Pause macro while process is running, then resume

[PHIL]

Greetings
The stitching program I use performs several functions that take varying amounts of time depending upon the number and complexity of images involved. I built my macros and tested using just 2 small images
but when I apply the macros to larger projects, the macro gets ahead of itself and fails because these processes are taking far longer than they did during the tests. I could attempt to insert a very long delay (based on a large stitching project) to allow enough time for these processes. Unfortunalely this long delay would apply to smaller projects that don't require so much time to complete these processes.

Is there any way to pause the macro so that the stitching program can complete these processes in whatever time they require and automatically resume the macro again when the process is complete?

Regards
Phil

[forumsupport]

Hello,

Could you please tell us, at stitching process completion does stitching program throws any window or is there any way by which you can conclude that stitching process is finished? If so, then using ‘If window does not exist’ command you can make macro to wait for certain time. However if processing time exceeds that specified time limit then again macro would proceed without checking. Unfortunately, Workspace Marco Pro does not provide you with Loop command to repeat same actions. However, our advanced automation product Automation Anywhere 4.0 can fulfil your requirement efficiently. Automation Anywhere 4.0 provides you with various Loop options and If commands to validate variety of condition.

If stitching program is throwing any window at process completion then you can try using Loop command with condition, "If Window doesn't exist". Inside Loop command you can put Delay command. The text format would look something like this,

1) Loop While Window Does Not Exists("Title of window indicating process completion")
2) Delay: (1000 ms)
3) End Loop

Hope that helps.

[PHIL]

Thanks
I did get it to work using "window not exist" to get the program to wait until the process had finished and the window had gone away.
I was lucky that my program throws windows, what would you do if it didnt?
I imaging putting in a long time delay would be the only option, not very efficient for processes that dont require a long delay.



Regards
Phil

[forumsupport]

Hello,

Unfortunately, Workspace Marco Pro does not provide you with 'If' commands to perform actions only if certain conditions are satisfied. However, our advanced automation product Automation Anywhere 4.0 provides you with various 'If' options to validate variety of conditions. Most of the conditional commands also offer a powerful & intelligent feature where you can specify how long to wait for this condition to be true.

In your case, you can put your stitching process actions in one task say stitching.atmn and using "If Task successful" or "If Task not successful" command, you can validate if stitching process is completed.

With this command, you can integrate other Automation Anywhere task. This command will run the Automation Anywhere task and depending on return code decide if it was successful or not. For example, if stitching task is successful that means stitching process is completed and then you can take other actions according to your requirement.

Hope that helps.