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Macro Express News
April 17, 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 3.0d is released 2 - Macro Express 3 Discussion Groups 3 - The ISS Bug Reporter 4 - Macro Stop vs. Macro Return. 5 - User Submitted Macros 6 - Macro Express Tip: Log Errors command 7 - Macro Express Tip: Macro Command Categories 8 - Macro Express Tip: Automatically backup your macro file 1 - Macro Express 3 v 3.0d is released Macro Express 3 version 3.0d has been released and is now available for download from our site at http://www.macros.com/download.htm. Changes include: 1. Fixed a bug in the syntax checking where the program would incorrectly report a mismatched Mouse Button Down and Mouse Button Up pair. 2. The FTP commands now return more specific result messages for each transfer. The messages have changed to include standard FTP numeric message numbers. 3. A new preference option allows you to select a path where the Macro Express crash reports are stored. Use this option if your system is set to prevent the writing to files in the c:\Program Files\Macro Express3 folder. 4. Added the Break key as another choice for the Abort Macro Hotkey. 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 - Macro Express Discussion Groups Macro Express Discussion groups, or newsgroups, are now available. These newsgroups have been established by Professional Grade Macros (http://www.pgmacros.com) "as a vehicle for developers and users to openly and freely exchange information and ideas. It is a place for developers and users to help each other by exchanging problem solutions." There is a discussion group for both Macro Express 3 and Macro Express 2000. Use requires a news reader. Many news readers are available. If you don’t have a news reader, Outlook Express will work. Visit http://www.macros.com/esubs.htm for more information. 3 - The ISS Bug Reporter If Macro Express 3 crashes, information about the crash is saved and the ISS Bug Reporter is launched. The ISS Bug Reporter can email information about the crash to us to help us try to find the cause. This information will only be sent if you click on the Report button. You may view the information that will be sent before you send it by clicking on the View Report link in the ISS Bug Reporter. It is also important for you to tell us the "Steps to reproduce" the problem. Sometimes the crash information alone is not enough information to find and fix the problem. The first time the ISS Bug Reporter comes up you will need to enter the name of your Outgoing Mail (SMTP) server, the port that your SMTP server uses and your email address. This is the same information you used to set up your email program (Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, etc.). If you have questions, you should contact your ISP or your company’s Network Administrator. If you are unable to send email using the SMTP settings, you may send us the crash information using your regular email program. Just attach the files that begin with "Error" to the email. By default these crash files are saved in the same folder where Macro Express is installed. However, you can change where the crash report files are saved by changing the path in Options | Preferences | File Paths | Crash Report Path. After the ISS Bug Reporter successfully sends a crash report, the files are deleted from your hard drive. If you send the crash report as a file attachment, then you should delete the file or files afterwards. These crash reports help us make Macro Express more stable. We appreciate you taking the time to send the crash information to us. 4 - Macro Stop vs. Macro Return Several customers have asked recently about the Macro Aborted message when the Macro Stop command runs. Others have asked about the difference between the Macro Stop and Macro Return commands. When the Macro Stop command runs from within a macro that was called by a Macro Run command from another macro, the Macro Stop command displays the Macro Aborted message. When the Macro Stop command runs from within a top-level macro (not one that is called by a Macro Run command), then the Macro Stop command does not display the Macro Aborted message. The Macro Return command never displays the Macro Aborted message. There is one more difference between the Macro Stop and Macro Return commands. When one macro calls another using the Macro Run command, the Macro Stop command in the "called" macro stops both the called macro and the macro that called it. No further macro commands are executed. However, when the Macro Return command is used in the "called" macro, no further commands run in the called macro but the macro that called it continues to run macro commands. You can disable the Macro Aborted message for all Macro Stop commands using the TweakME3.mex macro available from http://www.macros.com/downmore.htm. 5 - User Submitted Macros A user named Jack has submitted two macros that convert selected text to upper or lower case using the clipboard. Read more about Jack’s macro here: http://www.macros.com/usermacs/umupperlowercase.htm. Jack wins a Macro Express T-shirt for his contribution. You can view all user submitted macros at http://www.macros.com/share.htm. 6 - Macro Express Tip: Log Errors command We are often asked how to suppress error messages that cause a macro to stop. The difficulty is that if a macro stops with an error message on the screen, then no other macros will run. This causes problems for macros that run unattended, perhaps overnight. The answer is to use the “Log Errors” command. Using this command causes Macro Express to put an entry into a file that can be examined later. You can choose a specific file or you can use the “Default Error Log” file defined in the Preferences. Further, you can choose to have the error message(s) added to the log file without being displayed on the screen. To accomplish this place the “Log Errors” command near the top of your macro. All errors in that macro will then be handled according to the selections made in the Log Errors command itself. For example, you may choose “Log Errors to File”, “Use Default Log File” and “Do not display error messages (log only)”. Then, for that macro, all error messages will be added to the log file and not displayed. The macro will not freeze and prevent other macros running. Another useful command that is related to the Log Errors command is the "Log Messages" command. You can add "Log Messages" commands in your macros to track progress through the macro. 7 - Macro Express Tip: Macro Command Categories Inside the Macro Express Scripting and Direct Editors the macro commands are separated into categories. These categories are shown in the Commands panel and have titles like CD-ROM, Text, and Windows/Programs. You can customize the macro categories by creating new category names or by adding a specific macro command to an existing macro category. For example, you could create a new category to hold your most recently used macro commands. Or you could put the "Text Box Display" macro command in the Dialogs category. To change the Macro Command Categories, bring up either the Scripting Editor or the Direct Editor and click Options | Customize Categories. More information is available in the Macro Express Help. There is one thing to note about customized categories. If you are using Custom Macro Categories and download a new version of Macro Express 3 that has a new macro command, the new command is not added to one of the default macro command categories. Instead it appears in the "*Uncategorized*" macro category. 8 - Macro Express Tip: Automatically back up your macro file Macro Express 3 now has the ability to back up your macro file when it shuts down. You can choose how often to backup, how many backup copies to keep and whether to ask if you want to back up. You can choose to save the macro back ups in the same folder as the macro or in a different folder. For example: a) To save the backup files in a common backup folder click the "Specific Folder" radio button and enter something like "c:\MacroBackups" in the edit box. b) To save the backup files in a bak folder underneath the folder where the macro is located then click the "Specific Folder" radio button and enter ".\bak" in the edit box. By default this option is turned off. You need to click Options | Preferences | Backup from within the Macro Express Editor to enable it. 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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