Thom,
I've found out that applications don't behave the same way every single time I
use it. That being said, I imagine the problem with the Do/Rule loop would be
that the Sub will perform all of the If Rule() statements depending on where
the app decides to stabilize for half a second, whether it's the desired screen
or a screen you see as stuff is loading.
It's a little cheap on my end, but I've had some success copying the VB portion
of a Rules script, namely:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If Something Then
If Rule ("") Then
DoStuff
Exit Sub 'So your script doesn't perform every
action listed
End if
Elseif SomethingElse Then
If Rule("") Then
DoOtherStuff
Exit Sub
End if
End if
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But I don't know if that's right or not...
(PS: Awesome way to include a NASCAR quote in scripting)
Paul-Michael Fernandez | Reimbursement Solutions Coordinator | ¡Salud!
Revenue Solutions, LLC | Desk 765. 637. 2411 | Mobile 765.413.7141 |
www.saludrevenue.com<http://www.saludrevenue.com/> |
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
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From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2012 1:29 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE:[talkbws] Scripting Star v17 Service Item Price Updates
Oh and a script that jumps around, that is doing conditional checks....
That makes me want to guess that someone put in At "" (or Rule "" if using the
Rule command)
I hesitate to even explain what At"" / Rule"" does because I have heard
misconceptions / misunderstandings about this for years :) But good knowledge
is power - so here are the facts.
Fact #1: BWS does not let you see the exact same condition twice with At or
Rule - and that is always a very good thing, unless for a particular,
individual, perfectly understood scripting situation it is not.
Fact #2: You will see this behavior when debugging, and it will confound you
75% of the time you run into it regardless of your experience level, because
you will execute the command twice in a row and be thinking "dang it, it was
true the first time, now it is returning false"
Fact #3: At"", Rule "" clears out what BWS last saw, allowing you to indeed see
the same thing again. Regardless of what you might think, the vast majority of
the time, that is typically not behavior that you want in a running script.
An exercise: Explain why the below is dangerous code - it may work perfectly,
most of the time - but someday, it will fail with a symptom like it seemed
like the screen was "jumping"
Do
Rule""
If Rule()
If Rule()
If Rule()
Stable
Loop
I will leave it up to the scripter to provide an explanation. If you don't know
off hand, going through the thought exercise to come up with the correct answer
will make you a better scripter. So I am not going to tell you the answer!
However, I will happily respond to anyone's attempt - confirming your
correctness or guiding you down the path to the answer.
Thom C. Blackwell VP, Technical Services
Boston Software Systems, Inc.
Phone: 866.653.5105 x807
Mobile: 508.423.8463
Fax: 508.319.3015
www.bostonsoftwaresystems.com<http://www.bostonsoftwaresystems.com/>
Healthcare Automation - Revolutionizing How You Work.
The information contained in this message may be confidential and legally
protected under applicable law. The message is intended solely for the
addressee(s). If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified
that any use, forwarding, dissemination, or reproduction of this message is
strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you are not the intended recipient,
please contact the sender by return e-mail and destroy all copies of the
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From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2012 1:02 PM
To: Talk
Subject: RE:[talkbws] Scripting Star v17 Service Item Price Updates
Mike,
Here's some advice - warning this will be a long post! I am assuming you have a
reasonably new rev of BWS - so I'll use the more modern commands - PauseRule
and Rule vs Pause and At. The difference, they allow checking more than one
screen condition at once.
For your screen conditions in STAR look for unique text on the screen to ID
that page plus the prompt text - Do not use cursor locations! Then you don't
have to worry about locations changing.
Here is an example:
PauseRule "STAR Main Menu@*,*&Enter Option Number"
For menu navigation - I'd suggest using the Navigate command vs hard coding in
numbers:
PauseRule "STAR Main Menu@*,*&Enter Option Number"
Navigate "Patient Accounting"
In a properly written script Stable (use that since this is a character based
screen) is used inside a loop simply to allow the PC to breath while the script
is checking things. Avoid like the plague any thought of using Stable/Wait for
"timing when to look for something" - that is a recipe for creating unreliable
scripts.
E.g.
Enter "something"
Stable 1
If at("Something")
That code above is BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD - did I mention it was bad - so
bad it made my fingers hurt just typing it :)
I like to use the metaphor of a camera pointed at the monitor - that camera
could either be video camera or it could be a snapshot camera
PauseRule is like a video camera - it is constantly seeing the screen after the
Record button is pressed, so when it sees the conditions then you move to the
next command
Rule is a snapshot camera - it only will see what was on the screen when the
shutter was clicked, then it will checks for the conditions against that
picture. That's is why Rule ALWAYS MUST BE IN A LOOP unless you have a
confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that what you are looking for either
absolutely will be there or absolutely will not be there when the picture was
taken.
I've been using For-Next instead of Do-Loop for these checks:
Sub CheckforError
For i=1 to timeout
If Rule(Error condition 1)
If Rule(Error condition 2)
If Rule(Where I was expecting to go if no errors)
Stable .2
Next i
Err.raise seTimeout ' if you got here that means it didn't see any of your
checks - you missed an error - or heck something weird happened.
End sub
Why .2 - the default interval is half a second - you really don't need to delay
that long between checks. There is a law of diminishing returns however so
cranking down Stable to .00001 will just hammer the PC - making performance
worse. As you may hear a NASCAR driver say - "sometimes you have to go slow to
go fast"
Now for STAR, errors are typically ephemeral - you end up being back at the
same place you started:
Enter Account number: type in something bad
Bad account displays on Row 25 for about 1.5 seconds
Now you are back at the Enter Account number prompt
So to trap for that, you either need a crisp loop like the above - another
reason NOT to use an arbitrary delay!!!! - and Rule for the error message
text. Or more commonly just check to see if you are back where you started from.
Finally, I'd suggest avoiding getting too "fancy" with your code - If I am not
using Rules (which btw works very well w/ STAR) .
I adhere to the following script structure when I am doing any procedural
script and it works very well - this is an example using names that may sort
of match what you are doing:
Scripts module
Sub MainSIMUpdate
If not Login then FatalError
Do until d.eof
MainSIMProcess
d.Next_
loop
End sub
Some other module
Sub MainSIMProcess
On error goto errh
If not SIMLookup () then
err.raise seTimeout
If not EnterSIM() then
err.raise seTimeout
D("Status")="Done"
Exit sub
Errh:
Err.clear
ScreenResetRoutine 'Basically
Enter"." Etc till I get to anchor screen, set D("Status")="Error", perform any
notification etc....
End sub
Unit of scripting work routines are functions that simply bubble up the error
to the main routine by returning false
Function Login() as Boolean
On error goto errh
PauseRule "UserID"
Enter "UserID
...
Login=True
Errh:
Status="Login"
Err.clear
Exit function
Hope all this helps!
Thom C. Blackwell VP, Technical Services
Boston Software Systems, Inc.
Phone: 866.653.5105 x807
Mobile: 508.423.8463
Fax: 508.319.3015
www.bostonsoftwaresystems.com<http://www.bostonsoftwaresystems.com/>
Healthcare Automation - Revolutionizing How You Work.
The information contained in this message may be confidential and legally
protected under applicable law. The message is intended solely for the
addressee(s). If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified
that any use, forwarding, dissemination, or reproduction of this message is
strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you are not the intended recipient,
please contact the sender by return e-mail and destroy all copies of the
original message.
From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2012 12:18 PM
To: Talk
Subject: [talkbws] Scripting Star v17 Service Item Price Updates
I've been working on STAR Service Item Price Updates
I inherited a VB script that "years ago was written by Boston Workstation
Consultants" - but that code never really worked (probably due to screen
changes or additional questions that come along during the process).
I've re-engineered the code - so there is now a response for each possible
question/prompt that comes up on the various screens using combination of SUB's
and Functions along with CASE statements.
I can walk thru my logic in debug mode and works fine - but when RUNNING - the
script bounces all over the place and doesn't keep to the logic...
Can someone provide advice/confirm - how to leverage PAUSE, At (""), DoEvents,
Wait's, Stable's...
Seems the best practice is to use Pause for the Upcoming "Major" response
questions (enter Dept #, Enter SI #, Enter Variable price)...and use IF for
other optional questions that may come up related to that screen ...with some
Wait's after any response
And use At("") after a major screen has received it's response (like Dept, SI
#, price adjustment)
THANKS - Happy Holidays
Mike McGinnis
Information Technology
John Muir Health
1400 Treat Blvd
Walnut Creek, CA 94597
Phone (925) 947-4466 x 32412
Cell (925) 286-5310
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