Re-Record Actions

I frequently record Illustrator Actions. My actions are quite long, but they all involve three common steps:

1.     Assigning Notes to shapes
2.     Assigning Swatches to shapes
3.     Selecting shapes that have a specific notes

I often need to re-record my actions to repeat all the steps, but to change the notes/swatches that are selected/assigned during the action.

Illustrator has a re-record command. This command is great for changing the value of the note in number 3 of my list. However, it does not work for items 1 & 2 in my list. For these items I have to delete the old step in the action and then record a new step with the new swatch/note.

This is quite cumbersome and I was wondering if there was a better way.

I know macros in Microsoft Office have an editor which allow you to change values in actions. Is there anything similar for Illustrator actions?

You can save an Illustrator action and open it in Text Edit. However, all the attribute/swatch values are saved as weird strings, so I don't know how to change them.

I know you can write Javascript actions, but that's too complicated for me! It would be great if I could just more easily edit the actions I already have.