A
macro is essentially a series of commands which can be stored in a
file. In this guide, we will describe the process of writing and executing
macros.
Writing macros:
The simplest macros simply contain a list of commands, for example:
drive m2 40 count preset
time 10 repeat 3 drive m2 60 count preset
time 10 repeat 3
To save the macro to a file which can be executed from SPICE, the file
should be saved in the User Macro directory the
location of which can be found on the GUI by selecting the Default
Directories tab from the Setup
top-level tab. The User Macro directory location is stored on this
tab in the Experiment Macro directory text
box. In addition, the default extension for SPICE macros is .macro and the complete
filename does not need to be specified when this extension is used.
To make the process of writing macros simpler, we have included a
graphical interface which can be accessed by selecting
the Edit
Macro tab from the Macro/Stack top-level tab.
If the desired macro is typed into the top textbox on this tab,
the green Write to file button will bring
up a file dialog box which has the correct path and extension included.
The example shown in the above macro shows a useful feature of the
macro processing in SPICE - the ability to use loops.
The loop syntax in macro is the following:
loop
i=start,stop,step . . . endloop
if step is not included, a step
size of 1 is assumed. In
addition, the loop variable can be used in the commands contained in the
loop by using the syntax %name. For example, in
the image above, the first command in the loop is drive
s2 50+%i where i is the loop variable. From
the GUI, loops can be expanded by clicking of the yellow Expand
button and the results are printed in the lower text box. The
results of this expansion are shown in the above image and the various
drives corresponding to different i values can be clearly seen.
There are no limitations in this loop structure and embedded loops
are also allowed.
Another feature which can be used
in writing macros is the ability to pass on command line arguments.
As an example of this, consider the following macro:
drive s2 40+%1 count preset
time %3 drive s2 50+%2 count preset
time %3
If this macro is then saved (let's assume the filename is testvariable.macro)
then the command run testvariable 10 -5 100 will
execute the following set of commands:
This structure is useful when there is some set of commands which need
to be repeated regularly but with slightly different parameters. NOTE: there is no way
of passing command line variables to a macro using the included
graphical user interface. Therefor the run command will need to be used.
Executing
Macros:
Macros can be executed using either the graphical user interface or the run
command.
1. From the graphical user interface, as shown in the image above, the
macro can be executed directly by hitting the blue Execute
Macro button. As mentioned above, command line arguments cannot be
passed to a macro using this method.
2. The second method of executing a macro is with the run command.
Detailed information about this command can be found in the run
help document.
