Creating Macro Definitions

The Create Macro Definition dialog allows you to manually create macro definitions for specific rules.
To create macro definitions:
  1. Go to the RULES panel and select the rule you want to apply macro definitions to.
      Note:
    • To select multiple rules, hold the Ctrl key and click each rule that you want to select.
  2. Right click on the rules and select the option Create Macro Definition from the list.Create Macro Definition
  3. Edit the Create Macro Definition dialog.
    SignatureSignature
    In the OPTIONS section, enter a display name for the macro definition into the Name field. Enter up to 64 characters.
    • If no name is added, you are prompted to add a name before you can create the macro definition.
    • If you enter the same name as one of the existing macro definitions, you are prompted to select a different name as the current name is already in use.
        Note:
      • The name for the macro definition is displayed into the Macro Rules section, located on the right side of the screen. See Macros for more information.
    In the PARAMETERS section, click +Create parameter to customize parameter names. Enter up to 64 characters.

    The resulting parameters are displayed in the PARAMETERS field on the right side of the screen. To edit a parameter, select it and click , then you can save your changes by clicking . To delete your changes, click . Also, you can delete a parameter by selecting it and clicking .

    Note: If you rename a parameter, the change will apply to all the macro rules that use that parameter.

    If you delete a parameter, it will be deleted from all the macro rules where it was assigned.

    StructureStructure

    Add to Macro Rules: moves a rule from the RULES section to the Macro Rules section.

    You can also move a rule from the RULES section to the Macro Rules section by using the Add to Macro Rules option from the right-click menu. You can move a rule several times depending on your needs.

    Remove from Macro Rules: deletes a rule from the Macro Rules list.

    You can also delete a rule from the Macro Rules section by using the Remove from Macro Rules option from the right-click menu.

    The right-click menu also allows you to enable or disable a rule.

    Select the rule for the macro definition from the RULES section.

    • If you select a parent rule to create a macro definition, the parent rule and all the children are automatically moved into the RULES section.

      Selection from the RULES section, located on the left side of the screen
      Display on the RULES section from Create Macro Definition dialog

    • If you select both parent rule and children, the RULES section will display the parent rule together with the children hierarchy, and the children selected.

      Selection from the RULES section, located on the left side of the screen
      Display on the RULES section from Create Macro Definition dialog
      RULES

    The selected rule name matches the Name field from the PROPERTIES section.

    PropertiesProperties
    Configure the Assign to parameter options from the PROPERTIES section.
      Note:
    • The list of properties may vary depending on the properties of the selected rule.
    • The left side properties from the PROPERTIES section are read only.

    To use a macro parameter inside a condition, use $$ followed by the parameter name.

    To use a variable inside a condition, use $ followed by the variable name.

    To save all changes click SAVE.

In this section:

  1. Editing Macro Definitions
    You can edit the parameters and properties for macro definitions.
  2. Deleting Macro Definitions
    You can remove macro definitions from the Created section.
  3. Moving Macro Definitions
  4. Exporting Macro Definitions
  5. Exporting Macro Parameters
    Use macro definition parameters as Export As coordinate values for rules in that macro.
Parent topic: Working with Macro Files