Looking for advice on a ClickSequence/Macro idea

[Jaybarti]

So I am new to Dual/Multi boxing but I had an idea about creating a
button script macro. I current am planning to play 3 sets of two toons
and I was looking for a way to generize some of the macro stuff. Now I
know that there is no such thing as a Click/Button sequence but I
was wondering if it might be possible using a counting for variable loop command.

The idea is something like this

The
macro would use variable assigned to a real number that counts up from
1-5 (the count can start and end anywhere 1-5 is just for an example).
The idea is that every time you activate the macro variable would
increase by +1, and also reset to 1 after it passes 5.

The sequence would be as follow.

<activate macro>
/click <string> -- where string = ActionButtonvariable, the variable being the number 1-5 thus this would translate to ActionButton1, ActionButton2, ActionButton3, ...
/script variable=variable+1 but if varirable is greater then 5 then reset variable to 1 --counting up on everykeypress

The
idea here is that it allows me to use the same castsquence macro for
multiple setups by just arranging spells and abilities on each toons
various action bars. It would mean not having to write custom combat
macros for each set of toons.

Now I know that blizz also has a 255 char limit so some of this stuff
could be written out as addtional macro call functions I guess to get
around the 255 char limit (ie the counting routine could be a complete
seperate macro/function which would be called to add +1 when needed.
The function that builds the actionbar string could be a seperate
macro/function as well.

While
I am new to Macro/Lua scripting I do have a fair amount of programming
knowledge from my University days, and I could probably figure out most
of the coding I need (with research), mostly I am wondering if its
worth spending the time doing this or is it just not possible with the
Blizzard Macro UI. ie: this would activate somesort of proctected
scripting function that blizz doesn't want us using.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions/advice

Jaybarti

[elsegundo]

try this.


/changeactionbar [actionbar:1] 2; [actionabar:2] 3; [actionbar:3] 4; [actionbar:4] 5; [actionbar:5] 1

[Jaybarti]

Doesn't that script force the action bar to change? Ie Button 2 of actionbar 1 then Button 3 of actionbar 2, etc...

I was more looking at a Macro idea that would allow me to place spells on say the right vertical action bar, and then activate them in sequence with the above idea pressing them in a 1-5 sequence using

/click MultiBarRightButton# (where # is the variable from the count).

[elsegundo]

Doesn't that script force the action bar to change? Ie Button 2 of actionbar 1 then Button 3 of actionbar 2, etc...

I was more looking at a Macro idea that would allow me to place spells on say the right vertical action bar, and then activate them in sequence with the above idea pressing them in a 1-5 sequence using

/click MultiBarRightButton# (where # is the variable from the count).

it changes your actionbars. if you have acitonbar1, it will change to actionbar2. if you're in actionbar 2, it will change to actionbar 3. if you have actionbar4, it will change to actionbar5. if you're at actionbar 5, it will change to actionbar1. bascially a button to cycle through your actionbars, 1 through 5.

the macros and buttons you have in each actionbar is up to you.

if you show all of your actionbars, they are actionbars 3-6. i forget which order is which.

im sorry but i am a bit unclear as to what you're trying to do.

[Jaybarti]

I am trying to create a macro which instead of doing a /castsequence using spell and items, instead it would actually be able to do a faux /clicksequence insteadand activate action bar items in a seqeunce of my choosing.

So for example below are the commands that you can use in a macro to press any of the visible action bar (you turn these bar on and off via the interface panel in WOW) buttons via the /click command...

Bar 1: /click ActionButton# (Main)
Bar 3: /click MultiBarRightButton# (Side Bar Right)
Bar 4: /click MultiBarLeftButton# (Side Bar Left)
Bar 5: /click MultiBarBottomRightButton# (Bottom Right)
Bar 6: /click MultiBarBottomLeftButton# (Bottom Left)

So right now if I wanted to do with my Shammy a Chain Lightning/Lightning rotation I would use a castsequence like

/castsequence [target] reset 6; Chain Lightning, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt (or something like that)

But if I placed those spells on say on the Multibar to the far right that runs up the left side of the main wow window in the same order as the above /castsequence (ie on the extreme right action bar in the top slot you would have a Chain Lighting Spell on the bar, followed by 3 copies of Lightning bolt in the spots under the Chain lightning. I could achieve the same effect by manually clicking.

MultiBarRightButton1, then MultiBarRightButton2, MultiBarRightButton3, MultiBarRightButton4 and then going back to MultiBarRightButton1 and start the rotation all over again. However since those same button clicks can be called via macro's, my idea was to create as I said a fuax /clicksequence using macro's and lua scripting.

The setup on this may seem strange but the idea is that rather then re-writing the macro as I level and depending on situtuation, all it would take to change spells in and out would be to change the spells that are placed on say the right action bar. Also this even allows me to use the same macro for different classes and toons because all that is required is setting up the appropiate actionbar slots with the spells you want to cast, in the sequence you want to cast them in. The targeting and spell selection would actually be handle via a series of macro's.

So the final idea would be a /clicksequence macro that would do the following

1st activation of the macro would be
/click MultiBarRightButton1
2nd activation
/click MultiBarRightButton2
3rd...
/click MultiBarRightButton3
4th
/click MultiBarRightButton4
5th
/click MultiBarRightButton5
6th ... this would be the reset back to 1
/click MultiBarRightButton1

With the numbered lua variable deciding exactly which action bar button to click.

Now it may be a little complicated up front but the idea with this is that I have 4 or 5 set click sequence macro's that are shared among all accounts I play. But rather then writing specific spell casting macros instead all I would be doing is configuring action bars and letting the clicksequence decide which one its suppose to be casting when the button is pressed. Now I know that there are something that would work better with a castsequence, but some thing would work a lot better, since this way since it doesn't rely on success or failure of the cast and would always move onto the next spell in sequence.

I hope that explains it better.

[elsegundo]

it explains it a little bit better.
i do not know how to do what you want to do. but here's something that might help.
useaction(#)

where # is the number for the button.

actionbar1: 1-12
actionbar2: 13-24
actionbar3: 25-36
actionbar4: 37-48
acitonbar5: 49-60
actionbar6: 61-72

perhaps you can use that to script a macro to point to all the buttons you want.

[Jaybarti]

That actually helps a lot in some ways.

The problem I guess I am having is that once you use a /click the macro stops

thus a macro of

/useaction(1)
/useaction(2)
/useaction(3)

will not work from what I have read, it will continually use action 1 and never advance to action 2 or 3 or further.

The idea with a counting variable that resets is that you could do a 1 line macro like this.

/useaction(variable)

The other advantage to this is you could also use it to call other macro's in a specific sequence or by jusr swapping the main actionbar between 1-4, you could change you cast sequences on the fly while in combat without having to resort to another macro.

Like I said its mostly an idea I had, and before I spent a lot of time on it I wanted to make sure that it could be possible to work it like this. Of course if its not possible to pass variables from 1 macro to another this would be almost impossible (not almost but tougher).

[elsegundo]

the eaiest thing to do really, even though all of this is fun, is to get macaroon and make different profiles. =]
then you'll have a profile for when you're dual/tri/quad/etc-boxing, a profile for when you're solo, and a profile for when you're in a group with others.

[Ualaa]

Well, as far as I know, you'd make a macro in game, which included your script.

You're trying to click button 1, button 2, button 3, button 4 then button 5 with this script.
You could just as easily create your macro, to be a castsequence which will then:
Cast spell 1, cast spell 2, cast spell 3, cast spell 4, cast spell 5.

It's very easy to accomplish this via the /castsequence macro
/castsequence spell 1, spell 2, spell 3.

You can include optional resets in the sequence.
Combat resets when you exit combat, Target resets when you acquire a new target, a numerical value resets when that many seconds have passed or a modifier key resets when the button is pressed with a modifier.
And you can have multiple modifiers in the macro.

/castsequence reset=30/combat/target/alt Corruption, Agony, Siphon Life, Immolate, Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt

This will reset to the beginning of the sequence 30 seconds after the first button is pressed, no matter where you are in the sequence.
It also resets to the beginning if you click it while the alt key is pressed, or if combat ends or if you change targets.

If you wanted multiple sequences, you can easily name them.
Sequence one might be called DOT.
Sequence two might be called NUKE.
Sequence three might be called AOE.

You can easily create another macro, which can have mouse modifiers.
I'm not sure of all the modifiers, or even if my syntax is correct (wow macro/ui forum has the syntax in Cogwheel's thread) but it could look something like this:

/click [left action button] DOT
/click [right action button] NUKE

A macro can call another macro by name. So if you really wanted to, you could create the macro which will call your macro'd cast sequences.
You don't even need to put the cast sequences on an action bar, if a macro is calling them by name.
If you do put them on a bar, you can go into keybindings in WoW, and assign a binding to that bar slot.
So if your AoE macro was (warlock example).. Demonform, Immolate Aura, Charge, Seed, Seed, Seed, Seed, Seed, Seed, Seed, you could put this in Right Action Bar 1, Button 3.... and then go into the keybindings and change the keybind to say your mouses thumb button.

I don't think this is exactly what you're looking for, but it gets you exactly what you asked for in a different way.