Macro Recorder in LA?

[HowardP]

Hello Everyone!

First post here ...

I really did search in the QM and LA forums for an answer to "is there a Macro Recorder for LA?" - figuring it would be among the most common questions of all. Surprise! Nothing - or, more likely - I didn't search correctly.  Ah well, please excuse my Noobness. 

As a long time user of AutoHotKey, I've been frustrated with how far it has fallen behind the times, making AHK progressively less usable. It's primary strength: traversing the Windows object model. It's weakness: poor to no modern browser or scripting support.

After looking at Micro$oft's Power Automate, Zapier, and many of the rest, I gave up. No justification for the costs for my own personal use, aside from their missing features that fall through the cracks. Wonderful that both QM and LA seem to recognize these as missing but also, afaict so far, deal with them very effectively. Kudos!

I learned for the first time about Quick Macros when a friend told me about it last night --- I about blew a 100 Amp fuse!
Why? Well, because I had searched for many hours over many weeks online for an Autohotkey replacement.
Huh? Neither QuickMacro nor LibreAutomate were in *any* Google results      I think you all need to do a bit more marketing!

So after all that, my questions, if you please:

1. Is there a macro recorder like QM has but for LA?  (The LA editor and its descriptions seem to say no.)
   
2. Since LA is a complete rewrite of QM, dropping QM's own language in favor of C#, I am correct in assuming that a macro recorded in QM is not easily "importable" into LA? 
   
3. Or, if it is, but with some fiddling, where is the import / conversion process documented?
   
4. I did read that the QM and LA can run at the same time, but that there was something to the effect of "LA cannot call a QM macro" ... if not, is the reverse possible, i.e., a QM macro calls an instance of LA and passes it some parms?  (I've been coding for >50 years [seriously] so writing some socket-level interop code wouldn't be a big deal. That's least possible, right? Since, at first blush, LA appears to have excellent (even complete) .NET support.)
   
5. Speaking of, are there any issues with the latest .NET8 release? (A simple Y/N is good enough for further investigation.)
   

I'm very pleased to see that LA has close ties with Python.  I am currently working on heavy, complex data analysis using Numpy, etc. I have way too many windows that are interdependent and need some loving macro assistance and automation tweaking to reduce my workload overhead and reduce the amount of hair pulled from my head. 

Thank you for your time and attention!
I look forward to hanging out.

cheers,
- Howard in North Florida

[Davider]

Welcome!
I've been a heavy user of QM and LA for about two to three years now. Recently, I've been transitioning from using QM to LA for my work.
Regarding your questions, I've had similar inquiries before. Here's my understanding:

#1 Yes,
Menu: Code --> Input Recorder

 #2 #3:
Macros recorded in LA or QM typically require adjustments, but the code generated by LA macros is generally easier to understand compared to QM.
Additionally, there isn't much value in converting QM code to LA. there is no provision for code conversion functions available, you can employ #4 to achieve mutual invocation.

#4:
Function calls between QM and LA can be made through HTTP requests, allowing for parameter passing. You can refer to the link below for more details.
https://www.quickmacros.com/forum/showth...p?tid=6290
https://www.quickmacros.com/forum/showth...6#pid36746

#5:
LA always provides first-time support for the latest .NET stable versions and features.

However, editing C# code in the LA code editor has its unique aspects that require some time to explore and adapt to. Once you become familiar with these, your coding efficiency will greatly improve.

For developing small desktop utility software, QM is more suitable. However, for large-scale projects, LA is more convenient due to the availability of numerous free and open-source C# libraries.

Regarding the differences between LA and other related programming languages, I think the explanation provided in the following link is quite good:
https://github.com/qgindi/LibreAutomate/...1715348517

[HowardP]

Hello Davider, 

thanks for the welcome!  An interesting and cool forum. ...  and I've been in a few - too many?

Very much appreciate the specific and detailed answers - exactly what I was hoping for. 

RE IDE's - Will stick with VS Code, but will certainly try both QM and LA's ... maybe jump back and forth.  Quirks shouldn't be an issue.

I'm always impressed when a dev puts in the effort of building a custom IDE to support their work. Also, very impressed with how thorough Mr. Didžgalvis is. A personal note: some years back, after the fall of the 'iron curtain', I worked with a coding team from Lithuania - fine, hard working folks up there. 

And thanks for pointing out the transition from QM to LA. I'll do a simple, identical test run with both and see where it leads. 

Thanks again!
- Howard

---

Oh and I just purchased a license for QM - a good old style windows program - but it does look good. )

[Davider]

a good old style windows program - but it does look good

QM is still the main tool I use for work. It consumes very little memory, and you almost don't feel its presence.

I started learning programming with QM. Gintaras, Kevin, r0n... they have given me a lot of help. Thanks very much.

There is a video tutorial recorded by r0n in the link below, which is very good.
https://www.libreautomate.com/forum/show...p?tid=6096