Last night I used this trick on an old macro, using the assigned key in parenthesis 
This is a great trick. Thanks!
2 Likes
I was checking the wiki page. I can see how using just / or /. is assigned to Enter/Return or Escape. Thanks
1 Like
Glad to help! It is great being able to assign buttons to keys. 
1 Like
Do you mind sharing the 2 versions so I can see what you mean?
Yes, I can see how having Switch instead of IF THEN looks better and cleaner, especially when it comes to nesting IF THEN actions, which is kinda messy
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I think the wiki page explains this
The actions in the first section that matches will be executed. If no section matches, then no actions will be executed and the execution will continue after the Switch/Case action. Under no circumstances will actions from more than one section be executed - that is, execution does not “fall through” to following sections as happens in some languages.
So basically, once there's a match (reading top to bottom), it leaves the Switch action and goes to the next action.
2 Likes
Thank you all for sharing your approaches to Switch vs If Then.
Always learning a few tricks here and there
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That is really good to know, I assumed (always a bad idea) that it continued on.
I wonder what the reasoning behind that is. Seems like it would be way more powerful if it could do all and other than being clean and easier to read over an If Then Else action I was super excited to use this for multiple statements being true.
Dan was exactly right according to my question but I got exciting thinking I could also use this to make multiple things be true through variables and use the clean Switch Case instead of having to use multiple switch case actions to do the same thing. I guess in some ways it makes for an easy hierarchy so you can put what you want most to be seen and then stop. If they are all the same priority then just make multiple Switch Case actions (Or If Then Else with no Else).
I very much agree!
You inspired me to finally just make a quick action macro for this.
Menu Prompt
Create Action - User Prompt.kmmacros (48 KB)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<array>
<dict>
<key>ActionName</key>
<string>Group - Trigger Macros through button promps with a menu to help guide what you are doing.</string>
<key>ActionUID</key>
<integer>16817810</integer>
<key>Actions</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>ActionUID</key>
<integer>16817811</integer>
<key>Actions</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>ActionUID</key>
<integer>16817812</integer>
<key>IsDisclosed</key>
<false/>
<key>MacroActionType</key>
<string>Comment</string>
<key>StyledText</key>
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</data>
<key>Title</key>
<string>Comment</string>
</dict>
<dict>
<key>ActionUID</key>
<integer>16817813</integer>
<key>Buttons</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Button</key>
<string>Button 1 (A)/a</string>
<key>Cancel</key>
<false/>
</dict>
<dict>
<key>Button</key>
<string>Button 2 (2)/2</string>
<key>Cancel</key>
<false/>
</dict>
<dict>
<key>Button</key>
<string>Okay (Highlighted Blue)/</string>
<key>Cancel</key>
<false/>
</dict>
<dict>
<key>Button</key>
<string>Cancel/.</string>
<key>Cancel</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</array>
<key>MacroActionType</key>
<string>PromptForUserInput</string>
<key>Prompt</key>
<string>What calendar would you like this action put on?
"Automation/Programming?”
For your last Pomodoro, you did:
“Automation/Programming (Keyboard Maestro Forum)”</string>
<key>TimeOutAbortsMacro</key>
<true/>
<key>Title</key>
<string>Session App Pomodoro Action and Category</string>
<key>Variables</key>
<array/>
</dict>
</array>
<key>MacroActionType</key>
<string>Group</string>
<key>TimeOutAbortsMacro</key>
<true/>
</dict>
<dict>
<key>ActionUID</key>
<integer>16817815</integer>
<key>CaseEntries</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Actions</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Action</key>
<string>DisplayLarge</string>
<key>ActionUID</key>
<integer>16817865</integer>
<key>MacroActionType</key>
<string>InsertText</string>
<key>Text</key>
<string>Button 1</string>
</dict>
</array>
<key>ConditionType</key>
<string>Is</string>
<key>TestValue</key>
<string>Button 1 (A)</string>
</dict>
<dict>
<key>Actions</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Action</key>
<string>DisplayLarge</string>
<key>ActionUID</key>
<integer>16817866</integer>
<key>MacroActionType</key>
<string>InsertText</string>
<key>Text</key>
<string>Button 2</string>
</dict>
</array>
<key>ConditionType</key>
<string>Is</string>
<key>TestValue</key>
<string>Button 2 (2)</string>
</dict>
<dict>
<key>Actions</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Action</key>
<string>DisplayLarge</string>
<key>ActionUID</key>
<integer>16817867</integer>
<key>MacroActionType</key>
<string>InsertText</string>
<key>Text</key>
<string>Okay</string>
</dict>
</array>
<key>ConditionType</key>
<string>Is</string>
<key>TestValue</key>
<string>Okay (Highlighted Blue)</string>
</dict>
</array>
<key>MacroActionType</key>
<string>Switch</string>
<key>Source</key>
<string>Text</string>
<key>Text</key>
<string></string>
</dict>
</array>
<key>MacroActionType</key>
<string>Group</string>
<key>TimeOutAbortsMacro</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</array>
</plist>
Not a fan of Apple's suggested order of buttons if there are more than one. Peter was smart in how he listed them to follow Apple's standards with Cancel at the end but shows first. If there are no variables I like having the first button highlighted rather than cancel but oh well. The action button on the right makes sense for two buttons and right handed people holding a phone.
Brilliant. Thanks for sharing, and good to see how much faster Switch/Case is.
The first three Switch/Case actions (System Clipboard, Named Clipboard, and Trigger Clipboard) are all found under one If Then Else action of "Clipboard Condition."
System Clipboard (Switch/Case) = Clipboard Condition (If Then Else)
Named Clipboard (Switch/Case) = Clipboard Condition (If Then Else)
Trigger Clipboard (Switch/Case) = Clipboard Condition (If Then Else)
Variable (Switch/Case) = Variable Condition (If Then Else)
Text (Switch/Case) = Text Condition (If Then Else)
Calculation (Switch/Case) ≠ Calculation Condition (If Then Else) It is more powerful in the Switch condition then it is in If Then Else but there is probably a way around.
Calulation
Here are the options in the Calculation Switch Case that you don't get in If Then Else
File (Switch/Case) ≠ File Attribute (If Then Else) Many more options in If Then Else action.
File (Switch/Case)vs File Attribute (If Then)
On the other hand, the "If Then Else" action supports many more conditions, including:
-
- Action Result Condition
-
- Application Condition
-
- Button Condition
-
- Environment Variable Condition
-
- File Attribute Condition (More Powerful than Switch/Case)
-
- Found Image Condition
-
- Key Condition
-
- Location Condition
-
- Macro/Macro Group Condition
-
- Menu Condition
-
- Modifiers Condition
-
- Mounted Volume Condition
-
- Mouse Button Condition
-
- OCR Condition
-
- Path Condition
-
- Pixel Condition
-
- Script Condition
-
- Typed String Condition
-
- USB Device Condition
-
- Any Window Condition
-
- Front Window Condition
-
- Wireless Network Condition
Key Differences
- More Conditions in "If Then Else"
- "If Then Else" can evaluate conditions based on UI elements, environment, images, scripts, keys, and external devices, which "Switch/Case" does not support.
- "Switch/Case" Is Primarily for Matching Values
- It works best when you need to check a single value against multiple possibilities (like a clipboard or variable content).
- "If Then Else" Can Handle Complex Logic
- It allows multiple types of conditions (e.g., "If an application is running AND a specific modifier key is held AND a file exists").
Of course, please feel free to correct anything here. This is me making sense of everything and when to use which.
In some languages it does. The downside is that you have to include an explicit break; or similar when you don't want it to.
You can do "multiple statements being true" by putting multiple truths into your case You can then separate those results with further "If" or "Switch" actions:
Switch:If.kmmacros (10.7 KB)
That's cool and would make the Switch/Case pretty easy to read still if that were an option. Something like a simple "Stop If True" underneith each switch case plus or minus and select "yes" or "no" (having déjà vu moment here for some reason).
Thanks for the macro and absolutely, That is where it starts getting a little hairy to read but not too bad in this example.
It can get quite tricky quite quickly, since all the actions within the first match happen then all the actions in the next match and so on until a break; is found. The actual logic can get difficult to follow because fall-through cases execute even when they don't match.
Example JavaScript you can put in Script Editor and change the number in the first line to see behaviour:
const foo = 1;
switch (foo) {
case 1:
console.log("It was 1");
case 2:
console.log("It was 2");
break;
case 3:
console.log("It was 3");
default:
console.log("A number greater than 3");
}
As written:
And you can see both case 1 and case 2 are evaluated -- obvious when you pay attention, a brain-melter if you don't!