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Problem pasting to PaintShop Pro


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This problem started recently, with a macro that I've used without trouble for years in XP and the last 18 months in Win 10. It copies whatever image is on the clipboard to Paint Shop Pro 8. Here's the macro reduced to its essentials:

Activate or Launch: Window "Jasc Paint Shop Pro", Program "Paint Shop Pro.exe", Parameters ""
Clipboard Paste

It does open PSP 8 and paste (slower than before) but then it refuses to stop. Running man continues. I have to close PSP 8 to stop it.

In contrast, this macro opens, pastes to MS Paint, and the macro closes.

Activate or Launch: Window "- Paint", Program "mspaint.exe", Parameters ""
Clipboard Paste

(No change with delays or using Ctrl+V instead of paste. Use Clipboard Hook is disabled. No change if enabled.)

That points to PSP 8 as the culprit, or Win 10, or a combination. Yet if I manually paste into PSP 8, it works perfectly.

I'll post in the Corel forum, but expect its experts will point to my macro program.

Any thoughts please?

 

 

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Thanks, appreciate the reply. But, yes, I did try compatibility mode (XP) last year, after similar discussions here. And just tried it again (for every option listed since XP too!) But that persistency issue remains. Also tried by first opening PSP 8 with a simple batch file as suggested in an older thread, but no change. Beginning to think that the last Win10 update is the cause.

Apart from being otherwise happy with this ancient version, I have almost a hundred macros wriiten for use with it. Maybe a score in frequent use. So have been reluctant to update to current version. May reconsider if I can't fix this though!

EDIT: The issue is the Activate or launch command. Unrelated to pasting. Running the folowing one-line macro

Activate or Launch: Window "Jasc Paint Shop Pro", Program "Paint Shop Pro.exe", Parameters ""

consistently:
- prevents the macro from stopping
- prevents MX Pro from closing
- severely affects keystroke speed
- and possibly other symptoms

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Anyone with any version of PaintShop Pro able to test this oustanding problem please?

My macro:

Activate or Launch: Window "Jasc Paint Shop Pro", Program "Paint Shop Pro.exe", Parameters ""

 

My code  for PSP 8:

<ACTIVATE OR LAUNCH Title="Jasc Paint Shop Pro" Exact_Match="FALSE" Wildcards="FALSE" Path="C:\\program Files (x86)\\Jasc Software Inc\\Paint Shop Pro 8\\Paint Shop Pro.exe" Mode="\x00" Default_Path="TRUE" Wait="1" Wait_For_Program="12"/>

 

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  • 1 month later...

No one able to test that? It would be useful to hear from users of any version of  PaintShop Pro, ideally under Win 10. 

In growing desperation I paid for an 'upgrade' to PaintShop Pro 2018 - and greatly regret it. Like many other of its users running Windows 10, it has startup times sometimes running into minutes!

So I'm stuck with being unable to use most of my PSP 8 macros because the Activate or Launch command freezes both PSP 8 and MX Pro until I close PSP 8.

 

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Terry,

I found a copy of PSP 9 lying around and the following works for me. Running man goes shortly after PSP starts up.

<ACTIVATE OR LAUNCH Title="Jasc Paint Shop Pro" Exact_Match="FALSE" Wildcards="FALSE" Path="C:\\Users\\Alan\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Jasc Software\\Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9.lnk" Mode="\x00" Default_Path="TRUE" Wait="1" Wait_For_Program="12"/>

Not sure if it matters, but I used a Shortkey (PSP).

Alan

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If the Launch command is freezing ME, you could try launching PaintShop Pro indirectly.  


Write a simple batch file "start_paintshop.bat" which consists of two lines:
    start c:\path\paintshoppro.exe
    exit
Then in your macro, launch the batch file:
    ProgramLaunch c:\path\start_paintshop.bat

You might need a brief pause after the launch for it to complete, or a short loop to mark time until PSP is running. 

Might work. :unsure:

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Thanks both. Although unfortunately I still have the problem, your posts triggered further fruitful experiment. Bottom line is that the 'freeze' of PSP 8 and ME is not indefinite. By accident (taking a brief phone call while still at my screen) I discovered that MX Pro does eventually close - after periods that varied during half a dozen subsequent tests from 55 to 150 seconds.

Somewhat reminiscent of the PSP 2018 startup delays being discussed in the Corel PSP forum.

@amonaghan: Are you running under Win 10? If so, what version?
I just tried an equivalent mactro to yours (I'd never used a .LNK file in a Program Launch command before) but the delay remained. I tried activating by both a shortkey and in debug mode (F9).

@rberg: I had tried the batch file approach, both using the Run box and Program Launch, but no joy. I've also tried a macro that clicks the PSP 8 shortcut pinned to my taskbar.

During that long delay, MX Pro was unusable and unstoppable, yet CPU usage was not high. However, if I switched to my text editor or some other text target, keystrokes were very slow to apply.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Terry if you're doing conversions or something simple I recommend IrfanView. It has tons of command line options and can be run invisibly from MEP for many tasks. And even if you open it fully with MEP, it is a delight with MEP because most of the common commands are keyboard driven. E.G. "r" for rotate right and "l" for rotate left. 

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8 hours ago, Cory said:

Terry if you're doing conversions or something simple I recommend IrfanView. It has tons of command line options and can be run invisibly from MEP for many tasks. And even if you open it fully with MEP, it is a delight with MEP because most of the common commands are keyboard driven. E.G. "r" for rotate right and "l" for rotate left. 

I'm  a long term user of IrfanView and agree with you fully, Cory. Still need PSP for serious editing though. So it's frustrating that PSP 8 and MEP conflict in occasional obscure ways. As mentioned up-thread, I resorted to buying PSP 2018 because of that. A month on and I finally have it opening at tolerable speed, following recent Win 10 updates. But most of my macros would need editing so I'm still using PSP 8 for now and working around the issues.

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