Increase macro description/comment length limit

Fabian42

Fabian42

New member
I don't know why this limit even exists, or rather why it's so low, but I keep getting issues with it. Some of my macros are quite complicated, so they would benefit a lot from longer descriptions. Currently MacroDroid actively discourages good documentation.
 
D

Dm114

Well-known member
Fabian42 said:
I don't know why this limit even exists, or rather why it's so low, but I keep getting issues with it. Some of my macros are quite complicated, so they would benefit a lot from longer descriptions. Currently MacroDroid actively discourages good documentation.
Click to expand...
Don't forget you also can comment each trigger, action and constraint to complete description and documentation
 
Fabian42

Fabian42

New member
I know, but for example right now I'm making a macro called "screen_off" that gets triggered by "Screen off", has the action "Stopwatch start: screen_off" and the constraint "alarm_set=false", nothing more. Despite seeming so simple, it actually took me hours of planning and multiple revisions to an entire (laptop) screen full of text to figure out that this is exactly what I needed, because of its complex interactions with other macros. I would like to document the results of this planning in the description.
In general, I'm currently remaking my entire alarm macro system, because it became so complicated and confusing that it was easier to make a new system than to understand the old one. Good documentation can help preventing another such situation in the future.
 
D

Dm114

Well-known member
Fabian42 said:
I know, but for example right now I'm making a macro called "screen_off" that gets triggered by "Screen off", has the action "Stopwatch start: screen_off" and the constraint "alarm_set=false", nothing more. Despite seeming so simple, it actually took me hours of planning and multiple revisions to an entire (laptop) screen full of text to figure out that this is exactly what I needed, because of its complex interactions with other macros. I would like to document the results of this planning in the description.
In general, I'm currently remaking my entire alarm macro system, because it became so complicated and confusing that it was easier to make a new system than to understand the old one. Good documentation can help preventing another such situation in the future.
Click to expand...
I agree with you 100%. The more a program is documented, the easier it is to maintain. But, as you mentioned, you rewrote some of your macros in a better, clearer way because of the experience you now get in programming with MD. So did I a few years ago when I began using MD!

Of course @MacroDroidDev could probably enlarge space dedicated to description and comments but I guess that if it is limitated, there should be a particular reason (maybe space saving). Moreover, MD is not made to make programs to be sold on a wide market but for our personal use, even if it is powerful and easy to use. You are supposed to be the only person to maintain your own macros so that few comments could be enough to explain what you have to say. Even if it looks a bit like a programming language to newbies it is not designed to be a real one, competing with other ones. But it is a wonderful powerful and versatile tool in an always "moving" Android environment... 😉

Have fun and enjoy!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top