows so you can run any other OS or Window rev without compromise to Windows. It's geared to being isolated, not working in tandem. You have one hardware PC with one processor that is now trying to run two Windows OS and doing other stuff on top. Sounds a pig's ear to me. Perhaps suitable ME macro programming is a better solution in 1/50th the time!

[paul]

ISS may be the least of the worries. You have to install an OS on the VM. What is MS' view on using your Windows twice.

They love it!

Interesting topic - and one that MS themselves are not at all clear about, since they contradict themselves widely (e.g. compare the licencing words on your machine with those on MS' sites).

 

Windows 7 (Professional and upwards) actually comes with a free XP Professional VM which you can use with several 3rd-party VM software, so who knows?

 

I have no idea of the context that VM was referred to. Using it as a parallel PC seems rather silly. The whole purpose of VM is to isolate from Windows so you can run any other OS or Window rev without compromise to Windows. It's geared to being isolated, not working in tandem. You have one hardware PC with one processor that is now trying to run two Windows OS and doing other stuff on top. Sounds a pig's ear to me. Perhaps suitable ME macro programming is a better solution in 1/50th the time!

I think you might be surprised at how well VMs run. A configured VM is also a great way to have a group of people on different machines and in different locations develop and run common applications in identical environments on disparate hardware, e.g. Sql Server Express plus MEP plus various 3rd party software.

[patgenn123]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I was told you can reinstall your own Installation disk to create a new Virtual PC without the need to buy another one. In other words, you only need your original Installation disk to have both the real OS and the virtual PC.

 

If that's the case, why can't I tell my virtual PC to run an instance of Internet Explorer etc? I could tell ME to look at the process that's running etc. The only thing that ME would probably not be able to do is to detect active window titles, for example. However, I could work around that by using a Repeat with Windows etc.

 

I am trying to think of what good can come of this and I am sure there is many. However, I could also see many ways these issues can be solved using the regular operating system and avoiding the virtual PC side of it.

 

My 2 cents.

 

Pat Gennarelli

[wzeller]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I was told you can reinstall your own Installation disk to create a new Virtual PC without the need to buy another one. In other words, you only need your original Installation disk to have both the real OS and the virtual PC.

 

If that's the case, why can't I tell my virtual PC to run an instance of Internet Explorer etc? I could tell ME to look at the process that's running etc. The only thing that ME would probably not be able to do is to detect active window titles, for example. However, I could work around that by using a Repeat with Windows etc.

 

I am trying to think of what good can come of this and I am sure there is many. However, I could also see many ways these issues can be solved using the regular operating system and avoiding the virtual PC side of it.

 

My 2 cents.

 

Pat Gennarelli

 

What I was told by Microsoft when I inquired about it (though they have been known to be self-contradictory on many occasions so I still wouldn't call it gospel) is this: The XP installation that comes with Windows 7 is provided due to the fact that some business applications that are not compatible with Windows 7 require the downgrade. (The warehouse I manage the IT for has one such software running their operations, for example.) If you choose to use the XP license, you agree to not use the Vista license. In other words you legally only have one license - for Vista OR for XP - not one for each. That they can both be activated is due only to the fact that this requirement was not foreseen by Microsoft when they created the Vista activation procedures. They wouldn't even be including that copy of XP if excluding it wouldn't land them in heaps of more lawsuits from corporate America.

 

Further, they said that a single license of any Microsoft operating system is for installation on a single system at a time - be that system real or virtual. You can replace all your hardware and reactivate as long as the old hardware is no longer running it, or you can install it on a VM and then replace the VM as long as the old VM is gone forever, or you can even install it on a VM and then install it on a real machine provided that the VM is gone forever. But you can't legally have it on two machines at the same time regardless of the physicalness of either of the machines.

 

It sounds kinda greedy until you realize that the alternative would allow companies with powerful enough computers to provide 50 virtual machines on a single server so that 50 employees with dumb terminals could all be using the same license of Windows at the same time.

 

w

[patgenn123]

So in other words, I am OK with using my own disk twice on my own computer- one as my normal operating system and one as my Virtual computer as long as it's my own licensed copy. This is what I was told.

 

One thing I think the virtual PC would be helpful with is internet data mining. You could run internet on the virtual PC and get source code all day long from different websites without bothering your own computer.

 

You know this could really be an interesting situation.

 

Pat

[Yehnfikm8Gq]

...I think you might be surprised at how well VMs run. A configured VM is also a great way to have a group of people on different machines and in different locations develop and run common applications...

 

I'm sure VM runs fines. I've kept a couple of versions archived should I ever need to run one of the early Windows versions. Never bothered to load.

 

When you refer to different machines hardware-wise, are they all running the same OS in VM? If you have a single OS installed twice, I would imagine you may have problems with Windows Update if you plan to update both. That would be the definitive method of assessing MS policy. If they don't care, you don't care!

[paul]

When you refer to different machines hardware-wise, are they all running the same OS in VM? If you have a single OS installed twice, I would imagine you may have problems with Windows Update if you plan to update both. That would be the definitive method of assessing MS policy. If they don't care, you don't care!

No problems in running Windows Update. Either you act as a network administrator and download the updates centrally in order to distribute, or you run Windows Update for each environment independently.

[paul]

When you refer to different machines hardware-wise, are they all running the same OS in VM? If you have a single OS installed twice, I would imagine you may have problems with Windows Update if you plan to update both. That would be the definitive method of assessing MS policy. If they don't care, you don't care!

No problems in running Windows Update. Either you act as a network administrator and download the updates centrally in order to distribute, or you run Windows Update for each environment independently.

[paul]

So in other words, I am OK with using my own disk twice on my own computer- one as my normal operating system and one as my Virtual computer as long as it's my own licensed copy. This is what I was told.

I think that's wrong, for one obvious reason. How would you activate the copy running in your VM? It's quite clear that the activation you did for your host system isn't going to work for your VM as all the variables have changed. of course, if you're lucky enough to have a CD that doesn't require activation, that's a different matter.

[patgenn123]

Paul,

 

I don't know. Before I was laid off from my last company, they were intrigued with Macro Express and how I was using it. At a certain point, they were going to let me try to automate their database. Before they laid off a few people(including me), they said that they were going to let me do my trial and error in a virtual machine. Yes, it was in a network setting but I don't see how this could be any different than what I was thinking I was going to do with the virtual machine on a single desktop.

 

If anyone has experience in this, would you mind chiming in? I have googled this and some of it seems straightforward, but I am not certain how this would work with Macro Express and how it could a virtual PC could do some automation in the background.

 

Thanks,

 

Pat

[paul]

Before they laid off a few people(including me), they said that they were going to let me do my trial and error in a virtual machine. Yes, it was in a network setting but I don't see how this could be any different than what I was thinking I was going to do with the virtual machine on a single desktop.

 

If anyone has experience in this, would you mind chiming in? I have googled this and some of it seems straightforward, but I am not certain how this would work with Macro Express and how it could a virtual PC could do some automation in the background.

There's no mystery in this. A VM environment is, to all intents and purposes, exactly like a normal environment on a normal machine. So, of course, ME runs on a VM exactly as it does in a normal environment.

The thing to remember is that the host machine cannot communicate with any applications running on the VM (it can't see them and has no knowledge of their existence - to the host, the VM is simply an application; i.e. a black box) unless the VM application can react to newly arrived or altered files from the host (e.g. MEP's Directory Modification activation feature). It may be possible for a host app, e.g. ME, to type a hotkey which ME running in the VM can react to - I haven't tried this, so don't know the answer; but I do know that a host machine communicating with a remote machine via Microsoft's RDP can do this; I can have a macro on the host activate on receiving, say, Ctrl-Q, and type, say, Shift-Ctrl-Q which will then activate a macro on the remote machine.