Character limitation in the information section of a macro

Christoph

Member
Hi, I have reached the limitation on the number of characters you can enter in the information part of a macro.
It is unfortunate as documenting what you do, for the user and for future developers (ex: yourself in the future) should be encouraged. Here it is the opposite.

Are there any workarounds to bypass this limitation so that I can properly document a macro ? Regards
 
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Endercraft

Moderator (& bug finder :D)
Hi, I have reached the limitation on the number of characters you can enter in the information part of a macro.
It is unfortunately as documenting what you do, for the user and for future developers (ex: yourself in the future) should be encouraged. Here it is the opposite.

Are there any workarounds to bypass this limitation so that I can properly document a macro ? Regards
I just tried a workaround but it doesn't work. MacroDroid seems to have a protection against this...
 

Dm114

Well-known member
Hi, I have reached the limitation on the number of characters you can enter in the information part of a macro.
It is unfortunately as documenting what you do, for the user and for future developers (ex: yourself in the future) should be encouraged. Here it is the opposite.

Are there any workarounds to bypass this limitation so that I can properly document a macro ? Regards
No, they aren't! The only ways are:
- to be as concise as possible ☹️
- add comments on actions that need to be commented (unfortunately it makes macro less easily readable unless writing big comment blocks on few actions instead of few lines on nearly each action)
- complete explanations in the explanation part of Block actions, if any.

You're right, it's sometimes a bit frustrating but you also can attach a text or pdf file when posting its template store Id and refer to your post inside the macro.
 

Endercraft

Moderator (& bug finder :D)
No, they aren't! The only ways are:
- to be as concise as possible ☹️
- add comments on actions that need to be commented (unfortunately it makes macro less easily readable unless writing big comment blocks on few actions instead of few lines on nearly each action)
- complete explanations in the explanation part of Block actions, if any.

You're right, it's sometimes a bit frustrating but you also can attach a text or pdf file when posting its template store Id and refer to your post inside the macro.
I'll find one eventually... if I search :)
 

Christoph

Member
You're right, it's sometimes a bit frustrating but you also can attach a text or pdf file when posting its template store Id and refer to your post inside the macro.
it is very important for maintenance, that the help and the code are in the exact same location and be both editable in the same way.
Without this, there is largely enough reports claiming, manual cannot stay up to date.

So the information text feature at the top of each macro is nice, but it is way too limited :
a/ There is no enough characters being authorized in the field.
b/ It would be nice to have some markdown possibility.

The comments and manal Must be together, so if people have to use a pdf, it means there is a problem.
 

Dm114

Well-known member
it is very important for maintenance, that the help and the code are in the exact same location and be both editable in the same way.
Without this, there is largely enough reports claiming, manual cannot stay up to date.

So the information text feature at the top of each macro is nice, but it is way too limited :
a/ There is no enough characters being authorized in the field.
b/ It would be nice to have some markdown possibility.

The comments and manal Must be together, so if people have to use a pdf, it means there is a problem.
You are not wrong and, as a former Dev, I fully understand what you mean. But, as @MacroDroidDev said himself a few years ago, MD is not a real language and I don't think he changed his mind (it would imply huge changes and investments). It is a wonderful tool to automate a bunch a tasks but it is not intended to create applications. As it becomes more and more powerful and versatile, now MD can even be used to automate some business tasks, not only domestic/private ones.

One of the problems to improve some MD aspects is the problem of space on devices that are not computers and don't have unlimited space capacities. Macros are not compiled and have to be considered as in "source code". The reason why your argument for documentation is quite correct but compiled/executable code (an Apk) doesn't contain any comments. Only source code does and our MD macros act on both sides: source and executable...
 

Christoph

Member
Code and comments could be stored by MD in different way so that for example comments do not overload the code. But they should both be displayed together (a bit like Javadoc and pythondoc).
 

Qarboz

Well-known member
Hi, I have reached the limitation on the number of characters you can enter in the information part of a macro.
It is unfortunate as documenting what you do, for the user and for future developers (ex: yourself in the future) should be encouraged. Here it is the opposite.

Are there any workarounds to bypass this limitation so that I can properly document a macro ? Regards
One idea might be to insert some empty triggers/actions and use them for comments
 
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