Last Run Time: bug?

[terrypin]

The Last Run Time column in ME Pro Explorer is a useful tool, such as when culling infrequently used macros. But it never gets updated if the macro is run via a Macro Run command. So many of my macros are misleadingly shown as Never having been run.

 

Anyone able to confirm please?

 

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Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[Yehnfikm8Gq]

I can't confirm nor deny but as I mentioned some time back, that Macro Run command is a purely manual start circumventing any interlocks. You press Run, it runs. The impression I got from an incidental comment from ISS was that manual start was not seen as a primary method of starting macros. I start at least half of mine that way! I assume that is why it is not flagged as having run. This does not answer your question of course.

[terrypin]

I can't confirm nor deny but as I mentioned some time back, that Macro Run command is a purely manual start circumventing any interlocks. You press Run, it runs. The impression I got from an incidental comment from ISS was that manual start was not seen as a primary method of starting macros. I start at least half of mine that way! I assume that is why it is not flagged as having run. This does not answer your question of course.

 

It was the reverse that I described. Macros which are run from a normal activation (hotkey etc) are correctly reported. Those which are run as submacros, using the Macro Run command, are not.

 

BTW, I'm puzzled why are you unable to confirm? Doesn't that column tell you about your macros' last run times? If so, it should be easy to tell at a glance whether they are all correct. And certainly so after running any macro that contains a Macro Run command.

 

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Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[Yehnfikm8Gq]

I interpreted your mention of Macro Run command as being the Run Arrow in the Explorer Bar. Sorry about that, add it to your list! I routinely get the Menu Bar disappearing which requires an uninstall and reinstall (resetting toolbars does not include the Menu bar neither does importing the previous good, saved configuration). My "Last Run Time" column items are usually "Never" as a result. "Never" also describes how often I look at the data.

 

Returning to your issue, it seems an oversight but it's not too difficult to figure as you have run times for the primary macro. If it's a problem for you (which really has nothing to do with other people having the same behaviour), report it.

[paul]

The Last Run Time column in ME Pro Explorer is a useful tool, such as when culling infrequently used macros. But it never gets updated if the macro is run via a Macro Run command. So many of my macros are misleadingly shown as Never having been run.

Anyone able to confirm please?

This has produced a bit of a can of worms!

1) Right-clicking a macro and selecting Run Macro Now does update the Last Run Time, but only after I select the macro properties and change one, e.g. The macro is enabled

2) Right-clicking a macro and selecting Run Macro Now does not update the Last Run Time if I then right-click the macro and select Disable Macro, followed by Enable Macro

3) Running the macro with the Macro Run command in another macro does not update the Last Run Time if Wait for this macro to terminate before proceeding is ticked

4) Running the macro with the Macro Run command in another macro does update the Last Run Time if Wait for this macro to terminate before proceeding is unticked (but only after changing a property as in 1 above), which is what I expected

[terrypin]

I interpreted your mention of Macro Run command as being the Run Arrow in the Explorer Bar. Sorry about that, add it to your list! I routinely get the Menu Bar disappearing which requires an uninstall and reinstall (resetting toolbars does not include the Menu bar neither does importing the previous good, saved configuration). My "Last Run Time" column items are usually "Never" as a result. "Never" also describes how often I look at the data.

 

Returning to your issue, it seems an oversight but it's not too difficult to figure as you have run times for the primary macro. If it's a problem for you (which really has nothing to do with other people having the same behaviour), report it.

 

Thanks John. But using the primary (initiating) macro's status isn't a very practical solution. For the housekeeping purpose I mentioned I simply want to sort by that column and investigate those macros and submacros which haven't been used for a long time. If there was a 1-1 relationship it would be easy enough (although Paul has discovered some other issues), but by their nature submacros are included in many 'main' macros.

 

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Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[Yehnfikm8Gq]

Paul's findings should add weight to a bug report for sure. OK, did anyone check Command Line activation? No slacking.

[terrypin]

This has produced a bit of a can of worms!

1) Right-clicking a macro and selecting Run Macro Now does update the Last Run Time, but only after I select the macro properties and change one, e.g. The macro is enabled

2) Right-clicking a macro and selecting Run Macro Now does not update the Last Run Time if I then right-click the macro and select Disable Macro, followed by Enable Macro

3) Running the macro with the Macro Run command in another macro does not update the Last Run Time if Wait for this macro to terminate before proceeding is ticked

4) Running the macro with the Macro Run command in another macro does update the Last Run Time if Wait for this macro to terminate before proceeding is unticked (but only after changing a property as in 1 above), which is what I expected

 

Thanks for confirming my findings and for that detailed analysis.

 

I assume the intended meaning of 'Last Run Time' was just what it says, and not subject to either of the two gotchas you've identified. So I'll report it as a design flaw/bug anyway.

 

BTW, this is in addition to the more serious issue, reported months ago, that all the data reverts to 'Never' when a macro file is reopened or restored from a backup. Apparently this is because it's stored in the registry for improved performance. So I suppose the practical conclusion is to ignore the column entirely for serious housekeeping purposes.

 

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Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[Cory]

A possible workaround for you is to opt to log all errors. This makes a start and stop time entry each time the macro is run in addition to logging any errors. It can be a handy tool when determining who is using what and how often. Not the answer you're looking for but I thougth I would put it out there.

[terrypin]

A possible workaround for you is to opt to log all errors. This makes a start and stop time entry each time the macro is run in addition to logging any errors. It can be a handy tool when determining who is using what and how often. Not the answer you're looking for but I thougth I would put it out there.

 

Thanks, good idea, I'll give it a try.

 

I was also vaguely thinking about the realism of adding a short script to the end of all my macros which would add the Date/Time of that run to a text file, for occasional reference later. (Using a macro to achieve that en-masse of course )

 

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Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[Cory]

I was also vaguely thinking about the realism of adding a short script to the end of all my macros which would add the Date/Time of that run to a text file, for occasional reference later. (Using a macro to achieve that en-masse of course )

I like your idea better. You know you could log all of them to one TSV file then you could report on that with a macro, Access database, Excel, or what have you. Even make pretty graphs and such.

 

BTW I often build HTML pages in MEP for things like this. This way you have an external viewer with all kinds of formatting options and such.