Using Macros
(Applied to TN V4.x)

Last edited: December 15, 2003 08:14 AM

  Each application and module written by Touch Menus, has a built in keystroke MACRO feature. The instructions that follow apply to all Touch Menus programs:

  To Memorize a series of Keystrokes, you can toggle on the Memorize Macro by pressing {CTRL+F7}. Pressing this key again will toggle off the Memorize Macro. Each time you press this key, you will hear a tone combination that indicates whether you are turning ON or OFF the Memorize Macro. When the tone goes {Low-High} you are turning it ON. When it reverses and goes {High-Low} you have just turned it OFF.
  When the Memorize Macro mode is turned ON, every keystroke you type is being memorized. Once you have turned off the mode, you may at anytime replay the Memorized Macro by pressing {CTRL+F8}. This will cause the program to replay your keystrokes exactly as you stored them.  This can be useful in programs such as EditNet. If you were in the page Editor and wanted to create 40 buttons that all looked the same,
you could use the macro to save you time and effort.
Enhancements

Starting in Version 4, the following enhancements were made to the Macro Capabilities.
Multiple Macros

  Before Recording, or Replaying a macro, by pressing Ctrl, and one of the F1 through F6 keys, you can select which Macro to Record or Playback. This means you may have 6 Macros memorized simultaneously.
Permanent Macros

  If you are using EditNet, the Macros you record (All 6 of them) will be stored to a file in your Touchnet directory, called EditNet.MAC. Every time you use the Editor, those Macros will be available to you!
Macro Record Suspend

While you are recording a Macro (Having pressed Ctrl+F7 once), If you wish to perform Keystrokes, but do not want them recorded into the Macro, you may suspend the Recording Process by pressing Ctrl+F8 twice. The first time you will hear a high beep. This means you are entering a Macro Command. The next key you hit, determines what command you wish. By hitting Ctrl+F8 again, you suspend and resume recording. You will
hear a High-Medium-Low-Low tone, which means you have suspended recording. You may now perform keystrokes, that will not be memorized by the Macro. To Resume recording, hit Ctrl+F8 twice again.  You will hear a Low-Medium-High-High tone, indicating that recording has resumed.
Macro Playback Pause

If you want a Macro to pause, and accept a single Keystroke from the user, and then resume playback, you may while recording the Macro, press Ctrl+F8 once. You will hear a high beep. The next key you hit tells the Macro what command you wish. By hitting Ctrl+F7, you will insert a single Key pause into the Macro. You will hear the tone High-Low-High, indicating that the pause has been inserted into the macro.
  You may also cause a Pause to wait until a specific key is pressed. To do this, while in macro record, press Ctrl+F8 once. You will hear the high beep.  Then press the key you wish the Macro to wait for. During playback, when this point is reached, the macro will pause. All user entered keys will be accepted, until the specified key is pressed. Then the macro will resume playback.

  These features make it easy to extend the Power of your macros, for both Manager Reports, and styling repetitions.
Macro Reports

The following instructions only apply to the MANAGER, and CUS_MGR Programs:

  To create a Macro and store it in a file, you must first be logged to the Operational Directory in DOS. At the DOS Prompt you would then type: ‘MANAGER /LEARN=macroname’ (Or CUS_MGR) where macroname is the filename to store the Memorized Macro in. You may supply an extension such as .MAC, otherwise the filename will be created without one.  When you do this, MANAGER will be invoked, with the Memorize Macro turned ON. Each keystroke you do will be recorded to the specified file, for later replay. At that time you may now run the reports that are to be memorized.
  Once you have exited from MANAGER, the file will be ready for replay. To do this you would Log to the operational Directory, and type: ‘MANAGER /MACRO=macroname’. This would run MANAGER with the macro file specified, and automatically replay it.
  To make the replay easier on the restaurant operator, you could place this function into a CHOOSE menu.
Ctrl+Z to Clear Check Boxes

Often times when recording a Macro, say in the Product database, to change the condition of the Tax check boxes, you run into this dilemma: When pressing Alt+1, the check box for Tax rate 1 will TOGGLE. If it was on it is now OFF.  If you wish to turn all the Tax rate 1’s on, and you make a macro to do this, all is great — Except! If there are some PLU’s that already have this turned on, the Macro will turn them OFF. To fix this, I’ve added the feature to a few places: Pressing Ctrl+Z in these places will turn All the Check Boxes in the dialog OFF! Now you can proceed to turn on the ones you wish. Simply record the Ctrl+Z in your macro, then toggle the check boxes the way you wish them. The places this feature is found, is in the Product Database, and on the Report
Options dialog in Manager.