Hello!
For Many Years, I have used the app “Macro Expressâ€Â
Please Help Me to Compare Macro Apps
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Marcus Tettmar
- Site Admin
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Hi,
You should probably wait to get an unbiased opinion from a user of Macro Scheduler. Clearly I am biased as I developed Macro Scheduler. However, I can address some of the main points here and provide some observations.
1. Macro Scheduler has the ability to embed VBScript code into macros. VBScript is not Visual Basic. VBScript is on almost all computers nowadays. But for PCs that don't have it installed it comes WITH Macro Scheduler anyway. However, I do not believe that the ability to use VBScript is Macro Scheduler's main feature, though it certainly adds far more capabilities than are possible without it. VBScript means seamless integration into all Microsoft Office applications, the ability to integrate with ODBC databases, system objects, third party ActiveX components, etc.
2. Unlike most macro products Macro Scheduler has a full featured script editor with a debugger. All the macro products I have reviewed use a set of dialogs to build the scripts, which while, making it easy to find commands, also makes maintaining 4000 line macros a nightmare. At some point you simply have to get in there and start editing the code with freedom. I have seen Macro Scheduler scripts over 10,000 lines long! For those that don't want the freedom of a programmer's editor Macro Scheduler does provide a command locator, and a simple macro builder where commands are inserted from a drop down. So we have the best of both worlds. The debugger lets you step through the code, analyse variables as they are assigned and modified, and locate the cause of problems.
3. Macro Scheduler's native script language was designed from the outset to easily automate any other application. When I looked around for products that would do this in 1997 there was nothing that would do what I wanted. There were one or two expensive automation products, but none had functions to allow you to wait for windows to open or close. I was staggered by this and from version 1 in 1997 Macro Scheduler had such capability using an extremely simple command that anyone could understand and I believe it was this kind of power and simplicity that made it so successful. A year or so later other products started to spring up and they all started to include such window waiting functionality. So I believe we pretty much lead the way in that regard.
4. Macro Scheduler Pro has the ability to compile scripts to standalone executables that you can run on any other machine, even if Macro Scheduler is not installed. I may have missed it, but I'm not aware the other product you refer to has this capability.
5. Macro Scheduler includes a WYSIWYG dialog designer, it can call DLLs and Windows API functions, scheduler service, AutoLogon to run macros interactively even when the system is locked or logged out ....
6. Plug-ins and add ons like the image recognition library for automating processes on a purely graphical level - where you have no access to windows and objects. WebRecorder for simplifying the creation of web macros.
Clearly I am biased, but I do believe Macro Scheduler is a more powerful product. However, I also believe in the "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" philosophy, and also in "horses for courses". So if you have a heap of macros you've already written in another product, and if they're all working fine, why change? I'm no hard-nosed salesman, so I'm not going to try to convince you to change just for the hell of it. But I'm sure you'll hear from some satisfied customers as to what they like about Macro Scheduler.
You should probably wait to get an unbiased opinion from a user of Macro Scheduler. Clearly I am biased as I developed Macro Scheduler. However, I can address some of the main points here and provide some observations.
1. Macro Scheduler has the ability to embed VBScript code into macros. VBScript is not Visual Basic. VBScript is on almost all computers nowadays. But for PCs that don't have it installed it comes WITH Macro Scheduler anyway. However, I do not believe that the ability to use VBScript is Macro Scheduler's main feature, though it certainly adds far more capabilities than are possible without it. VBScript means seamless integration into all Microsoft Office applications, the ability to integrate with ODBC databases, system objects, third party ActiveX components, etc.
2. Unlike most macro products Macro Scheduler has a full featured script editor with a debugger. All the macro products I have reviewed use a set of dialogs to build the scripts, which while, making it easy to find commands, also makes maintaining 4000 line macros a nightmare. At some point you simply have to get in there and start editing the code with freedom. I have seen Macro Scheduler scripts over 10,000 lines long! For those that don't want the freedom of a programmer's editor Macro Scheduler does provide a command locator, and a simple macro builder where commands are inserted from a drop down. So we have the best of both worlds. The debugger lets you step through the code, analyse variables as they are assigned and modified, and locate the cause of problems.
3. Macro Scheduler's native script language was designed from the outset to easily automate any other application. When I looked around for products that would do this in 1997 there was nothing that would do what I wanted. There were one or two expensive automation products, but none had functions to allow you to wait for windows to open or close. I was staggered by this and from version 1 in 1997 Macro Scheduler had such capability using an extremely simple command that anyone could understand and I believe it was this kind of power and simplicity that made it so successful. A year or so later other products started to spring up and they all started to include such window waiting functionality. So I believe we pretty much lead the way in that regard.
4. Macro Scheduler Pro has the ability to compile scripts to standalone executables that you can run on any other machine, even if Macro Scheduler is not installed. I may have missed it, but I'm not aware the other product you refer to has this capability.
5. Macro Scheduler includes a WYSIWYG dialog designer, it can call DLLs and Windows API functions, scheduler service, AutoLogon to run macros interactively even when the system is locked or logged out ....
6. Plug-ins and add ons like the image recognition library for automating processes on a purely graphical level - where you have no access to windows and objects. WebRecorder for simplifying the creation of web macros.
Clearly I am biased, but I do believe Macro Scheduler is a more powerful product. However, I also believe in the "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" philosophy, and also in "horses for courses". So if you have a heap of macros you've already written in another product, and if they're all working fine, why change? I'm no hard-nosed salesman, so I'm not going to try to convince you to change just for the hell of it. But I'm sure you'll hear from some satisfied customers as to what they like about Macro Scheduler.
Marcus Tettmar
http://mjtnet.com/blog/ | http://twitter.com/marcustettmar
Did you know we are now offering affordable monthly subscriptions for Macro Scheduler Standard?
http://mjtnet.com/blog/ | http://twitter.com/marcustettmar
Did you know we are now offering affordable monthly subscriptions for Macro Scheduler Standard?
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Me_again
- Automation Wizard
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- Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2005 5:55 pm
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Marcus has given you a very factual response, no sales hype, just the facts. I'm a happy user, I have tried other macro programs and they are pretty much just that, macro generating programs with maybe some added functionality but macro scheduler provides capabilities way beyond the others. If you get the pro version it includes the compiler, so you can build stand alone applications that can be run on any PC. If you take a look at the topics on these forums you will see the variety and complexity of the projects that macro scheduler is being used for, you'll also see the excellent support that MJT provides, and extra functionality continually being added to the program.
