General Tips

This screen is used to create a “macro” for your procedure.  A macro is the set of actions that will take place when this particular procedure is launched.  These actions are what you want AutoMate to replicate on a scheduled basis.

The first thing to note are the various macro “actions” available to you.  These actions are listed in the drop-down box on the top of the macro builder screen.  It’s probably a good idea to review what is available to you before construction of your macro.  Here are a list of the separate actions that can make up a macro:

Recorded Events

Starting Applications

Sending Keystrokes

Pausing and Waiting

Focusing Windows

Establishing an Internet Connection

Miscellaneous Functions

Running a BASIC Script

DDE

Tips on using the Macro Builder Interface


Recorded Events

This a quick and easy way to capture a macro and may be a necessary action if your macro absolutely must use the mouse to interact with the applications that you are going to use in the procedure.  To start recording, select the button labeled “Start Recording”, then type a unique filename and destination for the event file to be stored.  It is a good idea to store your event file in a single location for easy organization.  Once you press the button labeled “Save”, everything you do will be recorded to your event file, including mouse movements, clicks, and all keyboard typing.  These events are recorded and played back at the speed that they are performed.  To end recording press Ctrl+Alt+F12 all at once.

There are some things to be aware of when using recorded events.  One caveat is that they are definitely not as reliable as a macro constructed with the other more manual actions.  Various things can cause your recorded events to playback incorrectly or even fail altogether.  This can happen if you, for example, record something and then later move the screen location of the application(s) involved.  There is no way for AutoMate to know the new screen location of the application(s) when playing back recorded events.  We recommend as little dependency on recorded events as possible for the most reliability in your procedures.

Caveats

AutoMate cannot record and playback global hotkeys.  For example: some of you have Windows 95 style shortcuts to your applications and have set up a “Shortcut Key” that will invoke them when pressed.  AutoMate cannot capture these Shortcut Keys.  It is best to start the application with a “Start an Application” action step.


Starting Applications

This will most likely be a common action in all of your macros.  Use this function to start an application, as the name suggests.  To do this, simply select the “Browse” button and find the executable that you need to launch.

If you need simple DOS commands to be executed in your procedure such as copying or moving files you can have AutoMate start a pre-made “batch file”.  For more information in creating batch files see your MSDOS users guide.

Caveats

AutoMate can launch DOS programs, but cannot send keys to them.  This is a limitation of Windows, not AutoMate.


Sending Kestrokes
Sending Keystrokes

Another very common and useful action is the sending of keystrokes to an application.  This action is much more reliable than “recorded events” because it is not dependent on screen locations or resolution.

In order to send keystrokes to an application it must be in focus.  This means that the window’s title bar is the highlighted title on your desktop.  See Focusing Windows for more information.

Virtually all  windows applications have keyboard shortcuts to all of their functions and are easily controlled through the use of keystrokes.  One easy way to find keyboard shortcuts is to look for underlined characters like this: File.  The shortcut for this example would be alt-f, or, in AutoMate, %f.  You can move from control to control usually by pressing either the arrow keys or the tab key.

For a list of special characters and the way that they are used, select “Help” from the send keystrokes screen.

Here are some examples using the send keystrokes in AutoMate correctly:

1. 	alt and F4 together: %{f4}

2. 	ctrl shift n together: ^(+n)

3. 	alt and f together: %f

4. 	AutoMate Help: AutoMate Help

5. 	down arrow 5 times: {down 5}

Note that a space is represented by simply a literal space.

Caveats

Be sure that the characters mated with the special characters such as alt and ctrl are lower case.  Your applications are case-sensitive and may not respond to upper-case mated characters.


Focusing Windows

Focusing windows is a very important function in AutoMate and will most likely be the most commonly used action in your macro.  What focusing a windows does is bring the application that you desire to the foreground so that it can accept commands such as keystrokes and button clicks, etc.  It is essential to the success and reliability of your procedures that you have a working knowledge of how this functions works.

To bring a window in focus, simply enter the window’s “Title Bar” text in the focus a window action screen.  To obtain this text, you will probably need to launch the application that you will be working with during your procedure and note its title bar text at the time that focusing action will be used.

It is also helpful to know that AutoMate does not need the entire window’s text - it only needs enough to distinguish it from any other windows on the screen.  This is helpful if your application changes the text of its title from time to time.

Caveats

The focusing event is only valid if it is performed directly before the step in the macro that interacts with the application.  The window may lose focus if there are any wait actions or other steps in between the focusing event and the sending of keystrokes.


Pausing and Waiting

Pausing and waiting are essential to the success of your macro.  These functions enable you to allow your application(s) time to complete what they are doing before AutoMate moves to the next step in the macro.  Using the standard macro functions, there is no way for your procedure to know that the current action you are performing is complete or whether it should wait longer.  It is always best to give AutoMate more than ample time to allow for a previous action to finish.  Remember, these procedures are going to be launched when you are not there, and an extra minute or so will not make any difference.

To judge the length of time it will take for a particular action to finish it is recommended that you perform the step manually yourself and estimate how long it took - then add a little time just to make sure that it will be enough.

Enter the number of minutes or seconds that you would like AutoMate to wait in the box to the right of “Wait” and then choose whether this number is in minutes or seconds by selecting the proper choice from the drop-down menu to the right.

Tips

Sometimes adding a small pause between macro steps will eliminate inexplicable errors.


Establishing an Internet Connection

One of the more popular uses of AutoMate is to perform unattended on-line work such as automatically checking your e-mail or downloading news so it’s there for you in the morning, etc.

This macro function allows you to automatically use dial-up-networking to connect to your Internet Service Provider.  To use this function you will need to have an internet account that is set up under dial-up-networking.  For more information on setting up DUN, consult the Windows help file or contact your Internet Service Provider for instructions.

To add this action to your macro select an internet connection description from the drop-down menu on this screen.

Caveats

The time that AutoMate allows for your connection to succeed is determined by a switch in the settings.ini file located in the AutoMate folder.  The setting is by default at 60 seconds.  To adjust it simply change the entry to the number of seconds that you would like to allow for the connection to succeed.


Miscellaneous Functions

There are various miscellaneous functions in AutoMate that do not fall into a specific category.  These functions are:

Disconnecting from an Internet Connection

Rebooting the computer

Shutting down Windows

Shutting down AutoMate

Playing a .wav sound

These functions are primarily self explanatory and very easy to use.

Caveats

AutoMate can not disconnect from an Internet connection that it did not create.


Running a BASIC Script

This is the function that separates the Standard edition of AutoMate from the Professional.  It allows you to run a script written in BASIC.  This type of macro action can be extremely useful when error control, custom scheduling, user input, conditional branching, file input and output, and other more complicated tasks are required to complete your procedure.

If you are interested in learning more about how to script in BASIC, we recommend one of the thousand of books available on the subject.  There are several other resources available to those of you who are interested in learning more about BASIC, including on-line Visual Basic forums in both CompuServe and America Online, a plethora of Internet newsgroups and web sites, and the Microsoft Knowledge base at http://www.unisyn.com.

By selecting “create a new script” you will be presented with our scripting interface where you can begin constructing your BASIC script(s).

Tips

For more information on any of the commands and keywords used in AutoMate’s scripting select (highlight) the word that you would like help with from within the script builder and press the F1 key.

Caveats

Unisyn cannot provide programmatical instruction or debugging of your scripts.


DDE

The formal definition of DDE, or dynamic data exchange is: “An established protocol for exchanging data through active links between applications that run under Microsoft Windows.”

Dynamic Data Exchange provides a channel for two Windows applications to communicate.  Using Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), one application, referred to as the client application, can request information from, or send commands to, another application, referred to as the server application.  The server application then processes the request from the client application.  The server performs a task, such as updating data, or returning requested information to the client, such as an element of data maintained by the server application.

AutoMate is designed to act as a DDE Client, with the ability to send DDE requests and commands to Server applications.  Most major Windows applications can use DDE communications.  Consult your application’s documentation to see whether the software is DDE enabled.

AutoMate’s DDE capabilities should only be used by an individual experienced with the use of DDE communications.  For more information on the DDE commands supported by a particular software product, see the application’s manual or contact the software’s manufacturer.


Tips on using the Macro Builder Interface

The following are tips and answers to common questions regarding the Macro Builder Interface itself.

1.  I have recorded what I want  - now what?

After you are finished recording - or creating any other action - you must Add that step to your macro.  To do this select the button on the right side of the Macro Builder labeled “Add”.  Once you are finished adding steps to your macro, select the button labeled “Save Macro”.  This will save your steps and allow you to use the macro in your procedure.

2.  How do I insert a step within my macro?

Create the action, then highlight the existing step in the macro that you would like the new step to appear above, then select the Insert button.

3.  Can I use an existing Macro as a template in my new macros?

Yes, to do this right-click with the mouse within the macro steps listed at the bottom of the macro builder and select Insert Existing Macro.

4.  What are the arrow buttons for?

Use these buttons to re-arrange the position and order of your macros steps.  Highlight the step that you would like to move and then select either the down or up arrow, depending on which way you would like to move the step.

  It is a good idea to have a focus command directly before a send keystrokes command.  This ensures that the keys are sent to the correct application.