Blind feature ask for v4

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Gary M. Mugford
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Blind feature ask for v4

Post by Gary M. Mugford »

I don't have v4 yet. Never used v3. Mostly because there was a mixup over ribbon rubbish and all that. My fault for not asking the right questions ESPECIALLY since Nikos was trying to do the right thing by me. But that's been cleared up and I'm seriously considering v4 for the macro capability. Of most interest for me is possibly mechanizing something I do rather frequently. I have a folder that contains incoming files that I have to parcel out to a series of archive folders. I'd like to have a button that puts up that list, lets me choose and then copies the selected files to the selected target folder. I need it to run fastcopy MOVE since I want the whole thing being run in a separate thread that lets me get back to x2 and do the next filing. IS THIS POSSIBLE?

That's NOT the big get. I'd like some way to establish a target THUMBDRIVE that would be visually cued in the toolbar/ribbon. A no mistake BIG HONKING BOLD LETTER. That I could click on and change. And that would auto-blank when that drive got pulled. AND NOW, I could have yet another button that would simply fastcopy COPY files/foldeers to the target letter. Clicking the button would allow me to set the letter of the drive I'm working with.

So, why the tortured copy I would like? First, the two window alternative is something I'd like to leave WITHOUT switching the bottom window to the thumbdrive. I have a LOT of drives, most of which are treated as USB drives. Both Terabyte hard drives and actual length of your fingernail 64G thumb drives. I would like to keep the bottom window for monitoring another drive. Or eliminate the two window set up completely. And sometimes, it's hard to see which drive is the thumb drive letter on the drive list at the top. Rheumy old eyes and all that. Despite the double-cataract surgery. No, I'd like a smart button. As smart as it can be, for a target. Plus the other thing is to enforce fastcopyCOPY. I've actually moved a couple or seventeen source files in the last little while. And once out, they are hard to get back.

Given my last missive to Nikos said 'Already done,' I am expecting good news once again. GM
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nikos
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Re: Blind feature ask for v4

Post by nikos »

look, macros are not about magic silver bullet solutions, it is all about automating actions you would do with the keyboard and mouse, and organizing them in scripts that help you with your tasks. Before attacking the whole task you have in mind try to break it down in small chunks and see how each of them can be automated then put the parts together. For ideas on what's possible, see the sample macros in the v4 quickstart guide (at the end of the macro section)
Gary M. Mugford
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Re: Blind feature ask for v4

Post by Gary M. Mugford »

Nikos,

Not to be contrary, but understand that. I've obviously been smart enough to create a user command that copies all selections to a specific drive. So, I have, currently in my toolbars, buttons to fastcopy selected files to drive C, and another one for drive D, and so on till I hit drive X. It takes up a whole toolbar and row on the top of the screen. I asked, if it was possible to have a single target that I could change to at the start of a session and that would take up a button's worth of toolbar space instead of a row or a separate window pane. Ergo my request that I REALIZE IS SO NARROW NICHE that it might not be useful to another soul on the planet. BUT if it can be done, I'd appreciate a heads up that I have some work ahead of me.

I also wanted to verify that I can create a menu of some static locations and then fastcopy selected files to the chosen location. I can something like it in AutoHotKey, but that's kludgey. Having a built-in version would be really good. I THINK the docs and tutorials show that it is possible. True?

GM
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nikos
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Re: Blind feature ask for v4

Post by nikos »

inside a macro you can execute any command you like, including user commands you have. The crucial part is how you change the selection, but again you can use the selection engine from within the macro, so you would have something like

Code: Select all

command "matching a rule"
findclass edit
settext *.pdf
ok
command "your custom command 1"
# sleep 10000 # optional if you want your first copy to complete

# on to the second group of files
command "matching a rule"
findclass edit
settext *.doc
ok
command "your custom command 2"
....
then you can get rid of all your buttons and have just one that calls the macro

not sure what you mean by "creating a menu", macros cannot create menus
Gary M. Mugford
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Re: Blind feature ask for v4

Post by Gary M. Mugford »

Therein lies the rub Nikos. For the feature(s) that I need, I need a menu. So Macros will NOT work that way. AHK will be required. C'est la vie. It eliminates a reason FOR v4 from my perspective. It's not completely sale stopping, but I'm not looking to spend money AND a lot of time to improve what I have already ... x2 v2 ... which is pretty good. GM
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