iMacro TIMEOUT issue

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Neufusion
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2010 12:34 am

iMacro TIMEOUT issue

Post by Neufusion » Tue Jul 13, 2010 12:57 am

I've tried many combinations of timeouts, waits, etc but I can't get around this issue...

This script removes Facebook friends from a given Facebook friend list:

Code: Select all

VERSION BUILD=6700624 RECORDER=FX
SET !ERRORIGNORE YES
SET !TIMEOUT 30
TAB T=1
URL GOTO=http://www.facebook.com/friends/?filter=flp_1126436156028
SET !TIMEOUT_TAG 20
TAG POS=1 TYPE=A ATTR=CLASS:UIObjectListing_Title&&HREF:/*
SET !TIMEOUT_TAG 5
TAG POS=1 TYPE=A ATTR=HREF:http://www.facebook.com/ajax/profile/removefriendconfirm.php?uid=*
TAG POS=1 TYPE=INPUT:BUTTON ATTR=NAME:remove-friend&&VALUE:Remove<SP>from<SP>Friends
The script can run successfully for up to 15 people, but usually anywhere from 3-15 loops in, it fails.
I'm having two problems...
1. Sometimes a page loads up and sits for eternity at "Transferring data from static.ak.fbcdn.net..." The page appears to be fully loaded and functional.
2. When a page does that, iMacro pops up a red "Loading:" bar in the replay window and starts counting the TIMEOUT to 30 seconds but does NOTHING when it hits 30. The red bar just sits blank with a red background. Now the browser status is "Read static.ak.fbcdn.net" So this replay has been sitting here like this for over 30 minutes, but if I manually click on the links that iMacro was supposed to, it magically kicks into gear and keeps running through the playback loops. So it just ran through 3 more loops and now it's stuck again.

How do I get around the eternal "Transferring data from"?
and/or how do I force iMacro to continue the steps or skip to the next playback loop if the TIMEOUT limit is hit?
Tom, Tech Support
Posts: 3834
Joined: Mon May 31, 2010 4:59 pm

Re: iMacro TIMEOUT issue

Post by Tom, Tech Support » Wed Jul 14, 2010 12:24 pm

Hello Neufusion,

What version of iMacros are you using? Have you tried this with the latest version, iMacros 7?
Regards,

Tom, iMacros Support
Vitae
Posts: 64
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:45 am

Re: iMacro TIMEOUT issue

Post by Vitae » Thu Jul 15, 2010 1:45 pm

I've got the exact same issue.
I'm using iMacros for Firefox 6.7.0.1
Which is interesting since according to the download section says 6.6.5.0 is the current version for Firefox

If I install Version 7 will it be a Firefox version or the separate browser? Tried that once before with an older version, and honestly, it slowed my system down and was a resource hog. it lasted less than 2hrs on my computer before uninstalling.
Neufusion
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2010 12:34 am

Re: iMacro TIMEOUT issue

Post by Neufusion » Thu Jul 15, 2010 8:25 pm

I'm using iMacros for Firefox 6.7.0.1

Strange,
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3863/
is version 6.7.0.1
but
http://www.iopus.com/download/imacros-firefox/
is version 6.6.5.0

I haven't tried iMacros 7 mostly because
1. I just want a simple firefox plugin
2. It isn't free. I can't justify spending $500 to automate some personal facebook maintenance
Vitae
Posts: 64
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:45 am

Re: iMacro TIMEOUT issue

Post by Vitae » Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:41 pm

@Neufusion: Ever heard of GreaseMonkey? lots of scripts for it @ http://userscripts.org/

I only use iMacro for those apps that don't have a GM script.

plus, it's free.

And I agree, $500 is way to much.
Vitae
Posts: 64
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:45 am

Re: iMacro TIMEOUT issue

Post by Vitae » Thu Jul 22, 2010 1:25 pm

Guess we're not getting an answer.
Maybe i'll downgrade to the version on this site.
Never had the problem until the newer version
Vitae
Posts: 64
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:45 am

Re: iMacro TIMEOUT issue

Post by Vitae » Thu Jul 22, 2010 1:28 pm

Neufusion wrote: http://www.iopus.com/download/imacros-firefox/
is version 6.6.5.0
It SAYS it's 6.6.5.0, but i just went to downgrade hoping that the timeouts wouldn't happen, and it's really 6.7.0.1
They just never bothered to change the version on the page.
Crap. have to find an older version somewhere then.
Tom, Tech Support
Posts: 3834
Joined: Mon May 31, 2010 4:59 pm

Re: iMacro TIMEOUT issue

Post by Tom, Tech Support » Fri Jul 23, 2010 8:50 am

Hi Vitae,

Yes, it was just a typo on the web page (which has since been fixed). You can download previous versions of the iMacros Firefox add-on from the Mozilla archive.
Regards,

Tom, iMacros Support
Vitae
Posts: 64
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:45 am

Re: iMacro TIMEOUT issue

Post by Vitae » Fri Jul 23, 2010 2:12 pm

Thanks Tom.
What about the issue tho?
Tom, Tech Support
Posts: 3834
Joined: Mon May 31, 2010 4:59 pm

Re: iMacro TIMEOUT issue

Post by Tom, Tech Support » Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:27 pm

Vitae, Neufusion,

I'm not able to test the exact same scenario, since I don't have a a list of friends that I can delete from Facebook. However, I did test using a macro that performs the following steps:

1) Navigates to the list of all friends
2) Clicks on the first friend in the list
3) Clicks the "Remove from Friends" link
4) Clicks the "Cancel" button on the confirmation pop-up.

I didn't experience the same exact behavior that Neufusion described, but I did experience quite a bit of inconsistency (different error messages at different steps) when looping the macro. Dealing with sites like Facebook which make use of quite a bit of AJAX can be meddlesome, and the full version of iMacros may fare better in this situation (although I haven't had a chance to test it yet).

What I was able to do though, was to run the macro from javascript and add some error handling to make it a bit more robust and resilient.

Code: Select all

var macroInit1, macroInit2;
var macroSteps = new Array();
var i, step;

macroInit1 = "CODE: SET !TIMEOUT_PAGE 20\n";
macroInit2 = "CODE: SET !TIMEOUT_PAGE 5\n";

macroSteps.push(macroInit1 + "URL GOTO=http://www.facebook.com/#!/friends/?ref=tn\n");
macroSteps.push(macroInit2 + "TAG POS=1 TYPE=A ATTR=CLASS:UIObjectListing_Title\n");
macroSteps.push(macroInit2 + "TAG POS=1 TYPE=A ATTR=ID:profile_action_remove_friend\n");
macroSteps.push(macroInit2 + "TAG POS=1 TYPE=INPUT:BUTTON ATTR=NAME:cancel&&VALUE:Cancel\n");

for (i=0; i<10; i++)
{
	for (step = 0; step < macroSteps.length; step++)
	{
		if (iimPlay(macroSteps[step]) < 0)
		{
			// The last command resulted in an error,
			// try it one more time.
			iimPlay(macroSteps[step]);
		}
	}
}
Basically, I check each step for an error, and retry that step again if an error occurred. If an error occurs after the second attempt, the script just moves on. This way, in my tests, the script keeps going until it reaches the end of the loop, even if errors have occurred. You can take a look at the macro code in this script and change it accordingly to delete friends by clicking the "Remove from Friends" button on the confirmation pop-up. Also note that I'm hard-coding the loop (10) for testing purposes, but you should be able to modify the script to be smarter about detecting when there are no more friends in the list and then stop.
Regards,

Tom, iMacros Support
Vitae
Posts: 64
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:45 am

Re: iMacro TIMEOUT issue

Post by Vitae » Thu Oct 27, 2011 5:17 am

Neufusion wrote: I'm having two problems...
1. Sometimes a page loads up and sits for eternity at "Transferring data from static.ak.fbcdn.net..." The page appears to be fully loaded and functional.
2. When a page does that, iMacro pops up a red "Loading:" bar in the replay window and starts counting the TIMEOUT to 30 seconds but does NOTHING when it hits 30. The red bar just sits blank with a red background. Now the browser status is "Read static.ak.fbcdn.net" So this replay has been sitting here like this for over 30 minutes, but if I manually click on the links that iMacro was supposed to, it magically kicks into gear and keeps running through the playback loops. So it just ran through 3 more loops and now it's stuck again.
How do I get around the eternal "Transferring data from"?
and/or how do I force iMacro to continue the steps or skip to the next playback loop if the TIMEOUT limit is hit?
Sorry to revive an oooold post, but this issue still is occurring.
Many of my scripts after a while tend to just sit there with the red bar and don't do anything.
There's no particular time that it happens (1, 2, 10th loops) or what line of the script it's on (it's happened on the 3rd line just as easily as the 50th) nor does it matter what page it's on (myspace, Facebook, monster.com)
It's just a random occurrence.
I use iMacros 7.3.0.0 for FireFox 3.6.23 on Windows XP SP3.
Tom, Tech Support
Posts: 3834
Joined: Mon May 31, 2010 4:59 pm

Re: iMacro TIMEOUT issue

Post by Tom, Tech Support » Mon Oct 31, 2011 12:40 pm

Vitae wrote:Sorry to revive an oooold post, but this issue still is occurring.
Many of my scripts after a while tend to just sit there with the red bar and don't do anything.
There's no particular time that it happens (1, 2, 10th loops) or what line of the script it's on (it's happened on the 3rd line just as easily as the 50th) nor does it matter what page it's on (myspace, Facebook, monster.com)
It's just a random occurrence.
I use iMacros 7.3.0.0 for FireFox 3.6.23 on Windows XP SP3.
Again, iMacros for Firefox has a harder time with AJAXy sites. Your options are to call your macros using the built-in Javascript scripting interface and include extra error handling code to detect and recover from these situations as already explained (e.g. specify a timeout value to iimPlay), or upgrade to a more robust commercial edition of iMacros.
Regards,

Tom, iMacros Support
Vitae
Posts: 64
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:45 am

Re: iMacro TIMEOUT issue

Post by Vitae » Fri Nov 18, 2011 10:57 pm

I'll give it a shot with js way.
But it's a pain in the ass to convert 50 lines of stuff to longer lines, and more lines.
And sorry, can't afford to pay to have something play a game for me. I can't even pay for extras on those games, so I sure can't pay for a tool to play those same games. ;-)
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