Program Operations

Have you ever had a problem where launching and focusing a program on one computer works each and every time, but on a different one it does not, unless you change the macro?

Launching a program with Macro Express is a simple task, just use the Program Launch command. If the program is there, it will launch. However, gaining reliable focus of the just-launched program is something else altogether. If you are creating macros for other people, or you have multiple computers, there are too many things that are outside of your control, which can spell success or failure - lack of memory, number of tasks currently running, processor speed, small caches, different operating systems, etc. - all affect your macro's ability to run.

Efficient settings on one computer may be deficient on another, so how can you be sure that a program will launch and gain focus whichever computer it runs on? You cannot, not without customizing the macro for each computer. Meaning, of course, that you will be managing separate macros for each person or having them adjust the macro you supplied until it runs reliably. As an alternative, you could design for the worst case scenario, which is an awe-inspiring idea for the guy with the worst case computer, but will drive your other users absolutely bananas.

The real solution is to use a complete function in place of the single line Program Launch command. And that my friends, is what the functions in the category are all about. Program Operations functions are designed to launch, focus, and terminate programs, in a reliable manner, on computers with differing capabilities.

But wait, there is more! You can also keep a log of specific events when attempting to launch a program unattended. This can be used as a debugging tool to determine where exactly the launch failed … and why, or simply as a history log. It is especially handy for unattended operations when things simply do not go right. If you have an operation that runs unattended, say overnight, and it inconsistently fails, you can check the event log to see what is occurring to cause failure.

Each event is appended to the end of the log and contains a date and time stamp. Use event logging to not only record when a macro begins and ends, but for anything else in between. Record commands, variables, time, current folders, titles, windows, etc. There is no limit on what you may record. And best of all, recording will not slow your macro significantly, uhm, unless of course you log an event for every line in the macro.

The Program Operations category comprises twelve functions, which handle launching, focusing, and terminating programs in a reliable manner, in addition to having a few helpful utility functions thrown into the mix.

{ Program - Launch } Launches a program and sets focus to it
{ Program - Focus } Sets focus to a program that is already running
{ Program - Terminate } Terminates a running program
{ Program - Validate Launch Values } Checks that the launch values fall within acceptable limits
{ Program - Validate Verification Values } Checks that the verify values fall within acceptable limits
{ Program - Validate Termination Values } Checks that the termination values falls within limits
{ Program - Toggle Parameter Validation } Toggles the ValidateParameters? value on and off
{ Program - Toggle Exact Match } Toggles the ExactMatch? value on and off
{ Program - Toggle Event Logging } Toggles the LogEvent? value on and off
{ Program - Log Event } Records the event string to the log file.
{ Program - Reset } Resets Program Operations values back to default values
{ Program - Clear Error Flag } Resets the ReturnError? value back to zero after an error

Examples
{ Program Operations Example A }
{ Program Operations Example B }
{ Program Operations Example C }
{ Program Operations Example D }
{ Program Operations Example E }
{ Program Operations Example }

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