Baffling behaviour

[terrypin]

This has me stumped so I'd appreciate any ideas please.

 

I have a macro that does a few things in my video editor, organising clips, etc, and the the following final section of it is intended to then play the video for a short time (by using the Space key, the hotkey for that function).

 

Various preceding commands, all working correctly

Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): <SPACE> // Start play.
Delay: 2 seconds, without ability to halt
Text Type (Simulate Keystrokes): <SPACE> // Stop play.

But whatever value I give the delay (and whether I use the standard option or the one shown) it only plays for about half a second. (Always exactly the same duration.)

 

Yet if I copy the above 3 commands to another temporary macro and manually run that directly after running the original macro with a Macro Stop directly before that section, it works OK.

 

However if I insert that temporary macro with a Macro Run command, it again plays for only that short time.

 

Doesn't seem to make any logical sense.

 

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[Cory]

That is strange. I have no idea what it could be but this reminded me of a problem I used to have when automating web browsers data entry in a Java applet. At times it seemed that the macro played as fast as it could and ignored all delays. Or maybe it was half the delay time. EG I might have 20 fields to tab thru with 100mS delays between each meaning that the total delay time was 2 seconds and the total time that plus the time to type the text. And yet it would zip-zip-zip and be done in less than a second failing most of the form entry. I did a bugrep but that was a long time ago and I don't use MEP for web stuff anymore. And I don't work for that client either. Probably not related but I thought I would toss it out there.

[terrypin]

Thanks Cory. I think this is going to turn out be down to a variation of the sort of weirdness I've had with this program (Magix Movie Edit Pro) several times before. For example, you may recall my mentioning that most of my macros for MEP won't work at all until 10 seconds or so after MEP has finished loading. It's as if MEP isolates itself for that period, even though it's immediately accessible for manual key and mouse operations.

 

I get similar bizarre behaviour with one or two other apps, such as PaintShop Pro (probably because it has it's own built in scripting functions, coded in Python). In that program I can rarely use TextType commands, but mouse operations usually work.

 

In both apps, MEP and PSP, on the few occasions when I've managed to put together an AutoHotkey script (largely by copy/pasting from experts in the forum), they have always worked reliably. I expect AutoIt! would be the same. Perhaps these and your VB and VBA work imply that these operate at a 'lower' level within the OS than ME Pro?

 

BTW, I'm wondering whether I can use Macro Lock/Unlock in some way. Never use those commands these days. I'll try it when I get back to my PC.

 

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[terrypin]

Sorted!

 

Well, that was a surprise. It wasn't down to a quirk of Magix Movie Edit Pro after all.

 

The command Macro Playback Speed doesn't behave as I'd assumed. I had a Macro Run command prior to the 3 commands under discussion. Within the submacro which that called was a Macro Playback Speed command, reducing delays by a factor of 4. My assumption has always been that this command (and Mouse Speed and Keyboard Speed) are reset when the submacro has ended. Not so. The macro delays in the main macro continued to be a quarter of the values specified. So 2 s became roughly 0.5 s.

 

I don't know if this unexpected behaviour is by design or a bug?

 

To fix it I had to add this at the end of the submacro:

Macro Playback Speed: 1.00 times faster than normal

 

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[acantor]

Delay: 2 seconds, without ability to halt

I stopped using this command, as too often it caused Macro Express to freeze. After a few seconds, the whole computer became non-responsive. The only solution was a reboot.

 

The regular delay command sidesteps this problem, at least most of the time:

Delay: 2 seconds

[terrypin]

Thanks Alan. But does anyone know the answer to my key conclusion please? Should playback speed return to normal when a called macro finishes?

 

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[Samrae]

The playback speed is supposed to be active for a macro thread. A macro is activated, does a bunch of stuff and ends. If the "bunch of stuff" includes a Macro Run command, it is still part of that macro thread.

 

I use macros that profile the workstation to determine its screen resolution and how fast or slow it is. It then adjusts things like X, Y coordinates and playback speed accordingly. This profiling is done in a separate macro called by the Macro Run command. This technique will only work if the playback speed is set for an entire macro thread.

 

I say it is not a bug. It is an important feature.