Macros: Task Automation

To record a macro in Tecplot RS, start the Macro Recorder, accessible in the Macro menu, and then perform the sequence of actions you wish to record. After recording your macro, if you wish, you can edit your macro file with an ASCII text editor to remove redundant operations, compress repetitive actions into loops, or otherwise modify the macro.

To operate the Macro Recorder, do the following:

While recording macros, you can use the buttons in the Macro Recorder to add specific commands to your macro. These buttons insert the following:

When creating a macro, be sure to think about the state of your project when you begin recording. For example, you may wish to begin with a blank project and default formatting to create a macro that will run without first loading data. On the other hand, if you wish to create a macro that operates on whatever data you have loaded at the time, you may wish to load example data before beginning to record your macro.

There are a number of ways to play a created macro. The most straightforward is to choose Play Macro from the Macro menu. In the Play Macro dialog that appears, browse to the macro file (.mcr) that you wish to play, and click the Open button.

The last ten macros you played are listed in the Macro menu, giving you a second way to play frequently-used macros.

You can also launch Tecplot RS from the command line and tell it to play a macro by including the name of the macro file on the command line, like this:

tecplotrs mymacro.mcr

To play a macro this way, first navigate to the folder containing the macro or include the path to the macro in the command.

You can also run the macro in batch mode using the -b flag. The complete command for accomplishing this on a Windows operating system follows this form:

tecplotrs -b <macro filename>

For example:

tecplotrs -b MyMacro.mcr

This command syntax will also work on Linux platforms.

The Easy Macros window, which you can open from the Macro menu, lets you quickly play a macro file from a folder you have chosen. The Easy Macros window will stay open while you use Tecplot RS, giving you an easy way to integrate your macros into your workflow.

The Macros tab of the Manage Data dialog lets you choose the default directory where the Easy Macros window will look for macros. The directory can be set for each project.

In this dialog, click Browse to set the Easy Macros directory, or type a path directly. The Macro Files list shows all the macro files found in the selected directory.

While using the Macro Recorder is the easiest way to create macros, you can also use a text editor to either write your macro manually or edit a created macro. This can be useful for automating the same action several times in one macro (for example, to load several data files with numerically incremental names, like simulation1.unsmry, simulation2.unsmry, and simulation3.unsmry).

When writing or editing a macro file, you can add macro commands by enclosing them in a unit called a macro function: define the command(s) in the macro function, and then call the macro function. Use this form to define a macro function:

Between $!MACROFUNCTION and $!ENDMACROFUNCTION, you can include any legal macro command (except $!MACROFUNCTION; you cannot define another macro command inside a definition).

For example, the following macro function turns on the Contour zone layer, turns off the Mesh zone layer, sets the contour plot type to "Both Lines and Flood" for zones 1, 2 and 3, then chooses gray scale color mapping:

The RETAIN parameter tells Tecplot RS to retain the macro function definition for use in subsequent macro calls in one Tecplot RS session. This allows you to define and call a macro function once, and then call that function in any other macro after playing this macro in your Tecplot RS session.

Use the $!RUNMACROFUNCTION macro command to call your macro function. For example, to call the "graycontour" macro function defined above, use the following macro command:

$!RUNMACROFUNCTION "graycontour"

You can use the $!RUNMACROFUNCTION command within other macro functions; calls may be nested up to ten deep.

To access parameters from within a macro function use "|n|", where n is the parameter number (do not include the double quotes). For example, the following function uses two parameters for the assignments to SHOWCONTOUR and SHOWMESH:

If you use macros for only recording and playing, you do not need to understand or even look at the command structure. However, to tap into the full power of macros, you can learn to manipulate the files, cut and paste, modify, and even create files with macros.

Use the Macro Debugger, accessed via Macro → View/Debug Macros, to step through and debug a macro file. This dialog allows you to add and delete breakpoints, view and set watch variables, and view the call stack.

The Macro Debugger displays the text of the currently loaded macro file at the top of the dialog in the Macro Source area. The black arrow marks the line about to be executed; it moves to the next command after the current command is executed. Below this is a second area (Expanded View) showing the complete command about to be executed, as many macro commands are lengthy and may not be readable in their entirety in the Macro Source area.

The Macro Debugger has the following buttons in its toolbar:

The Macro Debugger has the following three areas at the bottom of the dialog. Watch Variables and Breakpoints share the same space; use the provided tabs to switch between them.