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#976 2021-04-05 06:04:48

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

This post is reserved for updates on conversion of Web  Browser Automation from Level 0 to Level 1.

The new code is installed and it didn't break anything, but it didn't do anything either << glum >> .... I'll use the Debugging Step Function to see what's happening.  I ** thought ** installation of the new features would be simple because they are so similar to existing ones, but obviously I overlooked at least one thing, and perhaps more.

(th)

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#977 2021-04-05 06:38:21

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ... Noah expressed interest in the possibility we might want to add a new Index level to the forum.

I'd like to invite your consideration of a Petition process to impose upon the IT Director to create a change like that.

At minimum, I think there should be a vigorous discussion, and a minimum of 10 favorable votes, including ** all ** Administrators and (current) Moderators.

In addition, Noah could demonstrate the importance and value of the new Index level by recruiting a minimum of three new members to help him to populate the new index level with meaningful content.

I'd like to see a continuing improvement in the long term value of the forum, as we attempt to collect practical knowledge to accompany the grand visions that flow from members like Void.

Edit#1: The problem from yesterday was easy to resolve ... the new code had been isolated during development, and I forgot to remove the block.

However, now a ** new ** challenge has surfaced ... The AACKeys program is reliable for transmission of most characters to the target window.

For example, Control L (go to address line) works fine and has done so from the beginning.

However, Control C gets translated to the letter "C", even though it is shown as X'03' in the test log report.

Edit#2: Here is a possible solution ...

About 3,920,000 results (0.91 seconds)
Showing results for alternative to ctrl c to capture highlighted text to clipboard
Search instead for alternative to control c to capture highlighted text to clipboard

Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Insert and Ctrl+X
Both Ctrl + C and Ctrl + Insert will copy highlighted text or a selected item. If you want to cut an item instead of copying it, press Ctrl + X . This action removes the text or item and stores it in the clipboard , rather than copying it to the clipboard.Dec 31, 2020

Top 10 keyboard shortcuts everyone should know - Computer Hopewww.computerhope.com › Tips › Hardware Tips

Edit#3: OK ... Neither Ctrl/X or Ctrl/V work ... both are translated to X and V respectively

However, Google came up with a ray of hope ... there is a convention dating back to 1994 for transmission of special characters.

The technique (apparently) involves transmission of the Escape character (value 27) before text for the special character.

I've printed the document and will study it.

Edit#4: The 45 page document covers just about anything a person might wonder about emulation of control commands using Escape sequences.

Far more is possible than just emulation of the primary control codes.

Mouse movements are available, copy and paste and many more commands, most of which I'd not heard of before.

If anyone else in the forum readership (which is, after all, global in scope) is interested, the document is:

General Input Device Emulating Interface
(c) 1994 Trace R&D Center
University of Wisconsin
https://park.org/Guests/Trace/pavilion/gideido1.htm

Edit#5: I'm back from carefully reviewing the document on GIDEI ... This specification includes mouse movements (X and Y) in addition to every keyboard command I could think of, and many that had not occurred to me.  The question I'll try to answer tomorrow is how many of these items are supported by the AACKeys program.  I'd expect many of them to be support, if not all, but I'm thrown off a bit by the fact that AACKeys allows ** some ** control characters, while the specification implies that ** none ** would be supported.

Supported keys include Ctrl/M (Carriage Return >> Enter), Ctrl/L (FF (go to address bar)), Backspace (Ctrl/H), Tab (Ctrl/I)...

Where I struck out was Copy (Ctrl/C), Copy and Delete (Ctrl/X) and Paste (Ctrl/V).

The format of an Escape sequence is always: <esc> command(s) . << ends with period.

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-04-05 18:10:25)

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#978 2021-04-06 05:56:57

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

This post is reserved for updates on today's explorations of the GIDEI conventions, first developed and published in 1994.

The standards document (see Post 977) contains a reference to CompuServe, which was an early online communications provider based in the city where I now reside.  CompuServe became part of AOL, and AOL was absorbed into another venture.  It had distinctive numeric octal ID's based upon the machines used to serve customers at the time.

I am hoping to learn today how many (if any) of the 1994 conventions are incorporated in the AACKeys program published today by a non-profit organization that serves the community that employs Assistance Aids to facilitate computer access.

(th)

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#979 2021-04-06 09:49:57

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re Browser Automation initiative

Here is a list of the GIDEI commands available in the 2021 version of the AACKeys.exe program:

I am encouraged to think these codes may be enlisted to assist in the Browser Automation effort.

I'll be able to report success (or not) later today, but at least I can see that many of the codes defined in the 1994 paper referenced earlier in this topic are available for use in the 2021 version of the program.

If you want to start thinking ahead, you can evaluate which of the commands might be useful in a script to help you with management of the remaining spammer accounts. One capability I thik is particularly interesting is the ability to place a mouse cursor at specific coordinates on the screen, but I don't know yet if that capability is present in the 2021 program.

If the capability is present, and if the page stays constant during a session, then it would be possible to place the mouse cursor on a button or field, and save the time needed for repetitive tabbing as I am doing now.

The feedback mechanism (reading the clipboard) is showing promise.  It seems to be reliable.  The hangup is the refusal of AACKeys.exe to support sending X'03' (Control/C).  I don't see Copy or Paste in the command list below, but they are not needed if AACKeys.exe supports deliver of Control key values.

I hope to be able to report later today.

(th)

Binary Filter of AACKeys.exe on 2021/04/06
!This program cannot be run in DOS mode.
Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Interpretation
Port
Baud
Software\AAC Institute\AAC Keys

appskey
apostrophe
backspace
bspace
capslk
capslock
click
click,
comma
ctrl
dblclick
dblclick,
delete
divide
down
down,
downleft,
downright,
enter
escape
goto,
home
insert
IrDA
kpdel
kpdelete
kpdivide
kpdown
kpdp
kpend
kpenter
kphome
kpins
kpinsert
kpleft
kpmidl
kpminus
kppagedown
kppageup
kppgdn
kppgup
kpplus
kpright
kpslash
kpstar
kpup
lalt
lcontrol
lctrl
left
left,
leftalt
leftcontrol
leftctrl
leftshift
leftwinkey
lshift
middle
mougo,
moulock
moulock,
mourel
moureset
moustop
move,
multiply
numlk
numlock
pagedown
pageup
pause
pgdn
pgup
print
printscreen
prtscr
ralt
rcontrol
rctrl
return
right
right,
rightalt
rightcontrol
rightctrl
rightshift
rightwinkey
rshift
scroll
scrolllock
space
upleft,
upright,

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-04-06 10:10:33)

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#980 2021-04-06 17:03:01

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,747

Re: Housekeeping

Browser menu the alt e will when an item is highlighted allow the c or alt c to copy what is highlighted.
Right now on cellphone so will be back in a bit

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#981 2021-04-06 17:24:50

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re #980 ... For fun, I tried Alt-e on my Chromium browser and a menu at the upper right appeared.  It seems to be a menu for browser management, including Exit.

Thanks for taking a first look at the commands that appear to be available in the AACKeys.exe program!  I'm edging closer to being able to try one or two of them.

I added the entire set to the About Dialog, so it will be available to users down the road. 

One need I have NOT yet been able to satisfy is a method of testing the binary data that ** should ** be generated by AACKeys.exe upon receipt of a properly formatted Escape sequence.  The time honored method is to send the data into a program like Notepad, but it is then necessary to use a hex dump utility to examine the captured data.  I'm thinking about creating a little "live" hex dump program for this situation.  The data from AACKeys would be delivered to an open text box, and the text box could be programmed to detect activity and deliver the hexadecimal representation of whatever is received to a display window.

***
It is fun seeing so much dynamic activity in the forum.  I would imagine Noah might feel a bit overwhelmed by all the deep content that magically showed up in his new topic << grin >>.

(th)

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#982 2021-04-06 17:49:26

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,747

Re: Housekeeping

I took a peak at work but could not see the image until being home as the security stuff flagged the image location and link but was happy to see the creative from from other members with lots of details for Noah by the end of the work day.

the alt e then p also does the paste in the browser menu.

Work is forcing me to pick all on my own Business objects use for gather information from a data base to export and merge into an excel spread sheet that has other mismatching  data from other excel sheets that once combined with the one field and back filled allow for the other data to track the one fields information.

The first field has the job codes with the date to be executed but the others that are need to know what was order versus what is ready for use do not but the they have the one field of job codes. what makes it harder is when the job code is broken up into 2 field that mean the same but would not match the others so as to merge the data for viewing properly. The last thing is the date for execution can change and that means going back in to change the back filled information for not on the job code but for the wanted materials and what was actually received for use.
When I review the total data I must plan 6 weeks out for status checking of the fix of information to which the next step is for another to use the modified information to bring the kit of materials together so as to fit the timeline of execution for the work to be done.
The formula function is used on the new dates for each to have there own date tracking by use of the excel formula function for control of the when to do the follow up functions.

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#983 2021-04-06 20:38:52

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re #982

I wonder if Alt e depends on the Browser ...

On Microsoft Edge, Alt e brings up a menu that offers p for Print, not Paste.

As I look at the menu, it seems to contain a lot of functions that would make sense at the browser level, such as creating a new tab.

OK ... here's another data point, but it's not too helpful ... Chrome behaves the same way .... Alt e brings up a browser menu and p is for Print.  However, that's not saying much, because Edge is a clone of Chrome.

OK .. I found it ... on FireFox, Alt e brings up the Edit menu, and P is for Paste.

What browser are you using?

***
Regarding the work flow situation .... the organization may not be able to afford the services of a team qualified to perform flow analysis. There should be no spreadsheets at all in an organization of any size.   If an organization is quite old, it would have been using paper for all its operations, and the paper would have translated most easily into spreadsheets.

I worked for a number of years for an organization that went through it's 150th anniversary while I was there.  It had somehow managed to create a culture that allowed it to update from paper record keeping through state of the art computer systems, but while the core of the business was close to state-of-the-art, all around that core all kinds of automation came into being because the central core team could not deal with anything outside their realm.  An example was proliferation of time-share services, which I ended up managing until they were all converted to our in-house timesharing system.  When PC's came along, they began to proliferate as separate systems, but eventually those were all corralled into a massive network. 

From the description of the environment you are seeing, I get the impression your organization is in one of those intermediate stages.  It takes strong leadership from the top to make a change in a situation like that, and such leadership is rare.

One way a person in a situation like that might approach the problem is to think about what might be repetitive in the daily routine, and then think about how automation might help put a dent in the problem.

You're already using spreadsheets, but the problem appears to involve lack of uniform data processing standards for the entire organization, and that would be a natural result of slow evolution from paper, without strong leadership at the time that happened.

Edit Next Day: SpaceNut, before we go any further, would you have management support to attempt to corral the situation you've described?

It may well turn out it is easier for the organization to give you the responsibility to try to keep all those balls in the air than to attempt a reorganization so everyone is on the same page.  Change is **hard** ... that's true for an individual, and it is exponentially more difficult for an organization.  The **only** exception is the rare instance of inspired leadership, and since that is rare, it is unlikely in most organizations.

If you ** do ** decide to tackle the problem, you'll have to learn the role of a systems analyst, or a business analyst ... in a large organization those two specializations often collaborate because the problem is too large for one individual to handle.

You can find books (if not entire libraries) on the functions performed by these two specializations.  Everything comes down to methodical, painstaking detail collection of ** everything ** that is going on, before there is a halfway decent chance of imagining a better-way-of-doing-things.

A key role is that of management, which must buy into the proposition that all the effort of finding out what is going one and trying to find a better way is worth while.  And ** that ** is not enough!  The role of management then is to persuade, cajole, entice ... whatever it takes to bring about changes in how-we've-always-done-it-and-I-don't-want-to-learn-anything-new!

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-04-07 11:06:19)

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#984 2021-04-07 08:44:46

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

This post is reserved for more updates on the Web Browser Automation initiative ...

Yesterday I started work on adding Escape Sequence capability to the existing program, while retaining the existing code to support Control C, Control X and Control V.  While AACKeys is the current interface via hardware, that could change quickly if I learn how to write data directly into running processes.  Since so many others have mastered the art, there is a decent chance I can as well, but the present hardware solution with AACKeys works well, and the goal of achieving Level 1 automation is in sight.

A tool for evaluation of performance of the new code is nearly finished.  It accepts output from AACKeys and shows incoming data in hexadecimal representation in real time.  It needs a bit of touch up... in the first version it only shows the first character of a sequence.

This is an event driven process, and I am not handling the event properly.  The incoming characters are arriving at the rate of 480 per second, so there should be time for even a slow CPU to pull each character out of the dropoff window, clear the window and show the hex value for the just-arrived character.

Edit#1: The answer is to disable the input window when input is being collected.  With that simple change, the program is working as intended.

In addition to wrapping up that side project, i spent some time preparing a script for testing.

All the commands extracted from the exe file were prepared to be exercised.

In addition, I set up 26 of the "hold" commands in the format <esc>,hold,control,(letter a-z) .  <<== fields are separated by command / period at end

I ran out of time for today, so will resume updates to WBA tomorrow.

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-04-07 13:46:45)

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#985 2021-04-07 18:09:53

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,747

Re: Housekeeping

You are right about the browser menu functions not all having the same features as the older internet explorer that we were all so accustomed to over the past few decades. Good to see not all of them have parted ways for the menu functions that everyone is so accustomed too.
Found that my issue came about due to another program platform changing the material data base such that the older business object program is now looking at a non updating data base....so thats another challenge to get fixed for tomorrow.

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#986 2021-04-08 17:25:40

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re #985 and forum in general

It is ** really ** fun seeing the vigorous discussion in the forum!

***
I put finishing touches on the EchoHex program today.  It now allows the operator to show incoming data moving right to left or left to right in the display windows.  Timing issues seem to have been resolved, although a more rigorous test is upcoming, when the actual program to deliver data is running.

The WBA is nearly ready for a first test with a new script that contains all the commands I was able to find in AACKeys.exe. 

A bit more work this evening should bring it to the point of first testing.

(th)

Online

#987 2021-04-09 06:09:40

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ... this post is reserved for updates on implementation of GIDEI standards by WBA for use with AACKeys.exe.

The first test in a live mode today was disappointing and a bit perplexing but also encouraging.

In a preliminary test using a keyboard for input to EchoHex, the output expected showed up in the output windows.  The input itself stayed obediently in the Input Window defined for it.  Today, when I ran a full up test with data from WBA flowing through hardware to AACKeys, and with EchoHex as the designated receiver, the behavior was unexpected and perplexing.  Instead of staying obediently in the Input Window, the escape sequences from AACKeys moved from button to button on the EchoHex form, and never did stop off at the Input Window.

In addition, the log of the activity showed 1B for escape (which is correct) but 09 for everything else, which is a tab that was not included in the run.

I'll try to schedule some time to look at it later today.

Edit#1:  I've been chasing will-o-the-wisps today, but ** finally ** landed on the right combination of code and commands to deliver Control C to the output.

For one thing, I had (inadvertently) introduced tab characters into the command sequences when I used a spreadsheet to set up the commands.

Unbeknownst to me, the spreadsheet authors decided to give me tab characters as separators by default.

However, that is just as well, because the program needed to be improved to remove both spaces ** and ** tabs from command sequences.

Then, I had to experiment with commands (using the GIDEI guide as a reference) until I finally found the combination that achieves the desired result.

That said, I've ** only ** mastered ** one ** of the commands ... as you can see by studying the previously published list, there are (about) 120 commands, and many of them have permutations.

In this case, the winning command format is: <esc>,combine,control,a.  <<== I've established that a-z are transmitted.

Most importantly for ** this ** project, Control/C (copy) and Control/V (paste) are working.

The ** next ** experiment will be online, with a simple interaction with the NewMars web site, to connect to the site and copy/paste the result in the address bar. 

*** For GW Johnson (in the unlikely chance you happen to read this: Thanks for following up on the out-of-topic what-to-do request for Quaoar!

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-04-09 14:03:37)

Online

#988 2021-04-09 14:47:55

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut (or anyone else interested in control of a browser ...)

Please take a look at the 120 (or so) commands that are available through the AACKeys.exe program.

At this point, I have only gained (tentative) mastery of ** one ** of them!

I have no idea which one or two you might wish to have available to you for your Administrator duties.

***
Related ... the current implementation of WebBrowserAutomation involves a side track ( back roads because I don't know how to use the expressway) through serial ports.  This side track has the unexpected and welcome result that I am now aware of the 120 (or so) commands available (since 1994) to the community of developers working on behalf of the Assistance population.  The work put into ** that ** project means the development of precise control over a browser (or any program) is greatly accelerated.

I am exchanging correspondence with a commercial provider of Virtual Serial Port software.  Their program is not working with WBA at the moment, but I am willing to add whatever code they might recommend to get past whatever the obstacle is.  They requested (and I supplied) a number of screen prints to help them try to diagnose the problem, and I also sent them a copy of the Microsoft RS232 code I've adapted for WBA.

***
Regarding the strange behavior of the EchoHex program when I tested the GIDEI script earlier ...

The tab characters in the script were (in fact) being delivered to the EchoHex program, but for whatever reason, they were NOT entering the input window, and were causing movement from one button to another which is what I observed.

The <escape> character may have been intercepted by EchoHex and interpreted as a control character.

I'll have to look into that at some point, but since the causes of escape sequences not working have been eliminated, it is possible to move forward.

Edit#1: Here is the confirmation Level 1 automation is within reach .... http://newmars.com/forums/

The string above was delivered to the cliipboard by control/c created by AACKeys.exe given input of <esc>,combine,control,c.

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-04-09 15:00:06)

Online

#989 2021-04-09 21:33:37

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re ID Recovery

As an exercise, I'm thinking of giving you the opportunity to approve or decline an information gathering activity.

The Administration User Search string is good at showing users with posts as compared to those without.

Of the 19,633 ID's we have in service, precisely 1753 have posts, and precisely 17880 do not.

The Administration search tool does NOT tell us who visited after the visit to confirm registration.

I think I can "train" WBA (Level 1 automation) to fetch each user record from the query and compare the date of last visit with the date of registration.

If those two dates are the same, then the ID would be recorded as a candidate for conversion to a TestID.

This would be an information-only run.  No changes were be made.  The output would be a list of ID's which are candidates to be converted to TestID's.

However, it is entirely possible ** you ** may have at your fingertips a query that includes the following:

1) User has 0 posts
2) User registration date matches User last visit date

If you have such a query, then (I expect) it would run in mere seconds and give back a set of results that would match what WBA could do over a run time measured in days.  If each lookup takes 2 minutes then the time would be 17880 * 2 >> 35760 minutes.  A day holds 1440 minutes, so the run would take just under 25 days.  That would be a good exercise, for sure!

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-04-09 21:35:20)

Online

#990 2021-04-10 08:35:31

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,747

Re: Housekeeping

I did a check on the user list and the admin user list for the fist ID with a ban and zero posts the initial page for the user shows that the account was visited to register and had the last day of visit being the same.

user list from the tab used by the public

  • AllisonLar           Banned 0 2017-05-28
    AllisonZim          Banned 0 2017-08-13
    AllsterSox          Banned 0 2017-09-03
    AllureSapphira    Banned 0 2017-04-26
    AllyFed               Banned 0 2018-02-07
    AllysonNitty        Banned 0 2017-05-13
    AlmaCheel          Banned 0 2019-05-24
    almadz60           Banned 0 2017-09-01
    AlmaFoley           Banned 0 2017-06-16

ID that was checked
AllisonLar

Registered: 2017-05-28

Last post: Never

Last visit: 2017-05-28

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#991 2021-04-10 09:57:03

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ...

First, thank you for Post #990!!! May I ask for guidance here?  I think an information-only test run would be a good idea ...

The program is coming along ... I just got a program stop after mismatch between clipboard and script, which means the program is now able to stop running when it encounters a problem during a run.  That is an ability the Level 0 version did not have, and it is vital (in my view) to go forward. 

It is possible you may become confident enough in operation of the program to authorize conversion of a small set of ID's (such as those you've shown) to TestID format.

With your approval, I will attempt to write a script to examine the 9 ID's you showed, and report on their potential eligibility to be converted.

The criteria would be: If a person created an account, and logged in ONCE to validate it, but never logged in again and has no posts, then that ID is a candidate.  I should be able to modify the log file to reflect an evaluation like that.

Thanks again for Post 990!

***
It's been a while since I asked about the Subaru ???

With the nice weather at hand, hopefully you've been able to make some progress.

A cellphone picture of the engine sitting in the frame would be welcome.

***
Further update's on your Brother's progress would be welcome, although you may have already posted in the Wuhan topic and I haven't seen it.

***
Thanks for your note of support of Noah!

Things are really hopping right now !!! Elon (per Louis) is rushing madly along with the SN# series ...

Noah has brought together a **lot** of local talent to help with the Settlement topic, although I am waiting for signs Noah is planning to turn that into actual planning for an actual settlement ....

***
This could go in Recruiting, but since we are already talking here in Housekeeping ...

Would you be willing to start work on a poster/advertisement that Noah could post on the kiosk in his University in Switzerland?

We have a chance to attract more members of the generation who will actually be GOING to Mars, or (more likely) building the organizations that will support those who go.

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-04-10 09:57:58)

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#992 2021-04-10 10:27:47

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,747

Re: Housekeeping

Those 9 are good to go as for the conversion....
Brother is slated to come with oxygen today but to remain isolated.
Subaru is still waiting for mechanics bay time to get back into vehicle.

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#993 2021-04-10 11:03:25

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re #992

Thanks for the Clear to Proceed for the limited set of 9 ID's

The program is ready (I think) ... I added a feature to turn on or off the safety checks.  On for production ... off for testing.

I added a Log command to write the contents of the clipboard to the log file during a run.  This is separate from go/nogo control, which is handled by a new Input command.  It may be helpful to know what is going on in addition to the expected controlled activity.

***
Glad your Brother is scheduled to return home, and hope his recovery continues as rapidly and smoothly as possible.
***
Best wishes for a favorable time slot that might open.
***
I was intrigued to follow the exchange between Louis and GW Johnson (and others) ...

The opportunity for a ** really forward looking ** organization to build a sturdy landing pad at Mars is at hand.

The best candidate Nation to take that on (in my opinion) is Russia.  I hope they will see that as something worth pursuing.

They would then be able to license controlled landings and launches.

Not a bad position to be in, it seems to me.

Everything considered, I'd prefer Russia to China in that context.

(th)

Online

#994 2021-04-10 11:43:45

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re ID Recovery using Banned ID's as input

Here is a transcript of notes I took while executing the process for the first of the 9 ID's you suggested.

Along the way, I found need for two more new commands:

InputLeft:

and

InputReplace:

it's back to the drawing board for those ...

That said, the outlook for success of Level 1 looks halfway decent at this point ...

I saw **lots** more opportunities to confirm progress along the way than I had first imagined.

Edit some time after posting to update Input to InputLeft, etc ...

***
Admin Index» Bans» Search Results
Pages: 1
Username    Email    IP/IP-ranges    Expires    Message    Banned by    Actions
TestID04457    testid04457@test.com         Never    Upd: 2021/04/10    SpaceNut    Edit | Remove
Pages: 1
Admin Index» Bans» Search Results
***
You can go ahead and finish 4457 ... it's be a couple days before I'm back to try a live run.

#AllisonLar           Banned 0 2017-05-28
#AllisonZim          Banned 0 2017-08-13
#AllsterSox          Banned 0 2017-09-03
#AllureSapphira    Banned 0 2017-04-26
#AllyFed               Banned 0 2018-02-07
#AllysonNitty        Banned 0 2017-05-13
#AlmaCheel          Banned 0 2019-05-24
#almadz60           Banned 0 2017-09-01
#AlmaFoley           Banned 0 2017-06-16
#
Ctrl/l
Text:http://newmars.com/forums/userlist.php
Enter
Wait:5000
<esc>,combine,control,c.
Input:http://newmars.com/forums/userlist.php
#
tab:15
#     go to username window
Text:AllisonLar
#
Enter
Wait:5000
#
InputLeft:http://newmars.com/forums/userlist.php?username=
#
tab:20
#    go to designated name in User list display
Enter
Wait:5000
#
Ctrl/L
<esc>,combine,control,c.
InputLeft:http://newmars.com/forums/profile.php?id=
#
Ctrl/l
tab:22
<esc>,combine,control,c.
Input:AllisonLar
#
#Insert new TestID
Text:TestID
Number:5
#
tab:2
#
#Insert new email
Text:TestID
Number:5
Text:@test.com
#
tab:10
#
Text:Updated
Date:yyyymmdd
Text:by moderator
#
Enter
Wait:5000
#
Ctrl/l
<esc>,combine,control,c.
InputLeft:http://newmars.com/forums/profile.php?section=essentials&id=
#
tab:22
<esc>,combine,control,c.
Input:TestID04457
#
# If this ID was already banned then banning is redundant ... however, there is an opportunity to make adjustments to the Ban record
#
ctrl/l
tab:21
Enter
Wait
#
ctrl/l
<esc>,combine,control,c.
InputLeft:http://newmars.com/forums/profile.php?section=admin&id=
#
tab:22
#    Advance to Ban User button
Enter
Wait:5000
#
#    If all has gone well, highlight will be on TestID04457
#
<esc>,combine,control,c.
Input:TestID04457
#
tab:1
#   
backspace
#
tab:1
#    Check to be sure email is correct
#
InputReplace:testid04457.test.com
#
# if mismatch insert replacement
#
Tab:1
#    Insert Upd text
Text:Upd:
Date:yyyy/mm/dd
#
Enter
Wait:5000
#
ctrl/l
<esc>,combine,control,c.
Input:http://newmars.com/forums/admin_bans.php
#
# Look for exact match here. The page should be empty
#
# Done with one ID

It appears the program needs to be enhanced to provide temporary string storage for generated strings (TestID04457) and (TestID04457@test.com)

I want the program to be generic, and adaptable to many situations, so temporary variables appear to be necessary.

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-04-10 18:35:28)

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#995 2021-04-10 16:51:27

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re 4457 ...

Thanks for beginning the process of restoring this ID for use...

It appears to still have "banned" status ...

Profile
Personal
Username
TestID04457
Title
Banned <<== ?
User activity
Posts
0
Registered
2017-05-28

(th)

Online

#996 2021-04-10 19:26:56

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,747

Re: Housekeeping

Thanks for the trial run that is now in the list but found a missing Testid04417 and have taken care of it as well.

Update on brother is doctors have indicated 2 more days to lessen oxygen and to build up some more stamina.

Offline

#997 2021-04-11 05:18:32

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re #996

Thanks for good news you brother is continuing to make progress!  Your relative is the closest I've come to knowing someone who's been battling the virus.

I was surprised you found a problem with 4417!  However, it does look Ok now!

***
Looking ahead ... The idea mentioned yesterday of creating a memory capability for the updated Level 1 WBA has a useful and familiar precedent.

Just about every calculator has a memory feature, and the operations are familiar to anyone who has used a calculator beyond the four basic math functions

The functions are: Store, Recall, and others.

For the purposes of this program, I won't try to implement everything that's been done with calculators.

Store and Recall make sense, and to begin with I'll just have one.

Overnight, I decided to proceed with InputLeft, InputRight and InputReplace, and now with the calculator example I'll try to add InputRecall

I've decided not to add an input file capability for the time being.  It's a complication that may not be needed.  It's going to be complicated enough implementing the Level 1 features. let alone something like that.

For the ID's you've provided, I should be able to pull them in with a simple query of bans.

Beyond that however, I'll look further to see if there is a query to find only ID's with 0 posts and where last visit date = registration date.

If we can find such a query, it will save you the time of looking for qualifying ID's to process.

***
I'm looking forward to seeing what happens on the forum today.

There are several topics I'm following with interest.

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-04-11 05:25:24)

Online

#998 2021-04-11 06:14:47

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ....

https://punbb.informer.com/wiki/punbb13 … _reference

Above is the reference to database tables I had posted previously ...

SearchTerm:Database layout for FluxBB tables
SearchTerm:PUN p/o punbb but may be searched as pun*
SearchTerm:Table layouts for FluxBB database

If you have time, please see if you have a query that includes:

num_posts=0

registered = last_visit

If we can find a query that selects ID's with those characteristics, it would help a lot, because WBA can then chew away at the query until it is exhausted.

***
Working names for the new commands are:

StoreClipboard       eg, TestID#####
RecallClipboard      eg, TestID#####
InputLeft                Compare left of Clipboard to text
InputRight              Compare right of Clipboard to text
InputReplace         eg, email address
InputRecall            eg, TestID#####

****
For SpaceNut just FYI ... I posted a question at FluxBB.org about the query ... I tried some experiments and they failed.

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-04-11 06:48:16)

Online

#999 2021-04-11 10:42:17

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,747

Offline

#1000 2021-04-11 12:31:26

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,750

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re #999

Thanks!  That query is definitely on the right track.  However, as it stands, it cannot find Users whose Registration Date matches the Last_Visit date.

I tried some experiments and failed to achieve success.  The FluxBB package either ignored my offering altogether or informed me I'd made a syntax error.

I have submitted a question to FluxBB.org/forums to see if anyone there has a suggestion.

In the mean time, I'll use the query you provided as the source of records to work on.

And ** that ** leads me to ask if (by any chance) you might have used AllisonZim for that 7714 repair you did?

AllisonZim was next on my worksheet, and when I went to look just now, that ID was gone.

It'll be a couple of days before all the new capabilities are added to WBA.

(th)

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