The Macro recorder function was available in the old versions of Nisus Writer Pro.
Do you think it would be s good feature to have so that we could use it for contextual menu items such as save as, etc that the current macro language cannot handle?
Your thoughts!
Thanks,
David
Macro Recorder
Re: Macro Recorder
While Nisus Writer Classic did have a macro recorder feature, that macro recorder couldn't really handle menu commands with dialogs either. And the reason is clear, such a feature doesn't just work automatically, it has to be programmed to do the things it does. So a macro recorder feature itself will be of no help with this issue. Instead the Nisus crew should just add a "Save As" command that takes arguments to the macro language. (But as we already mentioned in a previous thread, you can do "Save As" in a macro already. You just have to use slightly different commands.)
On the more general question of whether Nisus should have a macro recorder feature, I am going to have to say, I don't think it is worth it. Macro recording features were popular back in the 90s, when many types of software had them. But they generally don't work well. The reason is that to use such a feature, you usually have to have a pretty good idea of how to write a macro (in code) and "think like a macro" during the recording to get reliable results. This is because human users mix mechanical steps and high-level decision making freely in a way that doesn't work well with the simplistic "follow me" model that recorders use.
On the more general question of whether Nisus should have a macro recorder feature, I am going to have to say, I don't think it is worth it. Macro recording features were popular back in the 90s, when many types of software had them. But they generally don't work well. The reason is that to use such a feature, you usually have to have a pretty good idea of how to write a macro (in code) and "think like a macro" during the recording to get reliable results. This is because human users mix mechanical steps and high-level decision making freely in a way that doesn't work well with the simplistic "follow me" model that recorders use.
philip