send("^v") vs send("HELP")

[Kurto2021]

I have recently just set up some automation with emails that come in that need to be keyed into the computer.  Currently I am doing a lot of send("enter text here") but I was wondering is there any disadvantage to doing this clipput("enter text here") send ("^v") on the cell.

In a quick experiment with notepad I found the pasting to be faster but was curious if I might experience any issues doing it this way and if so what would they be?

Also as a side I think I would probably leave it as tabs but I was wondering if sending the mouse the coordinates would be faster as well instead of tabbing.....this is a dedicated machine that does nothing but process web requests.

We process approximately 1,500 web requests per week during the slow time with 2000 to 3500 during peak season.  I was looking to see if I could speed up this process in any way before that time comes.

Edited July 5, 2013 by Kurto2021

[water]

Which email client do you use (Outlook ...) and which browser do you use (Internet Explorer, Firefox ...)?

[Kurto2021]

not using any browser the emails come in and they are keyed into the mainframe.  I would prefer to make a flat file or xml and have it imported but was told that is not an option so we have to open the window and key it in.  That being said I was using send ("12342345") but found it faster to load the value to the clipboard and paste it.  Just wondering if there was a negative impact in doing this.

[water]

Which program do you use to read you mails? If it is Outlook you can at least automate the Outlook side.

How do you access the mainframe (PC3270 ...)?

[Kurto2021]

Using your outlook ex udf then loading the data to an array

[Kurto2021]

Mainframe is executed through some qws3270.exe (something like that).

Edited July 6, 2013 by Kurto2021

[Bert]

Does your mainframe emulator have the ability to add hotkeys to act as macros?

[Kurto2021]

Yes

[Bert]

Couple more questions:

1. Could you write a macro to handle the email?

2. Is the same sort of email template used for most of the emails sent? If yes then this would solve most of the problem.

[Kurto2021]

I'm not sure I'd want to do that. Right now we set up a rule where all the requests come in then the UDF code picks up the email in the folder parses it to the array then launches mainframe window and keys it in. I found it a bit slower then I wanted so I began loading to clipboard and pasting. Friday was my first day running it full bore and it was pretty fast. Just worried loading to clipboard my be an issue.

I have never used the mainframe before so I'd have to ask the users for more details. I wanted to load the array to a SQL statement then insert it into the mf database but they said no to that too.

[Bert]

The reason I suggest the macro is simply for two reasons -

First - that is what a macro is designed to do.

Second - you stay inside the application. You would have no need to have a separate application to do the job you require.