Macro Recording and Automating Windows with Macro Scheduler – Tips & News
A quick note for those of using Workflow Designer and/or the MacroScript SDK. These have now been updated with the latest 14.3.08 Macro Scheduler engine and can be downloaded from the registered user area.
Macro Scheduler build 14.3.08 is now available in the usual places.
As well as a few small bug fixes this version also introduces an improved GetFileList function with sorting options, and a new GetProcessIds function.
For the complete change history go here.
Happy New Year! A somewhat belated new year greeting, but one that comes with the realisation that this year marks the 20th year of Macro Scheduler. The first version was released way back in 1997!
20 years! Quite amazing. It all happened by accident really and I certainly didn’t expect it to still be going strong 20 years later. In fact it’s stronger than ever.
Thanks so much to all of our customers for all your support and feedback, helping to make Macro Scheduler the product it is. Some of you have been around since that very first year and still use the software today, and that makes me very proud.
Here’s to another 20 years!
Did you know you can create script templates to use when you create new macros in Macro Scheduler?
When you create a new macro you can choose File/New Macro from Template. This allows you to browse for a .scp file to use as a template. There are some pre-built templates in the Templates subfolder of the program folder which by default you will be presented with.
To create your own templates just create a script as normal or use the standalone editor and export it to a name and folder of your choice. You can then use it later with the “New Macro from Template” option.
If you’re always writing the same stuff when you create a new macro – e.g. maybe you have a standard way of documenting your macros with a code block at the top, you might find default templates really useful. You will probably have noticed that “from the factory” Macro Scheduler puts some comments at the top of all new scripts. You can change this or add your own comments/code by creating a default template.
To create a default template create a script file called default.scp and store it in a Templates subfolder beneath your main macro folder (usually My Documents\Macro Scheduler 14). This default template will then be loaded whenever you create a new macro using File/New Macro.
It’s always nice to receive unsolicited praise. I thought I would share this with you which was sent into us from one of our customers, Lee Hightire:
“You have an Incredibly Awesome product! I just used the Image Recognition tool to help me get at an item in the Sys Tray (needed to pause syncing of OneDrive). I was beating my head against the wall trying other methods, and the Image Recognition tool essentially wrote the code (and trust me, I needed it to do so). I just wanted to say thanks.”
Happy Christmas everyone!
Remember this game from a few years back:
“Help Santa get the presents down the chimney, but watch out for the snowmen and coal which freeze the chimney or set the presents on fire. Of course true to form Macro Scheduler saves you time, so in the game if you catch an MJT Gearhead you get extra time!”
Play Santa’s Gearhead Gift Grab Game
And read Santa’s Macro Scheduler case study:
Case Study: Macro Scheduler Saves 3600 Elf-Hours and Gets Presents Delivered On Time
Have a good one!
As you will hopefully already know by now we added the ability to use Python code a while back in Macro Scheduler 14.2.
A customer recently had a need to retrieve some data from a web service which requires some custom authentication headers to be sent with the request.
It’s really easy to do this using Python. Here’s a made-up example:
/*
python_code:
import urllib2
custom_headers={"X-Custom-Application-Id" : "4020c4b37ead0a834c0010a9",
"X-Custom-REST-API-Key": "49eade9c-d70a-4d3d-b552-4bd9f05966fc"}
url="https://api.custom.com/v1/objects/object_1/things"
request = urllib2.Request(url, headers=custom_headers)
contents = urllib2.urlopen(request).read()
*/
//Load the Python code to a variable
LabelToVar>python_code,pcode
//Run the code and request the value of the contents variable ...
PYExec>pcode,output,contents
//content of request is now in "contents" variable.
Just a quick update – Macro Scheduler 14.3.05 is now available for download from the usual places.
This version fixes an issue for people running Non-English versions of Windows who found they had to set the “Language for non-Unicode programs” option to English in Regional Settings in order for the SendText/Send functions to work correctly. This is no longer necessary.
As that is the only change there is no need to download if your Windows is set to English. Feel free to skip this update.
Get it Now: Trial Downloads | Registered Updates/Upgrades | New Licenses
Someone emailed today saying they were having problems trying to automate Internet Explorer 11 because it didn’t seem to have a window title.
Actually IE11 does have a window title. Each tab has a different window title. But you don’t see the title in the main title bar of the application.
By default applications show the window title in the title bar. Hence it’s name. But some apps manipulate the appearance of their title bar so that it doesn’t look like a regular Windows title bar. Indeed some apps have all borders removed so that you can’t SEE the title bar. But in all cases, the window will still have a title (unless it’s an empty string!).
So if you can’t see the window title, how do you find out what it is? Well, with Macro Scheduler there are several ways to find it. One is with the View System Windows Tool, which shows a list of all the windows currently available on the system, showing their captions and class names. Another is to use the Code Builders.
Here’s a video demonstrating these two methods. It also shows how I use a substring window match:
We have today updated the MacroScript SDK packages with the latest Macro Scheduler script engine (14.3.02). Those of you with the SDK and valid maintenance wil find the downloads in your account.
If you are not aware of the MacroScript SDK you might find this article useful.