ritePen+ NirCmd: macros and scripts
Okay people, I've been raving about ritePen (http://www.ritescript.com/Products/ritePen.aspx) macros and nirCmd (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html) scripts long enough. Here's a zip file (http://www.markandtanya.us/scribbles/ritePenmacros.zip) loaded with a sample of 150+ macros and their associated scripts.
Here's the breakdown:
The zip file is named ritePenmacros.zip (http://www.markandtanya.us/scribbles/ritePenmacros.zip). It contains an Excel spreadsheet with all the macros. There's a Word doc that mail merges the list to XML. There's a folder with all the scripts.
Unload the contents of the zip file into your ritePen application data folder (minus the zip itself). Should look something like this: C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Application Data\ritePen\English
First thing you need to do is check the Excel file. The location of the scripts folder has [user] in place of your user name. Do a search and replace to swap in your user name. Also, the application locations are based on my setup with windows XP, and my use of Microsoft Office 2007 and Outlook 2003. You'll need to adjust these accordingly, particularly if you're running Vista. Also feel free to change the names and descriptions to your liking or add more.
Once the paths are set, you can add your existing macros to the list by opening macro.xml in Excel (at least in the 2007 versions. There should be four columns that correspond to the first four columns in the spreadsheet. These cover the fields required in ritePen. Copy and paste to add them. The other two columns in my spreadsheet are just organizational.
To tag that data, open the macros.doc file and use the mail merge feature. Set the spreadsheet as your list and merge to a new document. Select all and copy.
Next, open macro.xml in Wordpad, Notepad, or whatever text editor you use. Highlight everything between the macroses tags and paste in the stuff from the mail merge. Save it as plain text then start or restart ritePen. Your macros should now be loaded.
Before you do any of this, you should probably make a backup of the macro.xml file. Also you should already have nirCmd installed on the C: drive (its default location). But basically, you don't mess with any other ritePen files. Everything can be undone using the backup copy of macro.xml.
That said, this isn't a simple drag & drop operation either. Takes a little bit of computer know-how to put everything in place. But that little bit returns a whole lot of Ink Command. More to come.
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Labels: software testing, Tablet PC
ritePen+ NirCmd: macros and scripts
posted by Sumocat at 7/09/2008 07:20:00 PM
29 Comments:
Sumo -- one point of confusion. Where is macros.xml? I can't find it anywhere.
JOE
By
Unknown, at 7/09/2008 11:25:00 PM
I'm guessing you hadn't been experimenting with ritePen macros already. ritePen would have created the file with your first macro. Go into the ritePen settings, create a macro, close ritePen, and check the folder again. It should be in the application data folder I listed (with your user name in place of [user]).
By
Sumocat, at 7/10/2008 08:34:00 AM
I can't find the macros.xml file either. I'm using Vista and because of Vista's over zealous security, I can't get into the documents and settings directory. I'm trying as admin, and tried changing the permissions - which I was denied access.
By
Unknown, at 8/08/2008 04:52:00 PM
I looked it up. It seems the documents and settings folder is in a different location in Vista.
http://www.realtime-vista.com/general/2007/04/access_denied_to_documents_and.htm
Try this - C:\Users\[User]\AppData\
By
Sumocat, at 8/08/2008 06:07:00 PM
Thanks, I was just about to post I found it. Users/[user]/AppData/Roaming/ritePen/[Language]
AppData is a hidden folder.
Now maybe I can figure out why I can't get my Onenote clip to work:)
By
Unknown, at 8/08/2008 06:32:00 PM
I don't have Word. Will the mail merge thingy work in Open Office?
Thanks for sharing!
By
Kiwi the Geek, at 8/14/2008 12:58:00 AM
Hi Kiwi,
I don't know if the mail merge will port directly to OpenOffice.org, but if not, you can also create your own native OOo mail merge doc and follow the example of my doc. It might look confusing with the XML tagging, but it's really a simple catalog-style mail merge.
By
Sumocat, at 8/14/2008 07:52:00 AM
In the nirCmd download, what is nirCmdc.exe?
By
Kiwi the Geek, at 8/16/2008 02:29:00 AM
per the website, that is the console version. Same thing except any error messages go to the console window instead of a popup. Not sure how that looks.
By
Sumocat, at 8/16/2008 07:20:00 AM
It seems Openoffice doesn't know what to do with fields that aren't part of an address. Instead of a mail merge, I used a .CSV file and some find/replace.
How do I find out what the codes are for each key? I didn't find a list in the nirCmd help.
Thanks
By
Kiwi the Geek, at 8/16/2008 07:34:00 PM
Oh fudgesicles, I knew I forgot something. Virtual key codes are from Microsoft.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms927178.aspx
One more thing: some commands don't work in conjunction with the shift key being pressed. I assume it's something to do with the shift key enabling different functionality, though alt and ctrl work fine.
By
Sumocat, at 8/16/2008 08:01:00 PM
You mean if you hold shift while writing and circling?
Any idea why my macros aren't working all the time?
By
Kiwi the Geek, at 8/16/2008 08:26:00 PM
That too, but if you have a script with the shift key held down, the script stops after the shift key is held down. For example, a script for shift+del to permanently delete an item doesn't take. That's why I only have the one macro for shift, which holds it down for only a few seconds.
So are you saying some of your macros aren't working, or they don't work every time you trigger them? Are you circling with a clean circle, as in not connected to the trigger word? If you loop from the word, it often gets read as cursive, not a macro. Should be a clean break between word and circle.
By
Sumocat, at 8/16/2008 08:54:00 PM
Nuts! why doesn't shift work? I already made some scripts using that.
Is there a way to hold a key until you stop pressing other keys? Like alt-tab, you want to hold alt while you press tab several times, then let go. if You have to do it like Sticky keys, that would be Yet another gesture.
For keypresses, why did you use down & up when press would have worked?
first my macros were ignoring me, then they started working, now they quit again. I think I usually pick up the pen before circling, though sometimes I circle over the writing. that never seemed to cause trouble before.
The GBM thread seems abandoned. Did everybody go some where else? I have lots of questions & problems to discuss.
By
Kiwi the Geek, at 8/16/2008 09:41:00 PM
Nuts! why doesn't shift work? I already made some scripts using that.
Sorry. for not catching that for you earlier. Learning as I go.
Is there a way to hold a key until you stop pressing other keys?
I did something like that for ctrl. "ctrl" holds down ctrl until released by "rel". You can do the same for alt then a separate macro for tab.
For keypresses, why did you use down & up when press would have worked?
I did the first one that way then used it as a template for the rest. Also, I was in a tagging mindset at the time, so I was thinking in terms of open and closed tags.
first my macros were ignoring me, then they started working, now they quit again. I think I usually pick up the pen before circling, though sometimes I circle over the writing. that never seemed to cause trouble before.
Check the macros in the ritePen settings list. Maybe they didn't copy over correctly from 00o. And check the quotation marks around paths that include spaces.
The GBM thread seems abandoned. Did everybody go some where else? I have lots of questions & problems to discuss.
Forum gets lonely on the weekend. Plus, most of us use Tablet PCS not Wacom tablets (is that you?), so you're stepping outside the usual knowledge pool.
By
Sumocat, at 8/16/2008 10:15:00 PM
I wasn't annoyed at you for the shift problem, just annoyed in general. If I activate a modifier, can I do other things like the ritePen tab gesture, before I deactivate?
The macros look fine, and some work. nircmd.exe goes in c:\Windows, right?
Yes, I'm the one using the Wacom tablet. I have lots of things to discuss about ritePen too, just waiting for the people to come back...I haven't found a Bamboo forum yet.
By
Kiwi the Geek, at 8/16/2008 10:51:00 PM
Thanks a lot, Sumocat! These posts of yours on ritePen + nircmd are really helpful. My q1 has become much more usable!
By
Maxim, at 12/14/2008 10:53:00 PM
Dear Sumocat,
I just figured out the much easier way to generate macros using XLS.
You can use a certain formula to put all the information from cells into macros. After that one simply needs to copy the entire column and paste it into macro.xml.
Works perfectly well and saves a lot of time! Here is the URL to the modified XLS file:
http://rapidshare.com/files/173475428/macros-with-formula.xls.html
By
Maxim, at 12/15/2008 12:51:00 AM
Clever stuff, Maxim. Thanks for sharing.
Oh, and I see way to make it even easier: delete the header on the "ready macro" column then Ctrl+a on the column to select all the macros.
By
Sumocat, at 12/15/2008 06:50:00 PM
You are right about the header :)
Unfortunately, I seem to have hit the wall: the macros do not work on XP (on my Q1), while they do on HP Pavilion tx2500, which runs Vista Ultimate. Any suggestions why that is happening?
By
Maxim, at 12/15/2008 08:10:00 PM
Are you using the same list of macros for both systems? A lot of the paths apply only to one but not the other. The list I posted should actually work for XP, not Vista.
By
Sumocat, at 12/15/2008 08:21:00 PM
I just figured it out - I simply messed up with automatic Find/Replace function generating wrong path to the folder with scripts.
One more thing about simplifying things: if the first cell in the column is (macroses) and the last one is (/macroses), all you need to do is just copy/paste without worrying about loosing these tags :)
By
Maxim, at 12/15/2008 08:36:00 PM
Sumocat - do the macros work as-is with the updated ritepen? I had to reinstall everything and ma just getting to the new version. I miss me some Sumocat macros
By
Unknown, at 6/03/2009 12:32:00 PM
JOE: I have not run into any problems using my existing macros, and there should not be any problems since there is no change to how ritePen launches applications. Shutdown options, turning off the screen, mute, everything that requires nirCmd, still work fine for me.
I should mention I converted all of my standard keyboard shortcuts (like Ctrl+v for paste) to ritePen Pro's built-in macro system for testing and have not reverted back on these. But again, all the other nirCmd shortcuts are working. No reason that wouldn't be true for all of them.
By
Sumocat, at 6/03/2009 12:47:00 PM
This is great info. Thanks for sharing!
BTW I don't know if it is important, but this link is dead.
http://rapidshare.com/files/173475428/macros-with-formula.xls.html
I was wondering, do you think it would be possible to interface with a mouse? I would like to be able to access the mouse wheel, as I want a replacement for the page up, page down keys.
Instead of a full page down, I want a half page down, as it makes it easier to keep my place, and I find it difficult to grab the scroll bar with a pen, when I am reading a large document.
By
Dave from Space, at 8/25/2009 02:40:00 PM
Hi Dave,
That link was from Maxim so I can't do anything about it, but it was just for a shorter shortcut to create macros, so not vital to the process.
As for mouse interface, do you mean triggering a mouse action like the wheel or using ritePen with a mouse?
For the former, nirCmd uses the command "sendmouse" for this. Per the nirCmd help file:
sendmouse [wheel] [Wheel Value]
Scroll the mouse wheel 10 units in standard wheel mouse. (On standard wheel mouse, the wheel value should be a multiple of 120).
sendmouse wheel 1200
If the latter, I believe ritePen can be triggered by mouse since there is an option to limit it to pen only.
As a scrolling alternative, might I suggest giving Inkseine's tool ring a try.
http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/02/inkseines-floating-tool-ring-rocks.html
It basically functions as a universal scroll dial. I like it, and it has a screen grab button built in. And for web surfing, nothing tops the Grab & Drag add-on for Firefox.
By
Sumocat, at 8/25/2009 03:04:00 PM
>do you mean triggering a mouse action like the wheel
Yes that's what I meant. The reason I want the mouse wheel, is because I figure it will work on most apps.
>giving Inkseine's tool ring a try.
I have tried Inkseine's swirler tool in XP, and while I was very impressed, I find it doesn't work with my reading style at home, which is lying flat on the couch, or in bed.
I tend to get a sore wrist if I touch the screen for any length of time, because my tablet is pen only and I am lying flat on my back with the tablet on my stomach - bad ergonomics! ;)
By
Dave from Space, at 8/25/2009 11:59:00 PM
Just a thought: I think it would be a good idea if the ritePen people created an optional short cut button box sort of like inkSeine's, so people could access their favorite macros with a single tap.
By
Dave from Space, at 8/26/2009 03:25:00 AM
Please re-design your site...
By
Anonymous, at 3/01/2010 02:28:00 AM
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