I have to respectfully disagree with this. The OS has provided the user with major settings to control their experience, which all apps can or should be aware are possible configurations the user might select. I don't think it's appropriate for an app to decide that a user's preference is "wrong," but rather, that the app should accommodate the user's preference. In my case, I don't actively check Notification Center frequently, so if one of my macros fails, I'd prefer to have a notification left on screen for me to see (Alert style), rather than discover that failure (potentially) days later (Banner style).
I don't think this is correct. For example, right now I have four macros configured to run at system wake. One of them is emitting this message: Numeric condition failed to get text from source. However, I don't know which macro it is (much less which action within that macro), as there's no contextual information provided.
It's perfectly fair to want to keep the manual succinct. My encouragement here is that in general, I think the app could do more to make the user aware of the existence of the log files.
I have been stumped by this and confused why the show button does nothing and I have set mine to Banners for both Keyboard Maestro and Keyboard Maestro Engine which is also a bit confusing as to why there are two at first. Perhaps this is a recent change in macOS.
I keep having Keyboard Maestro notifications show up with things that have failed and searching the most recent run macros I am not finding what the fail is. The notifications have a "show" option in the bottom right but every time I click on it, it doesn't take me to what failed. Is this a bug or something I need to turn on in System Security? I have given Keyboard Maestro all the privileges I can find for it.
I am absolutely in favor if this is what it takes to get taken to specifically what failed with a show button. I don't quite understand all the behind the scenes stuff but agree with @homerow and have it possible to be taken to what failed quicker nativily without having to search through forum threads like this (of which I am extreamly grateful).
A reminder that in the KM Editor, "View" then "Go to Last Aborted Action" will take you to... the last aborted action. This thread has some more methods of going to an action from an Engine.log entry, there are other similar threads on the Forum -- and, of course, there are @_jims and @Airy excellent offerings linked above.
Yes, the do-nothing "Show" button in the Alert Notification is annoying -- blame Apple for neither letting developers use it nor letting them suppress it...
See the Quick Start. The Keyboard Maestro editor and the Keyboard Maestro Engine have always been two different applications (the latter contained inside the former).
My guess is Apple added the Show button on hover for all notifications, and it just takes you to the application that posted it, which it can't really do because its a background application.
I'll take another look at this, but, you know, Apple.
As was noted, you can go to the last aborted action in the editor, or you can see the full text of any errors at the end of the Engine.log file.
Oh that makes sense, I guess most of those notifications are for the KM Engine and not Keyboard Maestro app. The only time you would get a notification from the Keyboard Maestro App would be possibly when you are in the app then?
Thank you and yes, Apple can be a bear at times with their changes and updates.
Thanks, I am trying to work with the Engine.log file macros that search this and dive deeper into what is posted there.
Yes. I'm not really sure the Keyboard Maestro editor itself ever sends any notifications. Maybe in some error conditions (like not being able to write editor files?), but even then I don't think they are displayed as notifications.
There have been various macros that do things along those lines. I expect an appropriately clever search of the forum would turn up some.
Ah, makes sense why that Show button doesn't do anything. Perhaps the Engine app could toss an alley-oop to the main app, i.e. pass a message in the opposite of the conventional direction?
I have an alternate suggestion for making the log file easier to discover. Most programming tools (e.g. VS Code, IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse, Script Debugger) have, at the top level, a menu named "Run," or something along those lines, but not KM. You could centralize menu items related to the concept of execution. This would lasso together:
File ➝ Run Macro
View ➝ Go to Last Aborted Action
View ➝ Disable Action
Actions ➝ Try Action
Actions ➝ Disable Action
Help ➝ Open Logs Folder
I'm obviously biased by my own experience, but I think this would make it more likely that someone new to KM would find their way to the log file on their own, without having to stop at the manual/forums first.
