Reference: Macro Functions

INTEGER:#A = 1
INTEGER:#B=0

//	Set #B to 1 if #A > 0
IF (#A > 0)
	#B = 1
ENDIF

The IF block can be expanded to include an ELSE block. This block is run if the original test condition is not met.

INTEGER:#A = 0

//	Display Message about whether #A is equal to 0
IF (#A = 0)
	PAUSE[TX="#A Is Equal To Zero"]   
ELSE
	PAUSE[TX="#A Is Not Equal To Zero"]  
ENDIF

The ELSEIF statements allow you test for multiple conditions.

INTEGER:#A=1

//	#A can be set to 1 or 2
IF (#A = 1)
	PAUSE[TX="#A is 1"]  
ELSEIF (#A = 2)
	PAUSE[TX="#A is 2"]  
ELSE
	PAUSE[TX="#A is not correctly set"]  
ENDIF

For a more comprehensive explanation see Conditional Branching.

// Draw 50 points in a line, increment in X by 0.01 
INTEGER:#COUNTER=0

WHILE(#COUNTER < 50)
	POINT[XE=(#COUNTER * 0.01), YE=0.0]
	//	Increment # of Points Created Counter
	#COUNTER = #COUNTER + 1
ENDW
						

For a more comprehensive explanation see Conditional Looping.

INTEGER:#A=1

//	IF #A = 1 jump to Section1
IF (#A = 1)
	GOTO @ONE  
ENDIF
... more commands
// Section One 
@ONE  
//	commands for Section One

For a more comprehensive explanation see Unconditional Branching.

IF (#SERIOUS_ERR = 1)
	HALT
ENDIF

The include statement is followed by a quoted literal string which contains the path and filename of the file to include.

INCLUDE "C:\\MACROS\\VARDEFS.MCL"

For a more comprehensive explanation see Including Variable Declarations.

If element is a cone surface, will return the cone angle relative to its axis.

If the provided element number is for a surface, will return the top center coordinate position for cones, cylinders, toruses, and spheres.

If the provided element number is a surface, it will return the bottom center coordinate position for cones, cylinders, toruses, and spheres.

If the provided element is a surface, will return the maximum position for that surface. For example, if there was a Cylinder centered at XYZ=0 and had a radius of 1 and a height of 1; then ENX would return 1, ENY=1, and ENZ=1.

Returns the height of a text element (dimension).

Returns the mid-point ordinate for lines, arcs, helixes, points, user commands, markup note leaders, and grooves.

If element is a surface will return the primary radius for cones, cylinders, toruses, and spheres. Otherwise returns -1.

Note that for Cylinders the primary and secondary radius values are the same.

If the provided element is a surface, will return the minimum position for that surface. For example, if there was a Cylinder centered at XYZ=0 and had a radius of 1, the STX would return -1, STY=-1, and STZ=0.

The first parameter is the element number to modify, the second parameter is a string containing the name of the user attribute to remove from the element.

Function returns an integer: 0 if attribute not found, or 1 is attribute found and removed.

If the element attribute is new, DSET returns the value that was assigned to the element - the third parameter. If the attribute already exists, and is being updated, DSET returns the previous attribute value.

If the element attribute is new, ISET returns the value that was assigned to the element - the third parameter. If the attribute already exists, and is being updated, ISET returns the previous attribute value.

If the element attribute is new, SSET returns the value that was assigned to the element - the third parameter. If the attribute already exists, and is being updated, SSET returns the previous attribute value.

You provide the path and filename as the argument to this function. The filename must have already been opened, using the F_OPEN[] macro command.

Return codes are:

• 0 = Successful operation (F_READ, F_OPEN, F_WRITE, F_CLOSE)
• 1 = File already open (F_OPEN)
• 2 = File not found (F_OPEN)
• 3 = Path not found (F_OPEN)
• 4 = File is Read/Only - no write or append (F_OPEN)
• 5 = File not open (F_READ)
• 6 = File not open for read (F_READ)
• 7 = End of file reached (F_READ)
• 8 = File not open for write (F_WRITE)
• 9 = Too many files already open (F_OPEN)
• 10 = Bad or missing mode; use A W R (F_WRITE)
• 11 = Expected variable for formatter missing (F_WRITE, F_READ)
• 12 = Bad character encountered in variable list (F_WRITE, F_READ)
• 13 = Variable is not of format type (F_WRITE, F_READ)
• 14 = Bad formatter (F_WRITE, F_READ)

Provide the path and filename, of the file to check, as the argument for this function.

If element number is a surface element, will return the calculated area for that surface.

You directly pass in the Variable as the argument:
DECIMAL:#A
INTEGER:#RETURN
#RETURN=IS_UNKNOWN_D(#A)

You directly pass in the Variable as the argument:
INTEGER:#A
INTEGER:#RETURN
#RETURN=IS_UNKNOWN_I(#A)

The parameter is expecting a STRING containing the name of the variable, not the variable itself.

INTEGER:#iVar

IF(VAR_EXIST("iVar")=1)
VAR_REMOVE[VN="iVar"]
ENDIF

The parameter, as shown, is using a literal string for the variable name. It can also use a string variable.

The parameter is a string representing the variable name, not the variable itself. This can be a literal string or a string variable. See VAR_EXIST() for an example.

INTEGER:#INTARRAY[] = ALLOCATE(5, 0) // allocates 5 array slots, default value is 0

#NEWSIZE=REALLOCATE(#INTARRAY[], 10, 0) // resizes #INTARRAY[] to 10 elements

String concatenation can also be handled with the "+" operator. Example:

STRING:#S1
#S1="One and " + "two" // #S1 now contains "One and two"

This function searches STRING1 for the first instance of STRING2, then returns an INTEGER showing the position within STRING1 where STRING2 begins; its offset in the string. The search will start at the beginning of STRING1, unless you use the optional numeric START_POSITION parameter.

Example:

STRING:#S1  // The string that will be searched
STRING:#S2  // The string to look for
INTEGER:#POSITION  // The index into #S1 where #S2 is found

#S1="SmartCAMcnc"
#S2="CAM"
#POSITION=FIND(#S1, #S2) // #POSITION is equal to 6

#POSITION is set to 6, because the string "CAM" begins at the 6th position in STRING1.

The optional START_POSITION parameter is used to set where FIND will begin to search. Example:

STRING:#S1  // The string that will be searched
STRING:#S2  // The string to look for
INTEGER:#POSITION

#S1="SmartCAMcnc's SmartCAM application"
#S1="SmartCAM"	// You want to find the position of SmartCAM, not SmartCAMcnc
#POSITION=FIND(#S1,#S2,11) // #POSITION is equal to 15

#POSITION is set to 15, because "SmartCAM" begins at position 15 in STRING1. Notice that since you use the START_POSITION parameter to change the location where FIND begins to search, that "SmartCAM" in "SmartCAMcnc" was not matched.

If STRING2 is not found in STRING1, then FIND will return 0.

Returns a zero if the character is not either a letter or number. It returns a value greater than zero if the character is a letter or number. It will return a -1 if you pass an empty string variable to the function.

If the string you pass to the function contains more than 1 character, only the 1st character will be checked. Use the MID(), LEFT(), RIGHT() functions to check other letters in a larger string.

//  See if 2nd character is a letter
STRING:#STR="Ab"
IF (ISALNUM(MID(#STR,2,1)) > 0)
	PAUSE[TX="2nd Character is a Letter or Number"] // This is what will be displayed in this example
ELSE 
	PAUSE[TX="2nd Character is not a Letter or Number"] 
ENDIF

Returns a zero if the character is not a letter. It returns a value greater than zero if the character is a letter. It will return a -1 if you pass an empty string variable to the function.

If the string you pass to the function contains more than 1 character, only the 1st character will be checked. Use the MID(), LEFT(), RIGHT() functions to check other letters in a larger string.

//  See if character is a letter
IF (ISALPHA("a") > 0)
	PAUSE[TX="Character is a Letter"] // This is what will be displayed in this example
ELSE 
	PAUSE[TX="Character is not a Letter"] 
ENDIF

Returns a zero if the character is not a digit. It returns a value greater than zero if the character is a digit. It will return a -1 if you pass an empty string variable to the function.

If the string you pass to the function contains more than 1 character, only the 1st character will be checked. Use the MID(), LEFT(), RIGHT() functions to check other letters in a larger string.

//  See if character is a digit
IF (ISDIGIT("0") > 0)
	PAUSE[TX="Character is a Digit"] // This is what will be displayed in this example
ELSE 
	PAUSE[TX="Character is not a Digit"] 
ENDIF

Returns a zero if the character is either an uppercase letter or not a letter. It returns a value greater than zero if the character is a lowercase letter. It will return a -1 if you pass an empty string variable to the function.

If the string you pass to the function contains more than 1 character, only the 1st character will be checked. Use the MID(), LEFT(), RIGHT() functions to check other letters in a larger string.

//  See if 2nd character is a lowercase letter
STRING:#STR="Ab"
IF (ISLOWER(MID(#STR,2,1)) > 0)
	PAUSE[TX="2nd Character is a Lowercase Letter"] // This is what will be displayed in this example
ELSE 
	PAUSE[TX="2nd Character is not a Lowercase Letter"] 
ENDIF

Returns a zero if the character is not punctuation. It returns a value greater than zero if the character is a punctuation symbol. It will return a -1 if you pass an empty string variable to the function.

If the string you pass to the function contains more than 1 character, only the 1st character will be checked. Use the MID(), LEFT(), RIGHT() functions to check other letters in a larger string.

//  See if 2nd character is a punctuation symbol
STRING:#STR="0.1"
IF (ISPUNCT(MID(#STR,2,1)) > 0)
	PAUSE[TX="2nd Character is Punctuation"] // This is what will be displayed in this example
ELSE 
	PAUSE[TX="2nd Character is not Punctuation"] 
ENDIF

Returns a zero if the character is not a space character. It returns a value greater than zero if the character is a whitespace character. It will return a -1 if you pass an empty string variable to the function.

If the string you pass to the function contains more than 1 character, only the 1st character will be checked. Use the MID(), LEFT(), RIGHT() functions to check other letters in a larger string.

//  See if TAB is a whitespace character
IF (ISSPACE("\t") > 0)
	PAUSE[TX="2nd Character is Whitespace"] // This is what will be displayed in this example
ELSE 
	PAUSE[TX="2nd Character is not Whitespace"] 
ENDIF

Returns a zero if the character is either a lowercase letter or not a letter. It returns a value greater than zero if the character is an uppercase letter. It will return a -1 if you pass an empty string variable to the function.

If the string you pass to the function contains more than 1 character, only the 1st character will be checked. Use the MID(), LEFT(), RIGHT() functions to check other letters in a larger string.

//  See if 2nd character is an uppercase letter
STRING:#STR="aB"
IF (ISUPPER(MID(#STR,2,1)) > 0)
	PAUSE[TX="2nd Character is an Uppercase Letter"] // This is what will be displayed in this example
ELSE 
	PAUSE[TX="2nd Character is not an Uppercase Letter"] 
ENDIF

STRING:#S1
STRING:#S2
#S1="SmartCAMcnc"
#S2=LEFT(#S1,5) // #S2 is equal to "Smart"

STRING:#S1  // Original string
STRING:#S2  // returned string

#S1="   Left Trim   "
#S2=LTRIM(#S1) // S2 now contains "Left Trim   "

Notice the white-space characters on the right side of the string still exist.

STRING:#S1
STRING:#S2
#S1="SmartCAMcnc"
#S2=MID(#S1,6,3) // #S2 is equal to "CAM"

This function searches STRING1 for the first instance of STRING2, then returns an INTEGER showing the position within STRING1 where STRING2 begins; its offset in the string. The search will start at the end of STRING1, unless you use the optional START_POSITION parameter, and search backwards through the string. The INTEGER position returned by this function is always based on the start of the string. Example:

STRING:#S1  // The string that will be searched
STRING:#S2  // The string to look for
INTEGER:#POSITION  // The index into #S1 where #S2 is found

#S1="SmartCAMcnc CAM"
#S2="CAM"
#POSITION=RFIND(#S1, #S2) // #POSITION is equal to 13

#POSITION is set to 13, because when searching backwards through the string, the first "CAM" substring begins at the 13th position in STRING1.

The optional START_POSITION parameter is used to set where RFIND will begin to search. The START_POSITION is based on the beginning of the string, not the end. Example:

STRING:#S1  // The string that will be searched
STRING:#S2  // The string to look for
INTEGER:#POSITION

#S1="SmartCAM's CAM application"
#S1="CAM"	// Skip over 'CAM application' when searching
#POSITION=RFIND(#S1,#S2,11) // #POSITION is equal to 6

#POSITION is set to 6, because when searching backwards from position 11, the substring "CAM application" is not searched, so the first "CAM" substring starts at position 6 in STRING1.

If STRING2 is not found in STRING1, then RFIND will return 0.

STRING:#S1
STRING:#S2
#S1="SmartCAMcnc"
#S2=RIGHT(#S1,3) // #S2 is equal to "cnc"

STRING:#S1  // Original string
STRING:#S2  // returned string

#S1="   Right Trim   "
#S2=RTRIM(#S1) // S2 now contains "   Right Trim"

Notice the white-space characters on the left side of the string still exist.

SPLIT_STR() starts checking each character in S1; looking for a match with any character in string S2. If a match is found, the section of S1 to the left of the matching delimiter is added to the return array. The matching delimiter character is discarded and matching continues from where it left off. When the entire S1 string has been checked, the function returns the String Array containing the split up string.

//	Separate string by comma and periods
STRING:#Array[] 	//	array to hold results
STRING:#Src = "One,Two,Three & Four. Plus Five.Done"
//	Split #Src by commas and periods
#Array[] = SPLIT_STR(#Src, ",.")

After running this code fragment, the #Array string array contains:

#Array[0] = "One"
#Array[1] = "Two"
#Array[2] = "Three & Four"
#Array[3] = " Plus Five"
#Array[4] = "Done"

Functions of this nature are very helpful when working with lists of data, perhaps a line from a Spreadsheet's CSV text format files.

This allows string equivalence to be tested by the IF statement in a macro. See the string comparison information in the Fundamentals of Branching and Looping topic.

STRING:#S1  // Original string
STRING:#S2  // returned string

#S1="   Trim   "
#S2=TRIM(#S1) // S2 now contains "Trim"

Notice the white-space characters on the both sides of the text are trimmed out.

The INCLUDE statement is very useful for declaring all macro variables in a single file, then including the file at the start of the main macro. This establishes all the needed variables and their data types in a single easy to edit package.

The INCLUDE statement is followed by a quoted path and filename of the macro file to include.

See the Fundamentals: Variables topic for more information and examples of use.

Example: FreeForm_Machining 13.5.0 Windows 11/02/06 17:04:47

Values: 0 = Off, 1 = On

Values: 0 = Off, 1 = On

This function is only relevant when working with Steps, not Layers.

Values are: 0 = Left, 1 = Right, 2 = None

This function is only relevant when working with Steps, not Layers.

Values are: 0 = Default, 1 = Exact

This function can be used in conjunction with the SURF_ENV_MODE_SET macro command, in order to read the current setting, change to a different setting, and then restore the original setting. The bounding box calculation is used by View - Envelope and the GRP_DIAG() function.

If the parameter is "0" and an active group exists, GRP returns the number of elements in the active group.

If the parameter is in the valid range of total elements in the group, GRP returns the element number of the nth element in the active group.

If there is no group or the element is out of range, GRP returns -1.

Use "1", as the parameter, for the first element in the group.

Values: 0 = Off, 1 = On

If there is no matching layer name, then -1 is returned.

Passing in an empty string (""), returns the first layer that does not have an assigned name.

The layer name string is case-sensitive.

Values: 0 = Not Masked, 1 = Masked

Values: 0 = Off, 1 = On

If the integer parameter is 0 and the job operations setup has steps defined, OPNLIST returns the number of steps in the step list.

If the parameter is 0 and no steps exist, returns a 0.

If the integer parameter is a valid index in the step list, returns the step number of that step list entry.

If the parameter is greater than the total number of entries in the step list or less than 0, returns a -1.

OPNLIST formerly TNLIST(idx).

Values: 0 = Off, 1 = On

Values: 0 = Before, 1 = After

Values: 0 = Not Masked, 1 = Masked

Returns 0 if the element is not a SubCall or there are no repeats.

Values: 0 = Not a subcall, 1 = Normal Sub, 2 = Drill Sub

See also SUB().

Values: 0 = Not a valid sub index, 1 = Normal Sub, 2 = Drill Sub

See also SUB().

It returns a single integer value, use the following table to interpret the return value.

Values: 0 = Inch, 1 = Metric

Values: 0 = Not Masked, 1 = Masked

Enter the name of the workplane, exactly as displayed user interface, in quotes. Example: #i=WKPLN_MASKED("XY_PLANE")

Returns 0 if the plane is not wrapped or doesnt't exist.

See Also: PLN(elmt) and PLNNUM(wkpln name)

Values: 0 = Not Wrapped, 1 = Wrapped

See Also: PLN(elmt) and PLNNUM(wkpln name)

The DATE() function returns the date string using the Windows' Regional and Language Options setting for the short-date format.

The SYSTIME() function always returns the hour, minute and AM/PM notation, however it will use any special time separator as defined with Windows' Regional and Language Options setting for the time format.