MACRO: Engine.log Tool, v10.0

[_jims]

@Nr.5-need_input

A first report from me after my first inspection:

• truly an outstanding Macro - great job

Hi, @Nr.5-need_input. Thanks for testing Engine.log Tool and for taking the time to provide feedback.

@Nr.5-need_input

• first thing I have to mention is that the Help Text Window will not get closed when I press the Done Button of the Main Prompt.

That's not what I see; and I don't know why this might be occurring for you. As you can see below, the help window should close if the Action, Console, Reduce, Help, or Done button is selected. (If the Help button is selected, the help window will reopen.)

Maybe you could try running the AppleScript in the Script Editor (or Script Debugger) and see if the Help window closes.

( expand / collapse AppleScript )

try
	tell application "System Events"
		tell application process "Keyboard Maestro Engine"
			tell (first window whose name is "Keyboard Maestro - Display Text")
				tell (first button whose role description is "close button")
					perform action "AXPress"
				end tell
			end tell
		end tell
	end tell
end try

---

@Nr.5-need_input

• another thing is the Macro gets canceled and throws a timeout error when I press the Console Button and brings the Console Application to the front… if I understand it correctly the Console should be there in Background and not being in the foreground.

  • because of that the Console.app doesn’t get closed, too when closing the Main Prompt … it also keeps staying open and will get the frontmost Application if I revive the Macro and clicking just the Done Button to close everything up. Quitting the Console.app manually isn’t a thing really - but if there is something like an automated workflow like this Macro which has to close up afterwards - and I think it’s intended to function this way - it gets annoying over time and sucks …

Again that's not what I see; and I don't know why this might be occurring for you. Also, no one else has reported this issue to me. Maybe it's related to Keyboard Maestro v10.2, but that's only speculation.

To see the expected behavior, refer to the second video in the Engine.log Tool OP.

I will say, the macro actions required for this feature are a bit complex. I do have a question: When you. open the Engine.log manually in the Console app do you see the Search field?

The macro actions will not function as expected if the Search field is not visible.

@Nr.5-need_input

• I’ve seen an Action (maybe it was the Dictionary Action where you tempt to store the Value for the Error) in which you used %jsELT_dict% for the Dictionary Name Field which I am seeing at least on my Machine .. I am wondering if that’s correct because it’s highlighted in this for Keyboard Maestro typically yellow/light orange color … Maybe I am missing something about that but isn’t that a likely unsafe thing ?!

The only thing I'm storing in the jsELT_dict dictionary is the ErrorIndex (1 = latest failure/timeout; 2 = failure/timeout before that, ...).

The dictionary value above is displayed using the invaluable macro, Variable Inspector Prompt and Dictionary Editor, by @DanThomas.

This index is saved so that Engine.log Tool can open to the respective failure/timeout if:

• If the hot key trigger includes the Shift key (⇧), or
• the %TriggerValue% includes recall

@Nr.5-need_input

• speaking of Settings used in the Macro I find that it is cumbersome to find the settings for the Dialog and Helper window positions … haven’t found them, yet … I think you should make a change and put everything related to settings in one big bit structured Group and use nested groups for specifying between each settings Type and put a comment before every Settings type group explaining for which type of setting it is for and if there are things changeable by the user defining them also …

Thanks for that comment, but the macro has not been designed for users to change those window positions. There are a few macro Settings and they are listed in the header comment.

If you want to mess with the window positions, you'll have to carefully change values in this block of actions:

Note that the first is a Group action and intentionally collapsed; but FYI here's the expanded group:

The variables local_MainDialogWidth and local_HelpHeight were very carefully set based on the main dialog size, the help window content, and my design goals. As I've released new versions of the macro, I've had to adjust these values because I've added some content to the help window.