Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

"Westfall, Michael D" <[email protected]> · Thu, 13 Feb 2014 21:55:07 +0000

A question regarding MSI (Macro Substitution and Include) tool:

Is there a way to set the value of a macro in the substitutions file for later use without triggering an immediate substitution?

For example, say I have a template file xxx.template:

   $(FNAME) $(LNAME) is a $(SEX)

and my substitutions file xxx.substitutions:

   file xxx.template {
      pattern {FNAME, LNAME, SEX}
      {John, Smith, Male}
      {George, Jones, Male}      
      {James, Taylor, Male}
      {Robert, Redford, Male}
      {Larry, Cableguy, Male}
      {Susan, Williams, Female}
      {Judy, Johnson, Female}
      {Melinda, Martin, Female}
      {Cathy, Lewis, Female}
      {Linda, Hall, Female}
   }

and the output after running "msi -S xxx.substitutions"  

   John Smith is a Male
   George Jones is a Male
   James Taylor is a Male
   Robert Redford is a Male
   Larry Cableguy is a Male
   Susan Williams is a Female
   Judy Johnson is a Female
   Melinda Martin is a Female
   Cathy Lewis is a Female
   Linda Hall is a Female

What I'd like to do is avoid typing "Male" and "Female" so often (perhaps I have hundreds and hundreds of substitutions to do) by having a substitutions file something like this:

   file xxx.template {
      Set SEX=Male
      pattern {FNAME, LNAME}
      {John, Smith}
      {George, Jones}      
      {James, Taylor}
      {Robert, Redford}
      {Larry, Cableguy}
      Set SEX=Female
      {Susan, Williams}
      {Judy, Johnson}
      {Melinda, Martin}
      {Cathy, Lewis}
      {Linda, Hall}
   }

Any tips for doing something like this with the existing tool?

--
Mike Westfall
PADSTE/ADE/AOT/IC/Controls
Los Alamos National Laboratory
(505) 667-3273

Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System