Full Version: VBA Macros

From: Carl (CSEWELL) [#21]
 1 Jul 2006
To: Dave Jones (DAVERJ) [#19] 1 Jul 2006

quote:
"Nevermind".


No! You made some excellent points: all relevant and right on the money.

From: Shaddy [#22]
 1 Jul 2006
To: Carl (CSEWELL) [#21] 1 Jul 2006

After the holiday break, I'll purdy up the macro for adding text to different objects as a replacement to the print merge. Well, not a replacement, Print merge is a powerful feature. Maybe it's more of a supplement.

There's a few macros that support this funtion that coule probably be applied to different processes. One is a macro that changes the "name" of an object of everything selected (the name that you can see in the object manager). That makes it easier for VBA to be selective on the things it alters. Such as, on a name badge you could have a generic company name called "Company", and a personalized name called "Name" or whatever makes sense to you. Then my code can more easily either change all the company names to the next company you make for, or go out and look at your list of names to fill in the other boxes with (sizing font accordingly for longer names).

Looking forward to seeing where this goes. Might even warrant a new folder here :D 

Shaddy

From: UncleSteve [#23]
 1 Jul 2006
To: Shaddy [#22] 2 Jul 2006

Hmmm..... sounds like premium content to me! ;-) 

(Are you reading this, David?)

From: Carl (CSEWELL) [#24]
 1 Jul 2006
To: Shaddy [#22] 2 Jul 2006

Are you interested in trying a few of my macros AT YOUR OWN RISK? I can e-mail them to you as GMS files. The XYCopy might be a good start.

I completed a beta version of the print merge last night. It reads from a hard-coded text filename (temporary only!), copies the selected text and replaces the first word (of the selected text) with the name (one per line) in the text file. The copying is an extension of the XYCopy macro. Not at all elegantly encoded, but it appears to work. It doesn't work correctly with first name and last name, just yet, because of the property I selected to make the replacement. There's probably a better way. It might be easier to use a 'FIELD' as you suggested, but that might be too involved for a novice user to set up.

We'll have to get David to pony up some development funds. ;^)

From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#25]
 2 Jul 2006
To: Carl (CSEWELL) [#24] 2 Jul 2006

quote:
We'll have to get David to pony up some development funds.


Carl,

I've been following this thread with extreme interest. I don't want to create a stir by mentioning the dreaded "P" word, but these are exactly the types of projects I want to fund.

From: Carl (CSEWELL) [#26]
 2 Jul 2006
To: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#25] 2 Jul 2006

Just joking David. Once a macro is released, it can easily be copied. We can protect the source code with passwords, but that only keeps the honest folks out. I guess funding would support development and might bring in some better programmers.

There are also VB protection schemes. One I've used on my CreateADMx software and it seems to work pretty good. It's based on a 2-key pair. One key is generated at the installation site and the liberation is returned based on the first key. Sounds complicated, but it's fairly easy to implement. I'm not sure how well it would play for CorelDraw macros.

I guess I'd rather see the code released for further development, but we'll see how it plays out. There may only be a few macros that would beneficial to the engraving industry.

From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#27]
 2 Jul 2006
To: Carl (CSEWELL) [#26] 2 Jul 2006

Carl,

I wasn't so concerned about the "security" of the macros as much as having something developed for the betterment of the engraving industry.

If that can be achieved through volunteerism, fine.

If, as you suggest, a financial incentive would spur things along and increase the quality of the end result (which is often the case) I'm for that as well.

Message 4230.28 was deleted

From: Carl (CSEWELL) [#29]
 2 Jul 2006
To: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#27] 2 Jul 2006

quote:
If, as you suggest, a financial incentive would spur things along and increase the quality of the end result (which is often the case) I'm for that as well.


I don't need fame. I can always use more money! Maybe we'll get a REAL programmer to step up to the challenge?!?!?

Do we need to halt development until the P-word site comes online? ;^)

EDITED: 2 Jul 2006 by CSEWELL

From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#30]
 2 Jul 2006
To: Carl (CSEWELL) [#29] 2 Jul 2006

Carl,

You said the "P" word. :-$ 

It's a bad word, depending on which direction the "P" is heading. :-) 

My generosity will be limited, until we take that step. >.< 

From: sprinter [#31]
 2 Jul 2006
To: ALL

I've been following this thread and I still haven't found any reasoning of how VBA's would be of true value to engravers. Most of the features are already in Corel that have been mentioned here. VBA's are more suited to CAD designers having to make many repetitive changes over layers, which is not needed for engraving tasks. It takes far longer to write or even evoke the macros than to make a few manual changes for the engravers needs. The only macros I can think of that would be of benefit is to make repetitive templetes or doing gang engraving of multiple items with the same text (golf tees would be an example). Members would be better off learning the advanced features of corel than learning the VBA language.

From: Carl (CSEWELL) [#32]
 2 Jul 2006
To: sprinter [#31] 2 Jul 2006

Thanks! That's the type of input I'm looking for.

I happen to use several macros and will definitely use more since my 'style' is based on my many years of using advanced CAD programs and relying on the advanced features that they have. Every shortcut that I can take, even if it takes significant time to develop, has the potential to make me more profitable and improve the service, quality, and accuracy to my customers.

Starting VBA macros in CorelDraw can be as simple as any other CorelDraw command or tool. They can be added to toolbars in just a few seconds. I have a flyout that has just macros with their own icon that makes them easy for me to run. It would be a good idea to export your workspace so it can be easily(?) restored should a problem develop.

I wouldn't recommend anyone embarking on learning VBA just for CorelDraw. I think the learning curve would be far too steep for most people that don't have a programming background. Then again, some people might enjoy the challenge.

I do believe that there is potential for even inexperienced users to take advantage of existing VBA macros, even it is only one or two. And that may not be enough for most people to mess with them. So far, the one that people believe to be the best candidate is an alternative for 'print merge'. Are there any others?

From: Carl (CSEWELL) [#33]
 2 Jul 2006
To: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#30] 2 Jul 2006

quote:
You said the "P" word.


So very, very sorry. I'll try to be a better engraver and mind my "Ps" and "Qs".

{Am I banished forever, or just for a probationary period? I edited my post. Does that lessen the sentence?}

From: Stunt Engraver (DGL) [#34]
 2 Jul 2006
To: Carl (CSEWELL) [#33] 2 Jul 2006

Carl,

I'm feeling benevolent today. No time-outs. :P 

From: Carl (CSEWELL) [#35]
 7 Jul 2006
To: ALL

All;

I just spent several minutes counting letters on a plaque to see if my guesstimate pricing was even close. It wasn't. So I spent 5 minutes creating a CorelDraw VBA macro that will count all the letters in the current selection set (must be text, not curves). It doesn't count CR, FF, LF, etc. For those that are ASCII literate the range is between 32 and 127, non-inclusive.

The macro is about 22 lines long, but only about half of them are absolutely necessary.

Would this macro be of any use to anyone?

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