Pathmaker Programming Guide

Preparing Shared Code for a Pathmaker Project
Preparing for Pathmaker Application Development
2–42 067868 Tandem Computers Incorporated
Registering a macro in a Pathmaker project provides several advantages. These
include:
Allowing application developers to invoke a macro in the code they write using
only its Pathmaker name. If the location of the physical file containing the macro
changes, the code invoking the macro does not have to be changed. Only the
source file name on the Macro Registration screen has to be changed.
Providing documentation for each macro associated with a Pathmaker project. All
registered macros for a project can be listed on the Macro Value List screen and the
parameters required for a particular macro can be shown on the Macro Syntax
screen.
Because the Pathmaker catalog contains the location of the physical file containing
a macro, the Pathmaker product is able to move these files whenever the other
components of the associated Pathmaker application are moved.
Table 2-8 summarizes the Pathmaker full screen interface screens used for registered
macros.
Table 2-8. Pathmaker Screens for Registered Macros
Pathmaker Screen Description
Function Key
Path
Minimum Times
Normally Used Required ?
Macro Registration Used to define a macro. F7 As needed No
Macro Syntax Lists the parameters associated with one
macro.
F7, F6 As needed No
Macro Value List Lists all registered macros for this
project.
F9 As needed No
Guidelines for macros include:
One file can contain multiple macros.
To use a macro that has been registered, use the following statement in your code:
INVOKE " macro-name "
To use a macro that has not been registered, use the following statement in your
code:
INVOKE " macro-name " IN file-name
(Macros that are invoked in your code are expanded during generation and
included in the source code. Code that is copied is not included until
compilation.)
Code for each registered macro must begin with a section having the same name
as the Pathmaker macro name, as shown below:
?SECTION Pathmaker-macro-name