Question about macros

[Trenno]

Hello everyone,

A program I frequently use is very powerful computationally, however lacks some basic user friendliness.

Now this program has tool palettes on the side of the main window...

How hard is it to setup the following:

A macro that, when activated by a hotkey, goes and clicks the desired tool and returns the cursor back to it's original position.

With my slight understanding of macros, I assume this can be done such that the whole process is pretty much instantaneous, thus creating the illusion that the software actually has hotkeys.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[GregLocock]

If your program (which is obviously secret, otherwise I guess you could have told us what program it is) does not have an internal macro recording capability, or scripting, you may find that you can do something useful with one of these macro recorders

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_macro_recorder_software

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

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[Trenno]

Oh the program isn't a secret. It's actually probably the most widely used slab design software. Bentley's RAM Concept.

I have suggested it to their developers a few times, but they must be working on bigger and better things!

Which is good, but still leaves me moving my mouse to the right hand side of the screen everyone 3 seconds....

Have you tried any of the recorders above?

 

[GregLocock]

No, but I have used one a long time - so long I can't even remember which

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[IRstuff]

Why not Red Flag this post and post in forum1342 Wouldn't that be more fruitful?

TTFN
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[Trenno]

Hi IRstuff,

I've posed this to them on their own product support forum.

However, this thread was fairly general in terms using of macros.

 

[IRstuff]

Since macros differ in the capabilities, a general question isn't really going to mean much

TTFN
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[Trenno]

General/broad in terms of application.

However, I was specific in what the macro needed to do.

 

[IRstuff]

Exactly, your specificity ties it directly to Bentley RAM.

This is not even remotely a general question, since you're looking specifically for solution in Bentley RAM.

TTFN
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Of course I can. I can do anything. I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
There is a homework forum hosted by engineering.com:

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[Trenno]

I don't want to argue with you, but making a macro to click a tool then return the cursor to it's original position is irrelevant to what program I'm using.

This macro could apply to almost every program that uses a tool palette style interface.

I've gone down the route of the RAM specific path and found that it's a dead end, thus why I'm here asking for advice on 3rd party and more generalised macro software.

 

[IRstuff]

OK, I don't think understood what you wanted.

So, yes, in general, an operating system macro could be written in C++ or Visual Basic to do something like that, but it wouldn't be particularly bullet-proof against odd things happening.

TTFN
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[KootK]

I think that the most robust way to handle it would be to write VBA code into your macro that accesses the RAM Concept API. That way, you never actually leave excel during the execution. Rather, it would just be remote control of RAM. I guess the trick is whether or not RAM exposes it's API to interested developers. I don't know the answer to that.

I like to debate structural engineering theory -- a lot. If I challenge you on something, know that I'm doing so because I respect your opinion enough to either change it or adopt it.

 

[IFRs]

ShortKeys?

 

[Trenno]

I've managed to write my own scripts (using freeware AutoHotKey) that essentially creates a hotkey for each tool I use most often, which records the mouses' original co-ords, moves the cursor to the desired tool co-ords, then returns the cursor to the original position from where the hotkey was pushed. All done instantaneously. This is a slight bandaid fix and is screen resolution specific, but does exactly what I need. So I'm happy!!