SAS - Define macro variable containing undefined macro variable without generating warning - sas

How can one define a macro variable containing references to other macro variables which have not yet been defined without generating a warning?
Consider a program which generates similar plots for different variables. Depending on the variable, the label of each figure will change. Since all the figures have the similar labels, except for the particular analysis variable, it makes sense to place the label at the top of the program for easy modification. The problem is, at that point in the program, the variable name has not been yet been defined.
For example:
/*Top of program*/
%let label = This &thing gets defined later.;
/* ... */
/*Later in program*/
%let thing = macro variable;
%put &=label;
This produces the desired output:
LABEL=This macro variable gets defined later.
But it also generates a warning in the log:
WARNING: Apparent symbolic reference THING not resolved.
If I put an %nrstr around &thing, then the form of label is correct (i.e . LABEL=This &thing gets defined later.) However, &thing no longer resolves after it has been defined.
/*Top of program*/
%let label = This %nrstr(&thing) gets defined later.;
%put &=label;
/* ... */
/*Later in program*/
%let thing = macro variable;
%put &=label;
This outputs:
LABEL=This &thing gets defined later.
LABEL=This &thing gets defined later.
Is there some way to avoid writing the warning to the log?

Here is where understanding the difference between %STR type quoting and %QUOTE type quoting is helpful.
%QUOTE and its variants mask text when a macro executes, while %STR and its variants mask text when a macro compiles. In this case you're concerned with the latter, not the former, as you expect &thing to be resolved during execution - but not during compilation.
So it's %NRSTR to the rescue. You'll also need to use %UNQUOTE to get the macro variable to fully resolve - i.e., cancel out the NRSTR.
/*Top of program*/
%let label = This %nrstr(&thing.) gets defined later.;
/* ... */
/*Later in program*/
%let thing = macro variable;
%put %unquote(&label);

Just use CALL SYMPUTX() in a data step to define the macro variable.
data _null_;
call symputx('label','This &thing gets defined later.');
run;
/*Later in program*/
%let thing = macro variable;
%put &=label;

Related

Error on trying to put a comment into a macro even though it expands correctly

I wanted to define a macro which will contain comment inside of it but I couldn't put it inside a macro.
More specifically, I wanted to turn this:
/* \deprecated "Car is deprecated" */ class [[deprecated("Car is deprecated")]] Car {}
into this:
DEPRECATED_CLASS("Car is deprecated") Car {}
I figured that maybe if I break comment into a few little macros maybe I could do it. And now, even if it shows correct expansion, it doesn't work because of "expected declaration"
Here is how I defined macro:
Here is the error and how it looks when expanded:
Also, here is one example before and after preprocessor:
Edit1: It shows red '*/' in example macro, but fixing it doesn't make difference
Edit2: Here is code
#define D0(msg) \deprecated msg
#define D1(msg) * D0(msg)*
#define D2(msg) /D1(msg)/
#define DEPRECATED_CLASS(msg) D2(msg) class [[deprecated(msg)]]
DEPRECATED_CLASS("Consider using Ante") Mate
{
public:
int a = 0;
private:
}
You cannot.
Comments are "removed" before the preprocessor run.
See translation phases #3 and #4:
Phase 3
[...]
3 ) Each comment is replaced by one space character.
Phase 4
1 ) The preprocessor is executed.
Maybe a tool to generate code would be your best solution.

Lazy evaluation of Lauterbach macro - is it possible?

I'm currently writing some kind of a "skeleton" for tests to be performed using Lauterbach scripts.
In this skeleton I want to have a part in which all test specific definitions shall be done, e.g. functions to set breaks on, variables to be altered etc. This part shall be just near the top of the script file, so that other users do not have to go through the complete script file, changing values here and there.
Some of the variables that'll be used are defined function-local within the C-code to be tested. So, these become available to the Lauterbach script only once the scope of that function has been entered - which is deeply within the skeleton script code.
Is there a way to define a macro for these variables just way before the scope has been entered?
Let's give some example structure:
LOCAL &funcToTest // the function we want to test
LOCAL &varToBeSet // a variable within the function we want to alter
LOCAL &valueToBeSet // the value we want to set &varToBeSet to
... // some more definitions here
&funcToTest=someFunc
&varToBeSet=status
&valueToBeSet=1
... // some test code following here that sets up log files, screen areas
... // start the program to be tested etc.
IF (Register(PC)==ADDRESS.OFFSET(&funcToTest))
(
// OK - we've hit the breakpoint inside the function to test
... // Run to some point where we can set the local variable
Var.Set &varToBeSet=&valueToBeSet
... // Go on with the program and see what happens - this will be logged
)
The problem is that Lauterbach complains at the line &varToBeSet=status
with Symbol not found in this context - which is correct, because it is a local variable.
Looking at the symbols via View->Symbols->SymbolsTreeView (or by giving the command Symbol.List.Tree) I can find the symbol (in this particular case found under the node some_module.some_function.status). Clicking on it gives the information in the TRACE32 status status line \\some_app\some_module\some_func\status with type (auto STATUS), scope local, location stack.
Changing my script to read &varToBeSet=\\some_app\some_module\some_func\status instead of &varToBeSet=status, however, does not help much. In this case Lauterbach complains with no access to that symbol.
Is there a way, I can delay evaluation of the macro to some point where it is actually used instead of having it evaluated when it is defined?
Use quotes:
&varToBeSet="\\some_app\some_module\some_func\status"

Can I call C++ code from Progress OpenEdge ABL?

Is it possible to execute C++ code from within Progress ABL?
Specifically, I am looking to use the function SHGetKnownFolderPath (documentation here) to determine the location of the "Documents" folder on a Windows 7 machine that has the documents folder redirected to another location.
Or, is there an alternative way to determine this information without resorting to checking a registry key?
You can call external shared libraries and DLLs.
http://documentation.progress.com/output/OpenEdge113/pdfs/dvpin/dvpin.pdf
Section 3 "External Interfaces" is what you are looking for.
This http://dbappraise.com/ppt/shlib.pptx might also be helpful.
C++ is often problematic due to the way it names things. You might be better off building a "shim" using plain old C to bridge between OpenEdge and C++
Callling Windows system functions is usually easy though. Something like:
procedure SHGetKnownFolderPath external "pathToLibrary":
define parameter a as someType.
define parameter b as someType.
define return parameter x as someType.
end.
Check the "Programming Interfaces" document, "External Program Interfaces" section.
Also, some versions of ABL also support direct .NET calls as an option.
I was able to get this working in 10.2B after consulting some sources:
The C# solution, for a working example: https://stackoverflow.com/a/21953690/763102
Win32 OpenEdge samples, for translation examples: http://www.oehive.org/book/export/html/385.html
The difficult part for SHGetKnownFolderPath is the rfid parameter which needs to be passed by reference. C# has the annotation [System.Runtime.InteropServices.MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStruct)] or the ref keyword. I couldn't figure out how to pass a reference of System.Guid due to Progress OpenEdge's limitations of external procedure parameter datatypes, so I performed a bytewise copy of a .NET Guid and passed that via MEMPTR. I apologize for leaning so heavily on .NET here.
Here is a working example that gets the provided known folder GUID, plus usage to get the Documents folder:
PROCEDURE SHGetKnownFolderPath EXTERNAL "shell32.dll":
DEFINE INPUT PARAMETER rfid AS MEMPTR.
DEFINE INPUT PARAMETER dwFlags AS UNSIGNED-LONG.
DEFINE INPUT PARAMETER hToken AS LONG.
DEFINE OUTPUT PARAMETER ppszPath AS LONG.
DEFINE RETURN PARAMETER result AS LONG.
END PROCEDURE.
FUNCTION prepareGuidPointer RETURNS MEMPTR(
pGuid AS System.Guid):
DEFINE VARIABLE lGuidBytes AS INTEGER EXTENT.
ASSIGN lGuidBytes = pGuid:ToByteArray().
DEFINE VARIABLE lGuidPointer AS MEMPTR NO-UNDO.
SET-SIZE(lGuidPointer) = EXTENT(lGuidBytes).
DEFINE VARIABLE ii AS INTEGER NO-UNDO.
DO ii = 1 TO EXTENT(lGuidBytes):
PUT-BYTE(lGuidPointer, ii) = lGuidBytes[ii].
END.
RETURN lGuidPointer.
END FUNCTION.
FUNCTION deallocatePointer RETURNS INT64(
pPointer AS MEMPTR):
SET-SIZE(pPointer) = 0.
RETURN GET-SIZE(pPointer).
END FUNCTION.
FUNCTION GetKnownFolderPath RETURNS CHARACTER(
pGuidString AS CHARACTER):
DEFINE VARIABLE lDontVerifyFolderFlag AS INT64 NO-UNDO
INITIAL 16384. /* 0x4000 */
DEFINE VARIABLE lUseDefaultUser AS INTEGER NO-UNDO
INITIAL 0.
DEFINE VARIABLE lGuidPointer AS MEMPTR NO-UNDO.
ASSIGN lGuidPointer = prepareGuidPointer( NEW System.Guid(pGuidString) ).
DEFINE VARIABLE lResult AS INTEGER NO-UNDO.
DEFINE VARIABLE lPathResponse AS INTEGER NO-UNDO.
RUN SHGetKnownFolderPath(
INPUT lGuidPointer,
INPUT lDontVerifyFolderFlag,
INPUT lUseDefaultUser,
OUTPUT lPathResponse,
OUTPUT lResult).
deallocatePointer(lGuidPointer).
IF lResult GE 0 THEN
DO:
DEFINE VARIABLE lStringPath AS CHARACTER NO-UNDO.
DEFINE VARIABLE lPathPointer AS System.IntPtr NO-UNDO.
ASSIGN lPathPointer = NEW System.IntPtr(lPathResponse).
ASSIGN lStringPath =
System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal:PtrToStringUni(lPathPointer).
System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal:FreeCoTaskMem(lPathPointer).
RETURN lStringPath.
END.
ELSE
UNDO, THROW NEW System.Runtime.InteropServices.ExternalException(
"Unable to retrieve the known folder path. It may not be available on this system.",
lResult).
END FUNCTION.
DEFINE VARIABLE lDocumentsGuidString AS CHARACTER NO-UNDO
INITIAL "~{FDD39AD0-238F-46AF-ADB4-6C85480369C7}".
MESSAGE GetKnownFolderPath(lDocumentsGuidString)
VIEW-AS ALERT-BOX.

Visual Studio Breakpoint Macro to modify a value?

I'm debugging an application (C++), and I've found a point in the code where I want to change a value (via the debugger). So right now, I've got a breakpoint set, whereupon I do:
Debugger reaches breakpoint
I modify the variable I want to change
I hit F5 to continue running
lather, rinse, repeat
It's hitting this breakpoint a lot, so I would like to automate this. I would like to set the Breakpoint to run a macro, and continue execution.
However, I have no experience writing VisualStudio macros, so I don't know the commands for modifying a variable of the executing program. I've looked around, but haven't found anything helpful online so far.
I found how to do this with a macro. Initially, I tried using Ctrl-Shift-R to record a macro of keystrokes, but it stopped recording when I did Ctrl-Alt-Q. But I was able to edit the macro to get it to work. So here's what I did, in case anyone else wants to do something similar.
Tools -> Macros -> Macro Explorer
Right Click -> New macro
Public Module RecordingModule
Sub setvalue()
DTE.Debugger.ExecuteStatement("variable_name=0")
End Sub
End Module
This macro will execute the assignment statement, setting my variable (in this case, making it a NULL pointer).
Right Click on a BreakPoint -> When Hit...
Check "Run a macro"
Select Macros.MyMacros.RecordingModule.setvalue
Check "Continue execution"
Click OK
Then, I was able to run my program, automatically adjusting a pointer to NULL as it went. This was very useful for testing, and did not require recompiling.
Looking for similar today and found that you can also use the 'Print a message:' option instead of a macro. Values from code can be printed by placing them inside {}. The key is that VS will also evaluate the content as an expression - so {variable_name=0} should achieve the same as the macro example.
If you are think of a macro in the same way as Microsoft excel, then you're out of luck. It doesn't quite work that way.
In C++, a macro refers to a small inline function created with #define. It is a preprocessor, so a macro is like using a replace on all its references with its body.
For example:
#define add(a,b) ((a)+(b))
int main() {
int a=3, b=4, c=5, d=6, e, f;
d = add(a,b);
e = add(c,d);
}
Would like to the c++ compiler as:
int main() {
int a=3, b=4, c=5, ...;
d = ((a)+(b));
e = ((c)+(d));
}
Now, back to your question. If the variable is within scope at this breakpoint, just set it from within your code:
myVar = myValue;
If it is not, but it is guaranteed to exist, you may need a little hack. Say that this variable is an int, make a global int pointer. If this variable is static, make sure to set it to its address, and back to NULL inside it's scope. If it is dynamic, you may need some extra work. Here is an example:
int* globalIntPointer;
void func() {
*globalIntPointer = 3;
//...
}
int main() {
int a = 5;
globalIntPointer = &a;
func();
//...
globalIntPointer = NULL; // for safety sake
return 0;
}
You can execute a VS macro when a breakpoint is hit (open the breakpoints window, right click on the breakpoint in question, and select "When Hit..." off the popup menu). I'm less certain about writing a macro that modifies a variable of the program under debug though -- I've never done that, and a quick try with attempting to record a macro to do it doesn't seem to work (all it records is activating the right window, not changing the value).
Select "Condition..." and write an assignment for the variable in question in the "Condition:" textbox. This will naturally resolve to "true" with it not being an actual conditional test. Therefore, the breakpoint is never hit, and your variable has been set accordingly.

How can a script retain its values through different script loading in Lua?

My current problem is that I have several enemies share the same A.I. script, and one other object that does something different. The function in the script is called AILogic. I want these enemies to move independently, but this is proving to be an issue. Here is what I've tried.
1) Calling dofile in the enemy's constructor, and then calling its script function in its Update function which happens in every game loop. The problem with this is that Lua just uses the script of the last enemy constructed, so all of the enemies are running the same script in the Update function. Thus, the object I described above that doesn't use the same script for it's A.I. is using the other enemies' script.
2) Calling dofile in the Update function, and then calling its script function immediately after. The problem with this is that dofile is called in every object's update function, so after the AILogic function runs and data for that script is updated, the whole thing just gets reset when dofile is called again for another enemy. My biggest question here is whether there is some way to retain the values in the script, even when I switch to running a different one.
I've read about function environments in Lua, but I'm not quite sure how to implement them correctly. Is this the right direction? Any advice is appreciated, thanks.
Edit: I've also considered creating a separate place to store that data rather than doing it in the Lua script.
Edit2: Added some sample code. (Just a test to get the functionality working).
-- Slime's Script
local count = 0;
function AILogic( Slime )
--Make the slime move in circles(err a square)
if count < 4 then
Slime:MoveDir( 0 );
elseif count < 8 then
Slime:MoveDir( 2 );
elseif count < 12 then
Slime:MoveDir( 1 );
elseif count < 16 then
Slime:MoveDir( 3 );
else
count = 0;
end
count = count + 1;
end
The lua interpreter runs each line as its own chunk which means that locals have line scope, so the example code can't be run as-is. It either needs to be run all at once (no line breaks), without locals, or run in a do ... end block.
As to the question in the OP. If you want to share the exact same function (that is the same function at runtime) then the function needs to take the data as arguments. If, however, you are ok with using the same code but different (runtime) functions than you can use closures to hold the local/individual data.
local function make_counter()
local count = 0
return function ()
local c = count
count = count + 1
return c
end
end
c1 = make_counter()
c2 = make_counter()
c3 = make_counter()
print(c1())
print(c1())
print(c1())
print(c1())
print(c2())
print(c3())
print(c2())
print(c3())
print(c2())
print(c3())
Alternatively, you could play with the environment of the function each time it is called, but that will only work correctly for some cases (depends on what the internals of the function are).
The canonical reference for this is link text. Explaining this briefly we'll work off the following code from the site:
a = 1
local newgt = {} -- create new environment
setmetatable(newgt, {__index = _G})
setfenv(1, newgt) -- set it
The first line sets up the (global) variable "a". You can view this as setting default values for your code. (Keep in mind that in Lua all variables are global unless you declare them with "local".)
The next line creates a table that will be your new environment. It is local to the function/chunk you're executing in so it won't be trashed by anything else that runs now or later.
The third line is the beginnings of the magic. To understand it you're going to have to understand metamethods In essence, however, you're using Lua's metamagic to ensure that any global names that aren't defined in your soon-to-be function environment get resolved in the context of your old global environment. Basically it means if you use a name that's not in your function environment, Lua will automagically hunt in the global environment you used to have to find the name. (In a word: inheritance.)
The fourth line is where you get what you're looking for. Setfenv(1,...) means that this changes the environment for your current function. (You could use 2 for the calling function, 3 for the calling function's caller, etc. on up the line.) The second parameter is the table you just set up, complete with inheritance of the old behaviour. Your function is now executing in a new global environment. It has all the names and values of the old environment handy (including functions and that global variable "a" you put in). If, however, you WRITE to a name it will not overwrite the global state. It will overwrite your local copy of it.
Consider the following subsequent code:
a = 10
b = 20
What you have done now is made your function environment table look like this:
{a = 10, b=20}
Your "global" environment, in short, contains two variables only: a (value 10) and b (value 20). When you access "a" later you'll get your local copy with 10 -- the old global value stored in your metatable is shadowed now and is still set to 1 -- and if you access "b" you'll get 20, despite the original global state likely not even having a variable "b" to access. And you'll still be able to access all the functions, etc. you've defined before this point as well.
Edited to add test code to debug OP's problem.
I put the following code into "junk.lua":
a = 1
local newgt = {}
setmetatable(newgt, {__index = _G})
setfenv(1, newgt)
print(a)
a = 10
print(a)
print(newgt)
The output of it is as follows:
$ lua junk.lua
1
10
table: 0x976d040
This is using Lua 5.1.4. What is the output you're seeing?