Editing a macro

Edit a macro

You can enter two types of instructions in a macro file:

process forms previously saved in a form set.
Special commands.

Saved Forms

These are the most common instructions. Any function available in the program can operate as a macro. See: Forms and macros

Note: However, if you want to perform some file operations (like Import/Export, Validate, Calculate, etc.) you must do so using the file functions on the File menu; macros cannot be used in the File Editor.

You can enter instructions in the macro file in any order; they will be executed one at a time in the order you enter them. All the necessary information for each instruction must be entered in a single record in the macro file.

Special commands

Some instructions are available that do not refer to a saved form set. You will generally use these to control the processing of the macro itself, for example ABORT, or to ensure readability, like COMMENT.

ABORT Terminates the macro when an error occurs. when using the ABORT command the Par field should contain either YES or NO to indicate whether the macro should abort or not when errors occur.

BEEP Sounds the computer speaker. In the Par field enter the number of times <n> that you want to sound the computer’s audio tone.

COMMENT Includes a comment line in the macro (see use of { and }).

! Behaves like a comment. You can also use it to ‘hide’ an instruction.

{...} Same as a comment but ‘hides’ all records including those on which the braces are located. Used to “comment out” several instructions.