How long to learn FrameScript?

[Bill Briggs]

At 4:33 PM +0000 1/23/07, Steve Rickaby wrote:
>I'm wary of script languages generally because of the 'macro trap'. This is my term for a syndrome I noticed when I was a manager in the computer industry. It's real easy to think, 'Right, this is a tedious process, but I can automate it with a script and save *tons* of time'... and then spend twice as long developing and testing the automation than it would have taken to do the task manually in the first place ;-)
>
>I've even fallen into the macro trap myself... once, slightly scarily, with electronic *hardware*, during my postgrad research.
>
>I'm sure Rick never does this, though ;-)

 I don't use FrameScript, but I've used AppleScript a lot with FrameMaker and many other applications. While some scripts can take a long time to write and debug, I've found that for the vast majority I got payback on the first use. One script I use only once per term,  but it saves me about 5 hours of manual drudgery and a bout of RSI. It took about an hour and a half to write. And since scripting is LOT more fun than copying and pasting data from one location to another, I'll go for the scripting.

 The big downside I see to scripting solutions in an organization is when you provide scripts to others to use and abuse. If anything changes that causes the script to error they need you to fix the script. Things I maintain myself for my own use are not an issue - I just fix them. Releasing scripts for others to use requires a lot more work because you need to bulletproof them and one can never be sure that all of the contingencies have been covered.

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