Using macro dialogs

The statements in a macro usually have parameters that need to be assigned values. Wintrack gives each macro 16 parameter registers which can be assigned parameter values when the macro is run. In your macro statements, you can replace explicit parameter values by place holders that refer to parameter registers and thereby defer the specification of values to the moment when you actually run the macro. Provided that you call a macro using the Run Macro command, you can include a [dialogs] section in the macro that runs a selection of command dialogs and writes the specified parameter values to parameter registers. These dialogs run before the [main] section of the macro is executed. This is how it works:

Command Param_1={1} Param_2=value
Command Param_1={1}{2}
Command Param_1={3} Param_2=value

In the [main] section of the macro, for some or all parameter assignments instead of typing values, type place holders, that is, numbers framed by brackets. Make sure not to use numbers greater than 16. You can assign the same place holder to two or more parameters within the same or in different commands if you want them all to be always assigned the same value as the macro is executed. You can also combine place holders to make up for one parameter value.

Command /d/Param_1 Param_2
GetParam {1} Param_1
Command /dh/Param_1 /d/Param_2=default
GetParam {2} Param_1
GetParam {3} Param_2

In the [dialogs] section of the macro, include a command statement for each pre-dialog which is to be run. This will actually not execute a command, but merely run its dialog, so the user can enter parameters. Place a dialog prefix /d/ in front of every parameter you want to be accessible in the dialog. Combine the dialog prefix with a history prefix to present the most recently specified value as a default in a field: /dh/. You can also specify an explicit default to be presented in the dialog by specifying a value for a parameter. After the user has entered parameter values in a macro dialog, these values need to be stored in parameter registers. To this purpose, you place GetParam statements immediately after the command statement that ran the dialog. Each GetParam statement can write one specified value to one of the parameter registers. GetParam statements have three parameters:

GetParam {n} field_name [Take=dir]

• The first specifies the parameter register you want to write to.
• The second is the name of the dialog field whose value you want to store. You refer to dialog fields using the names of the corresponding macro statement parameters.
• The third parameter is optional and allows you to transfer only the directory part of a path which the user has specified in a file dialog field.

GetParam {n} Dialog [Def=default] [Txt=title]

GetParam can also be used without first invoking a command dialog. If you specify the keyword Dialog instead of a dialog field name, GetParam will itself display a simple dialog with an edit box for the user to enter text. The optional parameter Def allows to specify a default content for the edit box. Using the Txt parameter, you may add a text label to the edit box.

Additional information...

• To obtain help on the syntax and parameter defaults of specific macro statements use the list presented in Macro statements.
• Creating and using macros gives an overview on Wintrack macros.