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Macro Express News
December 4, 2002 You have received this message because you are subscribed to the Macro Express News email list. To unsubscribe from this email list go to http://www.macros.com/esubs.htm, click on the unsubscribe link and follow the instructions. Contents 1 - Macro Express 3 version 3.2 is released 2 - Delays and macro timing 3 - Commands to get file information 4 - Use the Break command to exit out of a loop 5 - The Macro Debugger 6 - Past issues of the Macro Express News 1 - Macro Express 3 version 3.2 is released Macro Express 3 version 3.2 has been released and is now available for download from our site at http://www.macros.com/download.htm. All licensed Macro Express 3 users can download and install this update without cost. Changes include: 1. Added "If Registry" and "Delete Registry Value" commands. 2. Added "Repeat with Windows" command which allows the user to run through the list of running windows. 3. Added a new "Break" command used to exit out of Repeat loops, Text File Processing loops, and ASCII File Processing loops. 4. Added the ability for the Text Type command to send text directly to a control instead of the focused window. 5. Added a "Does not Contain" to the "If Variable" command. 6. Added the ability to prompt for a date or time in the "Date/Time" command. 7. Added the ability to launch a program "Hidden" in addition to the Maximized, Minimized and Normal options previously available. 8. The "Variable Set From Prompt" commands will now default their values to whatever the variable contains when the command is executed. 9. Added "Store if Cancelled" to the "Variable Set from Prompt" commands. 10. Updated the menus in Macro Express. 11. Blank remarks are now displayed as blanks lines in the Scripting Editor instead of "//". 12. Added the ability to enable/disable all macros in a specific category. After installing Macro Express 3, you can click Start | Programs | Macro Express | Whats New 3 for a complete list of changes. You may also view the list of changes on the web by visiting http://www.macros.com/revise.htm. 2 - Delays and macro timing When writing a macro, it is sometimes necessary to add Delay commands to make the macro more reliable. It is also helpful when debugging a macro to have delays that slow the macro so you can see the macro at work. We often are asked how to adjust the length of the delays without having to edit every Delay command in a macro. There are two ways to do this. When you specify a certain number of seconds in the Delay command, this actually specifies the amount of delay when the Macro Playback Speed is set to 1. Your macro can adjust the actual amount of time each Delay command delays using the Macro Playback Speed command. To make all of the Delays in a macro longer, enter a number larger than 1 in the Macro Playback Speed command. To make all of the Delays shorter, enter a number less than one. For example, setting the Macro Playback Speed to 5 causes the Delays to be 5 times slower than normal. Setting the Macro Playback Speed to .25 causes the Delays to be 4 times faster than normal. Setting the Macro Playback Speed to 0 causes the Delay commands to be ignored. Note that the Delay commands with "Ignore Macro Speed Factor" checked will not be adjusted faster or slower with the Macro Playback Speed command. Another way to vary the amount of time for the Delay commands is to use a variable. If you set N1 to 2 and set the amount of Delay to %N1%, then the macro will delay for 2 seconds. Then, later, you can set N1 to 1 or .1 or whatever is appropriate, and all of the Delay commands containing %N1% will be adjusted. Another possible reason for changing the length of the Delay commands is when you are using the same macro on faster or slower computers. 3 - Commands to get file information There are several macro commands that allow you to get information about a file. Variable Set From File Date/Time To get the Date and Time information for a file, use the "Variable Set From File Date/Time" command. This command allows you to get the Creation, Modified and Last Accessed timestamps. This command will put the month, day, year, hour, minute, and seconds in separate variables. Variable Set From File Path Use the "Variable Set From File Path" command to put the Drive, Path, Filename and Extension in separate variables. You might combine this command with the Repeat with Folder command to process all of the files with a specific file extension. Variable Set Integer from the size of file Use the "Variable Set Integer from the size of file" command to put the size of a file into an integer variable. 4 - Use the Break command to exit out of a loop The Break command will let you to "break" out of Text File Begin/End Process, ASCII File Begin/End Process before the loop would normally finish. You can also use the Break command to break out of a Repeat loop instead of using the existing Repeat Exit command. The Break command is available in Macro Express 3 v 3.2 or later. 5 - The Macro Debugger The Macro Debugger allows you see what is happening in the middle of your macro so you can figure out why a macro is not working the way you expect. To use the Macro Debugger you must have the Scripting Editor open with the macro you want to debug loaded. Press the F8 key to execute one macro command at a time and view the result. This is called "stepping" through the macro. At any point you can press the F9 key to run the rest of the macro. You can also set a breakpoint in your macro. A breakpoint stops the execution of the macro so you can view what has happened up to that point. To set a Breakpoint, pick the macro command where you want to stop, highlight it and either press Ctrl+B or click on Debug | Toggle Breakpoint. Once you have set the breakpoints you are ready to try the macro. Either click on the green Test Run Macro button or press the F9 key. The macro will run until it hits the first breakpoint. After a Breakpoint you can either continue running the macro by pressing F9 again, you can halt the macro by clicking on the stop button or you can press the F8 key to step through macro commands one at a time. When the macro is paused, you can view the current values of the variables by clicking on Debug | Debug Windows | Variable Values. A breakpoint does not affect a macro that is not started with either the green Test Run Macro or the F8 Key. The Macro Debugger can help you quickly find problems in your macro. Read more information about the Macro Debugger in the Editor Menu - Debug topic in the Macro Express Help. 6 - Past issues of the Macro Express News Are you a new subscriber to the Macro Express News email newsletter? Did you miss an issue? Past newsletters are available online at http://www.macros.com/newsletters/MENews.htm. Comments and Suggestions The new features and commands included in Macro Express 3 are a result of feedback from customers like you. Let us know what you like and dislike about Macro Express. Send questions, comments and suggestions to info@wintools.com. Thank you for your continued support of Macro Express. The Macro Express Development Team Insight Software Solutions: http://www.wintools.com Macro Express: http://www.macros.com Email: info@wintools.com
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