HI Mark, I'm sorry I failed to jump in on this thread earlier with a solution, and that you hit the wall of 'you can do anything you want as long as you do it our way' that seems to prevail on this list these days. I agree with you; a schedule to execute a specific rule or set of rules is highly desirable; indeed, I have feature-requested it numerous times over the years -- and not so much that I can't personally figure out an AppleScript-direct solution to overcome any need for it, but that I deal with lots and lots of users who would like it, too.
IOW, you are far from alone in your desire for what seems an obvious and trivial feature to us; I disagree with the E'Rage Defenders that it would overly complicate the program and tax the development schedule by exponential quantities of time; the benefits from adding it would be immeasurable to those for whom AppleScript, nor even requesting a kind soul to write a script for them, is just not a practical, let alone desirable option. The bad news is, no one seems to be listening; the good news is, it's possible to do, anyway -- albeit in a somewhat kludgey manner. The still-bad news is that it still requires some AppleScript, although once the basic script is written, it should be trivial to modify it for additional specific actions. It should even be possible to create a fairly generic script generator to provide as an add-on "feature" to MSE for all users who never want to have to learn AS. Basically, all one need do to start is create the rule that one wants executed on a timed schedule. It may be left enable or disabled in the Rules list as required (the sample Rule you provided would work best disabled/on demand). Next, one need only write a simple AppleScript to find and execute that Rule through the GUI. This may be done with straight GUI element find-and-execute actions, or, optionally, a keystroke can be assigned (using Menu Master in Jaguar or Keyboard prefs in Panther), and a System Event to trigger the keystroke, as well as any potential need to select the correct mailbox and item list in MSE itself. Finally, one then need only write a schedule to fire off the AS that fires off the Rule. I already hear you, and those arguing with you, asking, "If you're going to bother writing an AppleScript in the first place, why not just have it do what you want to do without finding a Rule?". Well, as I stated above, there are two points: � One, anyone can use the GUI to create a Rule fairly easily without knowing much. � Two, I believe a single base script can be written and further auto-generate additional scripts to execute specific Rules with specific criteria at a specified time or times without needing to know all there is to know about either AS or MSE, or duplicating in AS what can be done more quickly and easily in a Rule. Indeed, in less than three minutes and only two lines, I wrote an AppleScript that executes a single Rule (Menubar->Message->Apply Rule->Test Rule) via keystroke (Option-D) which was assigned via Keyboard Shortcuts; thus proving the ability to do what you want with minimal effort: tell application "Microsoft Entourage" to activate tell application "System Events" to key code 2 using option down I then set it on a repeating schedule (every 1 minute), and listened to the Rule play the New Mail sound every minute from there (when the criteria of the Rule was met) until I got sick of it. Things to accomplish: � Find and generate a list of Rules to choose from, as opposed to requiring the user to know and enter the *exact name* of the Rule (hard? Haven't looked at how to do this yet) � Find and generate a list of folders to choose from, on which to set focus on and apply the scheduled Rule (easy) � Build a generic Apply Rule ->[Rule]-script generator (fairly easy); best done with GUI elements and not keystrokes (to avoid inevitable conflicts) � Devise a method or application outline to avoid interference with the user when timed Rules must be applied (given that application/window/message focus seems to be required to execute the Rule) If this is something you or others (are you listening, Paul B.?) would like to work on with me (non-commercial), I would be interested in tackling it. Cheers Frederico -- To unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.letterrip.com/> old-archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.boingo.com/>
