Pasting From .txt File?

Discussions and Tech Support specific to the iMacros Firefox add-on.
Forum rules
iMacros EOL - Attention!

The renewal maintenance has officially ended for Progress iMacros effective November 20, 2023 and all versions of iMacros are now considered EOL (End-of-Life). The iMacros products will no longer be supported by Progress (aside from customer license issues), and these forums will also no longer be moderated from the Progress side.

Thank you again for your business and support.

Sincerely,
The Progress Team

Before asking a question or reporting an issue:
1. Please review the list of FAQ's.
2. Use the search box (at the top of each forum page) to see if a similar problem or question has already been addressed.
3. Try searching the iMacros Wiki - it contains the complete iMacros reference as well as plenty of samples and tutorials.
4. We can respond much faster to your posts if you include the following information: CLICK HERE FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO INCLUDE IN YOUR POST
Post Reply
InFaDeLiTy
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2009 12:04 am

Pasting From .txt File?

Post by InFaDeLiTy » Wed Jan 28, 2009 12:08 am

I belong to many forums and I need to post the same thing in each forum (Not Spam)
Seems a macro is the best way to go about doing this but how can I make it paste from whats in a text file?
Other issue is it making the topic title, is there a way I can make it so it knows the first line of the text file should be the topic title and rest be the actual post? Also, is there a way to make it use different variation of code tags on different forums some use dl instead of code some use hide and so on and so forth.
Appreciate any help
dharmendra2000
Posts: 214
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2008 1:28 pm
Location: Ahmedabad
Contact:

Re: Pasting From .txt File?

Post by dharmendra2000 » Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:46 am

I think it's not possible....
B'Coz different forum have different HTML tags for page controls like text box, text area and buttons

iMacor identify controls based on HTML tags, so it is not possible. :(
InFaDeLiTy
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2009 12:04 am

Re: Pasting From .txt File?

Post by InFaDeLiTy » Wed Jan 28, 2009 12:49 pm

Well could I at least make it take 1st line of a text file and use it as the Subject name of the post
then the rest of the text file be the actual post? Seems like that would be relatively possible?
additional001
Posts: 175
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 3:24 am

Re: Pasting From .txt File?

Post by additional001 » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:34 pm

You can't "paste" from a text file but you could use a CSV file. Read the WIKI for more information
InFaDeLiTy
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2009 12:04 am

Re: Pasting From .txt File?

Post by InFaDeLiTy » Wed Jan 28, 2009 11:26 pm

additional001 wrote:You can't "paste" from a text file but you could use a CSV file. Read the WIKI for more information
Ok obviously going to ask same question just replacing text file with CSV file.
Can I do what I want mentioned before with CSV file?
InFaDeLiTy
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2009 12:04 am

Re: Pasting From .txt File?

Post by InFaDeLiTy » Thu Jan 29, 2009 12:30 pm

InFaDeLiTy wrote:
additional001 wrote:You can't "paste" from a text file but you could use a CSV file. Read the WIKI for more information
Ok obviously going to ask same question just replacing text file with CSV file.
Can I do what I want mentioned before with CSV file?

Still needing help to figure out if itd be possible to automate posting on the forums I belong to using a CSV file. I will need to change it frequently I need to make it so first line is topic title and rest of the file is the subject.
Possible? If so how can I go about doing this?
additional001
Posts: 175
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 3:24 am

Re: Pasting From .txt File?

Post by additional001 » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:07 pm

No one can answer this for you because we don't use the same forums as you. So how are we supposed to know?

Again read the WIKI! Check out the command reference for !COLn !DATASOURCE and any other CSV related variables. Then learn by trial and error. Without URL links and more information on those forums theres not much more anyone else can do for you.
josephconlin
Posts: 190
Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2008 2:38 am

Re: Pasting From .txt File?

Post by josephconlin » Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:36 pm

InFaDeLiTy wrote:I belong to many forums and I need to post the same thing in each forum (Not Spam)
Seems a macro is the best way to go about doing this but how can I make it paste from whats in a text file?
Other issue is it making the topic title, is there a way I can make it so it knows the first line of the text file should be the topic title and rest be the actual post? Also, is there a way to make it use different variation of code tags on different forums some use dl instead of code some use hide and so on and so forth.
Appreciate any help
Let's break this down into pieces.
1) Can I get the data I want to post in a forum from a text (or csv) file?
2) Can I get two distinct pieces of data (a subject and a message body) from the file?
3) Can I make the macro understand the differences in the posting formats of each forum?

For #1, yes, you can get data from either a text file or a csv file. Since csv is supported directly in iMacros, it's the easier choice if it will work for you. If you must have a different format, you'll need to search the forums for reading in a text file and try one of those methods (this will require some programming on your part). An alternative to this would be to write your update in one forum, then write a macro that extracts your subject and message text and use that data to fill in the other forums.

For #2, with csv, your first column could be either the subject or the message body, and then after the comma, the second column could be the other one. If you decide to use csv, watch out for issues with commas in your data being mistaken as separators for another column. You can usually avoid this by putting your text inside quotes, but just be aware. For other file formats, you can do whatever you want with the lines or any other separator if you know how to program it. If you use an extraction macro to get the data, you'll probably have !VAR1 and !VAR2 storing each thing. You might look at the Extract and Fill demo that shipped with iMacros for help with some of this.

For #3, the simple answer is no, but I see two ways of handling this. One would be to create a really long macro that had the specifics for posting in each forum and listed them one after another. The other would be to have a javascript file that calls a single macro for each forum you want to post to. The websites are likely so different that you won't be able to get away with writing one generic bit of macro that will work on all of them. See the javascript demos that came with iMacros if you are interested in having one main script calling each individual macros, in addition to the wiki previously mentioned.
InFaDeLiTy
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2009 12:04 am

Re: Pasting From .txt File?

Post by InFaDeLiTy » Fri Jan 30, 2009 4:33 pm

#1 seems desirable with the doing 1 forum then updating it to fill out the rest.
How would I go about doing that exactly?

Also, I would post which forums id intend on using it for but I dont think theyd be allowed here, if your genuinely trying to help me then pm me and ill letcha know that way. (Not porn or related to that)

Just trying find a way to save time copying and pasting to 20ish forums gets a bit tedious specially when I do it 1-3 times a day.
josephconlin
Posts: 190
Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2008 2:38 am

Re: Pasting From .txt File?

Post by josephconlin » Sun Feb 01, 2009 3:40 am

InFaDeLiTy wrote:#1 seems desirable with the doing 1 forum then updating it to fill out the rest.
How would I go about doing that exactly?

Also, I would post which forums id intend on using it for but I dont think theyd be allowed here, if your genuinely trying to help me then pm me and ill letcha know that way. (Not porn or related to that)

Just trying find a way to save time copying and pasting to 20ish forums gets a bit tedious specially when I do it 1-3 times a day.
I won't be writing anything specific for you. I'm just trying to point you in the right direction to help you write it for yourself. :D The Demo-ExtractAndFill.iim macro that ships with the iMacros extension would be a good starting place, along with the documentation mentioned earlier in the thread.

I find that the forums are generally most helpful when you can say "I have this code, and it stops working at this point. Can anyone see why or what to do next?" rather than "I have this high level idea of the whole thing that I want to accomplish. Can anyone give me the whole thing put together?" The best you'll get for something like that is a general idea of things to look for, whereas with more specific questions, you'll likely get more specific answers.

Best of luck!
InFaDeLiTy
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2009 12:04 am

Re: Pasting From .txt File?

Post by InFaDeLiTy » Sun Feb 01, 2009 5:38 am

Or how about, this wouldnt be to hard for someone who knows what there doing whereas I do not and ill pay depending on the price for the work.
What I am asking for would be rather simple for a scripter all im asking for is a macro to paste whatever it is I need pasted at the time and allow me to change it as need be and post on some forums.

Cause I have no knowledge of any of this stuff nor the time to learn it.
josephconlin
Posts: 190
Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2008 2:38 am

Re: Pasting From .txt File?

Post by josephconlin » Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:40 pm

InFaDeLiTy wrote:Or how about, this wouldnt be to hard for someone who knows what there doing whereas I do not and ill pay depending on the price for the work.
I haven't seen any posts like that get any successful replies, but maybe there are scripters out there who contact the people via email or other means outside the forum. Good luck to you!
Post Reply