Using Macros On Another System

[rhadin]

I have been writing macros using ME for a group of us who work on our own computers. Each has his/her own license to use ME. The macros are designed to work with Microsoft Word 2003. To make sure there are no conflicts with keyboard shortcuts, we all use the same Normal.dot -- I send them a copy of my Normal.dot.

 

What I have discovered is that sometimes the macros work and sometimes they don't on other users' computers, even though they work perfectly on my computer. There are hardware differences between the computers, such as video card, make and size of hard drives, operating system (I'm on Win2000, some of them are on WinXP), as well as software differences -- but not as regards MS Word.

 

I have tried to figure out the cause and to resolve the issues of not working or sometimes working, but have been unable to identify a cause. The one thing I have noticed is that we rarely had these problems when we were using ME 2.1 but have consistently had these problems since we migrated to ME 3.5e.

 

Has anyone else experienced a similar problem? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to insure that macros written in ME will work on other computers correctly? Thanks for any help.

 

Rich Adin

www.freelance-editorial-services.com

[kevin]

The usual cause of these kinds of problems is timing. That is, each computer needs different delay times to run reliably.

 

You can adjust the delay between keystrokes for each computer independent of your macros by selecting the Use Text Type delay and adjusting the microseconds value. This setting is found in Options, Preferences, Delays. Set this value higher on slower machines and lower on faster machines.

 

 

You may find it necessary to add delays in critical parts of the macro. Often you can use the same delay value for all computers.

 

 

Another thing that could cause differences is if you are using Window Controls. Each Window Control is defined by the application that you are automating. Different versions of Windows may cause the Window Controls to be different. Likewise, different versions of your application will cause each Window Control to differ. Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word 2003 with a different service pack may all have different definintions for a specific Window Control.

 

To adjust for this, you might need to convert your Get Control commands to Capture Control commands. Another technique I have used is to create the macro on one machine and do a Get Control. Then copy the macro to another machine and do another Get Control. Keep both Get Control macro commands in the macro and separate them with an If statement. The Variable Set from Misc command will get the name of the computer that is running the macro so you can create computer specific if statements.

 

 

You might also want to explore the Wait commands. For example, after a Text Type command you could use a Wait Text Playback.

[rhadin]

Thanks, Kevin. I thought timing might be the problem and tried inserting delays, but not as you suggest, which didn't work. I suspect that the Text Type Delay (which I didn't use) might work.

 

I haven't used the Get Control or Capture Control commands -- I probably need to check them out. I wish I could say that my macro writing is sophisticated, but it isn't. I'm only beginning to work my way through anything but replicating keyboard commands in sequence.

 

Rich