Unimacro: first experiences
I have been using Vocola for a few years now and, up to now I have not get any real reason to swap to Unimacro but I have finally got round to downloading the integrated Vocola/Unimacro/Natlink beta package.
I ran into trouble with the 3.1 Delta version where the configure GUI package would not open and I had to use the command like version, but this has now been fixed in 3.1 echo. Otherwise, both installs went very smoothly.
Initially I found things very confusing as I had expected it to work very much like Vocola and it took me some time to understand that the .INI files are not translated into corresponding python files but information files for a hardcoded python grammar.
I have started with the folders.INI file as recommended and was immediately impressed with the functionality of the folder, website, and drive commands although it was not immediately obvious what the actual commands were as there are no comments in the .INI files themselves although they are documented on the website.
Where I am stuck, is trying to understand if they are is any place for the native Unimacro application-specific .INI files or if everything that could be done that there can also be done in Vocola if you include the phrase "includes usc.vch” in the.VCL file and you can use the " BringUp " and the "Winkey" commands... although the documentation is not entirely clear as to if these require brackets or not. I have also been unable to work out exactly how the "metaactions" are supposed to work and if there is any advantage over global and application-specific commands in ordinary Vocola files.
All in all, installing this has not broken my Vocola installation and it has instantly given the access to some very useful commands... thank you Quintijn for all your efforts in putting this unified package up on Source Forge.
Mark
MarkUK wrote: I have
I have started with the folders.INI file as recommended and was immediately impressed with the functionality of the folder, website, and drive commands although it was not immediately obvious what the actual commands were as there are no comments in the .INI files themselves although they are documented on the website.
The possibility of inserting comments in .INI files is one of the things that have to be improved, I admit.
Where I am stuck, is trying to understand if they are is any place for the native Unimacro application-specific .INI files or if everything that could be done that there can also be done in Vocola if you include the phrase "includes usc.vch” in the.VCL file and you can use the " BringUp " and the "Winkey" commands... although the documentation is not entirely clear as to if these require brackets or not. I have also been unable to work out exactly how the "metaactions" are supposed to work and if there is any advantage over global and application-specific commands in ordinary Vocola files.
If you read through in the elevator views on unimacro and vocola you will see unimacro concentrates on global grammars, so commands are the same across programs. The meta actions are then needed to execute a command correct in a specific application. Example "line 23 delete" must do several keystrokes which are different in different applications.
While vocola is just a collection of "loose commands", natpython (and therefore unimacro) aims at making more sophisticated grammars of commands, including for example optional command words. Also the possibility to change command lists (on-the-fly), persistence of data (across commands) and making commands exclusive are powerful extensions that natpython (and therefore unimacro) provides.
thank you Quintijn for all your efforts in putting this unified package up on Source Forge.
Mark
When more and more people appreciate this I am more happy to have done this effort.
I would like to invite people to join the project though, because it has become (and been) quite a lot of work. Not you specifically, Mark, but in general, if you want to contribute, please do.
Quintijn