PCF Ltd - AMPS Macro Language

The combination of the AMPS macro language and the built in command interface gives QEI Exec unparalleled flexibility and power.

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AMPS is designed to allow users to control their QEI systems in any way they desire by means of macros. AMPS macros are interpreted by the primary command processor to determine the system's behaviour.

The execution of macros is completely transparent to the secondary command processor (the component of the product responsible for interpreting QEI command language) which is simply fed commands by the AMPS command processor after it has evaluated any expressions. For example, a macro might contain the lines

A$ = "Profile Title" send "new prof head " + quote$(A$, "'")

The first line defines the value of a string variable - this is processed entirely by AMPS and has no effect on the underlying system. The second line tells AMPS to pass a string expression to the secondary command processor.

This string expression is evaluated by the AMPS command processor by concatenating (joining together) the text string and the result of the quote$ function, which converts the string A$ into a quoted form. As far as the underlying system is concerned, it has received the command

new prof head 'Profile Title'

and so it responds accordingly - in this case creating a new profile (resource histogram) object with the appropriate descriptive text.

Macros can call other macros to several levels so that standard libraries of macros may be written which may be used in different contexts. This reduces macro writing effort and standardises common operations.

In fact, the entire user interface supplied as standard with QEI Exec is written in AMPS, allowing users to completely replace it with a custom one of their own if they so desire. To permit this, and also to provide a host of examples, the entire AMPS code for all the front end macros is supplied as part of the Developer's Kit, which is an optional extension to the standard product.

Macros are held in ASCII files and can be developed using any suitable line or screen editor. Once running correctly, they can be compiled to increase their execution speed. Compiled macros are held in direct access binary files which cannot be interpreted by editor programs.

Further Information

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