Keyboard Maestro Question

[frankf]

Ok, not to insult anyone, but you need to read the manual at least a little. We are constantly telling new DP users to do the same, are we not?
Click on a Folder in the leftmost (Groups) column. The right column will display options, including naming, for the Group. Here's where I have a DP8 group which macros are set to only operate when DP8 is open. .Click in and look at the Finder folder which contains macros which only work in the Finder. Finally click on the Global Folder and see that macros in this folder work everywhere. I've put up a macro to set a Preview doc to 2 page view. Put it in a new group folder called Preview and set the group to only work in preview. Download the macro and put it in the Preview group. Note that I use CTRL-OPT-CMD 2 as the trigger.
Here's the link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kxnegzh37w0pt ... acros?dl=0
This took less than 5 minutes to make and I did not already have a Preview group set up. Of course Preview provides a built in command for 2page view, CMD-2 or 3, so why build one using KM or QT? It IS a good exercise
To recap:
- make a group that operates in a specific app, globally or via one of the other drop down parameters, name it. Select it, then create, copy to, drag to macros for that group

Once you get the workflow, like DP, things become very easy, especially the things that have been asked about so far.

Someone asked about opening 4 applications and setting them up? Easily done in KM. You may need to use a wait until or pause action. I'd put a macro like this in the Finder group but it could be in the Global group. Look at the Activate and Open commands. Also look at examples on the KM site or wiki or the videos. They helped me a lot with the basics.


Frank Ferrucci

[bayswater]

Frank, thanks for sticking with it. I went through the manual once before writing any macros, but like most things, a lot of what you read doesn't mean much until you try it out.

I imported your preview macro. It doesn't work for me. Does nothing. That's a good thing because it means there is something different in my setup I can possibly fix.

You example is in a Preview group, meaning it won't work unless Preview is running. In my case, I want a macro that opens a specific document in preview and then sets the view options to two pages and full screen. Then it needs to go on and start up other apps. I want to use this at startup to get a DP session fully set up. So I can't use something that only runs when Preview is already running. I have my macro in the Global folder, and use F19 as the trigger. As I mentioned, the macro does run, but will not execute menu selections for any app.

I suppose the first thing to check is the reason for the repeated alerts to enable KM in the security prefs, even though it is enabled.

Back to the manual for a second read.

[bayswater]

It was the Yosemite Access bug, not my macro or KM. If anyone runs into this, click on the alert at the bottom right of the KM edit window and select Help. It will take you to instructions to put the KM engine into the access list along with the KM app.

Two things to watch for. 1) it tells you to open Accessibility in System Preferences. In fact you want the Security pane and the Accessibility tab. 2) when you drag the KM engine into the access list, nothing happens. That's OK -- it's hidden. Restart and and carry on.

One more thing: although KM is successfully launching Cuemix and choosing the proper Configuration using a Menu selection, the Cuemix does not display that this Configuration is in effect unless the menu is directly accessed.

Next step: see if KM can move DP windows to different Spaces and put them all in Full Screen.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Yeah, that's what I was referring to earlier. I'm retooling the studio and have limited access at the moment so my follow thru has been sloooow.

[bayswater]

Yes, thanks for the tip.

I've verified that Spaces has no supported APIs , no scripting hooks, and so KM has no actions for it. There is an app named TotalSpaces that apparently can be used with a library of low level commands that allow you to manage windows, if you want to get into coding and compiling. Not for me.

But TotalSpaces2 works with Yosemite and looks like it gives you some of the flex that Spaces itself lost in OS updates.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

You might post a question on their forum...

http://forum.keyboardmaestro.com

The owner is VERY quick to respond. Kind of short tempered but ultimately helpful.

[bayswater]

You might post a question on their forum...

http://forum.keyboardmaestro.com

The owner is VERY quick to respond. Kind of short tempered but ultimately helpful.

I did search the issue there, and the answer was quite clear. The owner said he is not supporting Spaces until there are supported APIs from Apple. So that somewhat reduces the utility of any macros I might write. I'll play with it for a while and see what else it might do. I'm finding it quite inconsistent at executing menu commands.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I'm finding it quite inconsistent at executing menu commands.

Well, that sucks! I found it very "inconsistent" as well until I setup the macros in the "Groups" section. Groups, the KM version of "chunks." LOL KM has actually been very consistent now. At least as good as QK in many respects.

[bayswater]

I have the macro I'm working on in Global. It has to launch an app and then set it up, so it can't be specific to the app. If I put the portion that does the set up in an app specific folder, it seems to work more often, so I'm guessing I need to do something to make sure the app is in front/active/ running, and not in some suspended state before the menu command is attempted.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I'm pretty sure that can happen but don't know enough yet on how to do it.

[frankf]

I have the macro I'm working on in Global. It has to launch an app and then set it up, so it can't be specific to the app. If I put the portion that does the set up in an app specific folder, it seems to work more often, so I'm guessing I need to do something to make sure the app is in front/active/ running, and not in some suspended state before the menu command is attempted.

I'm glad thing are slowly working themselves out. I'm not on Yosemite yet so I wouldn't have run into the bug that popped up for you.
Look at the "Activate" (app) action to make preview open or to switch to it. If you always want the macro to be available, put it in the Global group. Remember that with KM you can copy the same macro to different groups, so if you only want tousle an open preview macro from DP and the Finder, copy the macro to those 2 groups only and delete it from the Global group


Frank Ferrucci

[frankf]

Well, that sucks! I found it very "inconsistent" as well until I setup the macros in the "Groups" section. Groups, the KM version of "chunks." LOL KM has actually been very consistent now. At least as good as QK in many respects.

Haha, the Groups ARE like Chunks. That's where the comparison to DP stops: Building a macro in KM is done by dragging actions (think predefined "regions") as blocks and stacking them in a horizontal timeline like some other DAWs we know



Frank Ferrucci

[bayswater]

Look at the "Activate" (app) action to make preview open or to switch to it. If you always want the macro to be available, put it in the Global group. Remember that with KM you can copy the same macro to different groups, so if you only want tousle an open preview macro from DP and the Finder, copy the macro to those 2 groups only and delete it from the Global group


Frank Ferrucci

I found the Activate action. Sometimes opening an app doesn't necessarily switch to it, which is odd. As for groups, so far I have everything in Global except the DP macro you uploaded.