How to Load Macros from an E-mail, a Web page, or Another Computer

Have you seen a macro in an e-mail or on a web page that you could really use, but you don't know how to get it into Connexion so that you can run it? Here's how to do it. There are two methods, depending on whether the macro is in text form or binary form, plus a variant for text or binary macros that have been compacted into a zipped file. Following that are brief instructions for copying macros from one computer to another.

Macro is in text form (in other words, you can see "MacroName" or "Sub Main" or the like)

  1. Using your mouse or cursor keys, select the entire macro and copy it (using a menu, the right mouse button, or CTRL-C).
  2. Open up Connexion (if it isn't already). In the Tools menu, select Macros, then select Manage.
  3. If you do not already have a macrobook for macros other than the Cutter macros that come with Connexion, click New Book. Give the book a name (for example, "Utilities" or "MacrosFromTheWeb"), and press Enter.
  4. Make sure the macrobook in which you want the new macro to go is highlighted, then click "New Macro". You will be prompted to enter a brief description of what the macro does, then to give the macro a name. (You don't have to use the same name and description as the macro you're copying has, but it's probably a good idea to use them anyway.)
  5. Make sure the new macro's name is highlighted, then click Edit. This opens the Macro Editor and the macro you just created. (If you were creating a new macro from scratch, you would stop here, manually enter your desired program commands, then skip to step 9.)
  6. Select all of the text that appears in the Macro Editor and press Delete.
  7. Paste the text you copied earlier (using the Paste button on the toolbar or CTRL-V).
  8. If you copied the macro from an e-mail, it is possible that some line breaks will be mistakenly inserted by the either sender's e-mail program or your e-mail program. If the macro writer indented the commands, errors due to line breaks will be obvious because they will be flush against the left margin, and the only commands that are normally left at the left margin are Sub..., End... and labels such as "GoHereNext:". Just go to the end of the previous line and press the Delete key to fix any such instances.
  9. Click the Check button on the toolbar to save the macro. This will also tell you if there are any other errors in the macro. Use the button with an X and a down arrow to jump to the first/next error to fix it. When you're done fixing any errors, click the Check button again to make sure they're all fixed and to save the macro.
  10. You're done! The macro is ready to be run or be assigned to a keystroke. You can now close the macro window and go back to Connexion.

Macro is in binary form (in other words, it is a file with the extension ".mbk")

  1. If the file is linked from a web page, save it to Connexion's macros directory. (By default, this is "C:\Program Files\OCLC\Connexion\Program\Macros\", but that can vary.) When you click on the link, your web browser should automatically prompt you to save the file.
  2. If the file is on a disk or elsewhere on your local network instead, copy it from there to Connexion's macros directory.
  3. You're done! If you go to the Tools menu, then select Macros, then select Manage, you will see a new macrobook with the same name as the file you saved or copied. In that macrobook is the macro or macros you wanted. (Note: Some versions of Netscape will mangle all binary files that you try to save. If you do all of the above steps, but the macrobook does not appear in the Macro Manager window, try saving the file again via a different web browser or asking someone to download it and e-mail it to you.)

Macro is in zipped form (in other words, it is a file with the extension ".zip")

  1. Open the zipped file and extract the contents. Windows XP has this functionality built in, so that you can open the file as if it were a directory and copy the file to another location on your computer. There are also various third-party programs out there that can unzip zipped files; I usually use WinZip or WinRAR.
  2. Check whether the resulting file is in text or binary form, and follow the appropriate directions above.

Copy macros from one computer to another

  1. Using the Windows Explorer, copy the macrobook from Connexion's macros directory on the "from" computer to a disk or a shared network directory. (The macrobook you want to copy will have the same file name as it has inside Connexion. It will also have the extension ".mbk", though this may not be visible on every computer.)
  2. Go to the "to" computer and copy the file from the disk or your local network to Connexion's macros directory on the "to" computer.
  3. You're done!

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