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Grouping actions possible?

Post by Omnibane

Hi,

Is it possible to write a macro to perform a group of actions and another group of action with modifier?

i.e.
/cast GroupA; GroupB

I don't want to use castsequence in the groups and trying not to use /click command to activate another button.

Thanks for any input

Post by Wanderingfox

Each /cast line can do a single thing.

If you're looking to do multiple things, you need multiple /casts. Note that most spells will lock you out of even doing more than one spell in a macro, but there a few that won't.

In short, you'd see something like

/cast groupbspell1
/cast groupbspell2
/cast groupaspell1
/cast groupaspell2

Obviously, if you're trying to do something like macro out an attack sequence, this isn't going to work with the GCD and all that, but it would work for like activating trinkets etc.

Post by Omnibane

Hi Wanderingfox,

I was thinking of this but even though have not yet tried, I was a bit worried that during the execution of the macro, will it causes problem if the status of the mod key changed?

Does a macro only take into account the status of the mod key when it starts?

i.e. for the example you give, what if I shift click the macro, and then release it after groupbspell1 is executed but before groupbspell2? Will I end up casting groupaspell1 and 2 as well?

Thanks.

p.s. I am aware of the GCD limitation and the issue of macro locking. I was thinking of things like casting Nature's Swiftness then Healing Touch without mod and casting Rej if shift is press.

Post by Neffi

will it causes problem if the status of the mod key changed?

No.

Does a macro only take into account the status of the mod key when it starts?

Yes.

WoW's UI is single-threaded. Its state cannot change like that. When you click the macro, the system knows which modifiers are held (and any other relevant state). The execution of the macro itself hijacks the interface's entire processing chain until it completes. So even if you let go of the modifier key halfway through, the game wouldn't know you did until the macro completes. This is how all of the code in a single-threaded application works: only one thing is happening at a time.

By the way, execution of a macro happens very fast. The fastest timing information the UI even has available (debug profiling with a resolution of milliseconds -- 1 millisecond is 1/1000th of a second) would show a macro's execution as taking 0 seconds. It's probably more on the order of microseconds (1/10000th) or less to execute a macro. The key doesn't even travel quickly enough to "unpress" before the macro completes.

Edit: I was curious. It takes roughly 0.0000025 seconds for a single /cast to execute.

Post by Omnibane

Hi Neffi,

That is exactly what I wanted to know.

Thank you for clearing this up!

Grouping actions possible?

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