How to use actions and expressions in Host On-Demand Macro

When the macro runtime has selected a new current macro screen, the macro runtime immediately begins to perform the actions in the <actions> element of that macro screen. After the macro run-time has performed all the actions, the next step is to determine the next macro screen to be processed. Within a single macro screen, the macro runtime performs the actions in the order in which they occur in the <actions> element. This is the same order in which you have ordered the actions under the Action list. You are not required to create any actions for a macro screen. If there is no <actions> element specified or the <actions> element is empty, then the macro runtime goes directly to the next section of macro screen processing, which is selecting the next macro screen to be processed.
​

Actions by function
Following is a list of all the actions, grouped according to function.
​

           Example of an Extraction Operation in Macro Editor:
​

Figure 2: Extraction a screen text using Macro

Following are the steps to achieve an Extraction operation:
​

Also, the programmer can perform the Extraction Action by writing code using the code editor.
​

Figure 3: Host Application Screen from where ‘User’ word is extracted

Figure 4: Code for a sample Extraction Action

The Host On-demand Macro Programming language supports arithmetic operators, string Concatenation operator, conditional operators, and logical operators. Let us discuss how we can use arithmetic operators in expressions.
You can use arithmetic expression in the scenarios given below:
​

1.   As a parameter for a screen
2.    As a parameter for a descriptor
3.    As a parameter in an action
4.    As an initial value for a variable

Let us see how we can use the  “+” operator for defining a conditional action.

Figure 5 Use of Arithmetic Expression

NOTE:
You must use the ‘$’ (dollar) sign before the variable names while using in an arithmetic expression.
​

Anikjit Mitra
Technical Lead – HACP & HATS
​