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Last post Author Topic: Macro programs - advice sought...  (Read 44060 times)

Miles

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Macro programs - advice sought...
« on: August 23, 2005, 07:47 AM »
Just started investigating these. Any advice would be appreciated.

The two I'm considering at the moment are: Macro Express, and Workspace Macro Pro (Automation Edition).

Any thoughts on these? 

Any others I should look at?

Thanks

Miles

AbteriX

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2005, 07:57 AM »
AutoHotKey www.AutoHotkey.com
PowerPro http://powerpro.webeddie.com/
MacroMaker http://members.ij.ne...thews/MacroMaker.htm
AceMacro www.hiteksoftware.com
Makro Tool  and RunCMD http://hintenaus.at
WindowsScript http://home1.gte.net...res0mbu5/windows.htm


===================
Joke of the day:

What do you instantly know about a well-dressed man?
His wife is good at picking out clothes.

Miles

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2005, 08:03 AM »
Thanks, Stefan.

One thing that is important for me is speed of execution, so any suggestions on how to avoid 'pile ups' in windows would also be welcome  :)

Miles

AbteriX

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #3 on: August 23, 2005, 03:36 PM »
Thanks, Stefan.

One thing that is important for me is speed of execution,
so any suggestions on how to avoid 'pile ups' in windows would also be welcome  :)

Miles

> speed of execution, so any suggestions on how to avoid 'pile ups'

Please speak slowly, iam german  :)
What do u mean ?
Speed up your windows ?
The only suggesful way is to re-install it on an weekly  basic :)

----
Joke:  If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something

markan

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #4 on: August 23, 2005, 03:53 PM »
You could add Robotask to that list as well.

Miles

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #5 on: August 23, 2005, 03:56 PM »
Hehe..

Stefan,

At        the       moment      I        use       the        keystroke       recording         facility         in         my        Belkin        Speedpad  :)

It will play the macro with about 10 milliseconds between events. At this rate the commands 'pile up' in Windows  (a backlog develops, so things don't run in 'real time'). I would like to know if there is a 'bottleneck' caused by a keyboard setting in the registry, or something... 10 milliseconds isn't all that fast  :)

Miles

Miles

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #6 on: August 23, 2005, 04:10 PM »
Thanks, markan.

mouser

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #7 on: August 23, 2005, 04:29 PM »
some people refer to different things when they talk about macro programs.

if you are looking for a program to let you assign commands to keyboard shortcuts you make, that is one class of programs (i like Macro Express for that).

if you are talking about a little scripting language to let you automate stuff and do things, then a program like AutoHotKey is what you want.

There is of course some overlap, the keyboard-centric apps have some scripting, and the scripting centric apps have some hotkey configuration, but figuring out which is your main interest will definitely help narrow down the field.

AbteriX

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #8 on: August 23, 2005, 04:33 PM »
Sorry, i don't know this.
And i didn't stop even the time how long a macro execution lasts.


> a 'bottleneck' caused by a keyboard setting in the registry

I think macro tools didn't to be interested in thoose settings
because that settings are for users. (could be i didn't know that for real)

I think it's depend how this macro tool are programmed
and how they could speed up there workflow.

And most macro tools have an setting for such delay.

You could ask Chris from www.autohotkey.com such questions better  :)

kfitting

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #9 on: August 23, 2005, 05:38 PM »
While we're talking AutoHotKey, don't forget AutoIt (http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/).  ;)

Kevin

mouser

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #10 on: August 23, 2005, 06:02 PM »
quite right, autoit is also fantastic, beautiful, and free.

Miles

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #11 on: August 24, 2005, 01:44 AM »
Thanks for all the suggestions.

I'm using keystroke macros to 'drive' kinematics in my MCAD program, but I'm looking for ways to make this work faster and also to have better control. At the moment I use the macro recording in my Belkin N52 Speedpad.

I'd also like to start playing with scripting languages.

So, to answer your question, Mouser - both, but not necessarily in the same program...

Thanks, all.

Miles


mouser

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #12 on: August 24, 2005, 02:18 AM »
the real serious advantage of using autohotkey here is that we have skrommel who is not only an incredible expert at the autohotkey scripting language but extremely generous in terms of being willing to help people write scripts.  definitely something to consider..

Miles

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #13 on: August 24, 2005, 02:38 AM »
It's very useful to know that, thanks.

I had a quick look at the autohotkey and Autoit sites - they both look amazing.

I'll download and play once I've done a days work :)

Thanks

Miles

kfitting

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #14 on: August 24, 2005, 05:41 AM »
Yeah AutoIt and AutoHotKey are two amazing utilities.  I tend to use AutoHotKey more for "shell tweaks" (hotkeys, always-running windows enhancements) and AutoIt for scripting.  AutoHotKey has a very simple and powerful text replacement/hotkey configuration that AutoIt just seems to make overly complex (relatively I mean).  But, I just cant get used to the AutoHotKey syntax!  I know it's supposed to make things easier, and maybe it is if you've never coded before, but it seems much more fluid (like, sometimes variables need to be enclosed by %, sometimes not, sometimes you need to use :=, other times just =).  I like the more rigid structure of AutoIt.  It's closer to the VBA I'm accustomed to. 

All that blabber having been said, as mouser said, they are both extremely powerful and I'm not sure one is "better" than the other.  Test drive them both for a while and see what you use each one for!!

Kevin

rjbull

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #15 on: August 31, 2005, 04:23 AM »
The answer to macro programs seems to be:

"PowerPro.  Now, how much time are you prepared to put into getting to grips with it?"

PowerPro, freeware macro program for Windows
http://powerpro.webeddie.com/index.html

Beginners user group / mailing list:
http://groups.yahoo..../powerpro-beginners/

Main mailing list:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/power-pro/

PC Rangers third-party PowerPro support
http://powerpro.pcrei.com
Contains archives of the user groups, the "Wink" based Flash demos, etc.


--
Robert Bull


zridling

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #16 on: August 31, 2005, 07:17 AM »
My vote goes to AutoHotkey all the way, whether for keyboard shortcuts, shortkeys, controlling parts of Windows, running commands inside of programs, or general macros. Macro Express is great, but seems to me you're paying $40 for its GUI. Nothing wrong with that if you need it. But AutoHotkey is so simple you'll be surprised at what it can do and how fast it does it all. And the beauty of it is that it's nothing more than a text file.
« Last Edit: September 20, 2005, 07:56 AM by zridling »

rjbull

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #17 on: August 31, 2005, 07:58 AM »
Doesn't AutoHotKey keep its macros in the Registry?  I'd rather avoid that.

AbteriX

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #18 on: August 31, 2005, 10:47 AM »
Doesn't AutoHotKey keep its macros in the Registry?  I'd rather avoid that.
no no. AHK works with scripts in a text file.
You put all your commands in an text.ahk file and start this if you have AHK installed (or even only unpackt)
You could also create an executable from this script with the AHK-Interpreter includet. Less overhead.
Than you could even sell this .exe for your own "bargain" (is this the right word???).


Please see
http://www.autohotke...om/docs/Tutorial.htm
Creating a script
Each script is a plain text file containing commands to be executed by the program (AutoHotkey.exe).
 A script may also contain hotkeys and hotstrings, or even consist entirely of them.
However, in the absence of hotkeys and hotstrings, a script will perform its commands
sequentially from top to bottom the moment it is launched.

To create a new script:

Open Windows Explorer and select a folder of your choice.
Pull down the File menu and choose New >> AutoHotkey Script (or Text Document).
Type a name for the file, ensuring that it ends in .ahk. For example: Test.ahk
Right-click the file and choose Edit Script.
On a new blank line, type the following:
#z::Run www.google.com

rjbull

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #19 on: September 01, 2005, 04:35 AM »
Doesn't AutoHotKey keep its macros in the Registry?  I'd rather avoid that.
no no. AHK works with scripts in a text file.

Thanks, Stefan.  Looks like I misremembered.  I used the search function at http://www.tinyapps.org to check.  It apparently makes one Registry key to associate AHK files with AutoKey.  That's not too bad...

OTOH, I'm a registered user of Macro Express and seem to be using PowerPro for now.  How many macor programs do I need?    :)

Very considerate of you to put up your "Stefan's House" notice - in English  :)

erosolmi

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #20 on: September 20, 2005, 04:21 AM »
Hi to all.
We have recently introduced a new script engine called thinBasic.
It can be used both for shell scripting and web server side scripting.
Web server site scripting is under construction mainly in the area of serve session variables persistence.

For those interested, more information can be found at www.thinbasic.com
An under construction help online can be seen here under Documentation area.

For any help, suggestion, bug report you can use our forum.

Regards
Eros
www.thinbasic.com | community.thinbasic.compsch.thinbasic.com
WinXP Pro SP2 - Centrino Core 2 2GHz - 2Gb Ram - Ati Radeon Mobility X1600 512Mb
« Last Edit: September 20, 2005, 05:21 AM by erosolmi »

mouser

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #21 on: September 20, 2005, 08:54 AM »
hi eros -
thinBasic looks like a really fun project.  very nice looking website too!

erosolmi

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #22 on: September 20, 2005, 09:16 AM »
Thanks.

We are just at the beginning. thinBasic is evolving continuosly every week.
Our effort is to keep the language very close to BASIC like syntax but at the same time adding many functionalities with "module" functionality.
Modules are special dlls loaded dynamically and automatically (if needed) at runtime by the script engine.
We will release very soon SDK interface in order to be able to develop personalized 3rd party thinBasic modules.

Hope this project will be of interest for other people who likes scripting.

Regards
Eros
www.thinbasic.com | community.thinbasic.compsch.thinbasic.com
WinXP Pro SP2 - Centrino Core 2 2GHz - 2Gb Ram - Ati Radeon Mobility X1600 512Mb

Miles

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #23 on: September 20, 2005, 09:18 AM »
I love the development progressometers  :)

Miles

Carol Haynes

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Re: Macro programs - advice sought...
« Reply #24 on: September 20, 2005, 09:53 AM »
Another (not cheap) alternative is MacroWorks Advanced Scripting Edition. This has full "Visual Basic for Applications" compatible scripting support.

See http://www.pitrinec.com for details