From The Beginning Overview

In this section, we will explore some of the more advanced uses for the SmartCAM Macro system. This will involve developing a complex macro from scratch, defining its purpose, identifying the necessary parameters, writing the code, and conducting tests.

The next section of this documentation, Creating a User Interface, will take the macro created in this chapter and provide it with a user interface. It will also be integrated into your SmartCAM application.

The Macro

Before beginning to write any MCL code, it is wise to understand exactly what the macro will do, as well as what input and output are needed.

The following describes the macro that will be developed in this tutorial.

The macro will step through the current Process Model database element by element. It will total up the cutting distances for each Step used in the model. After processing the entire process model, it will generate a text report, saved to the hard drive, which lists the total length of the toolpath for each Step as well as the combined total cutting length.

The Process

The following general process steps will be used to develop this macro.

• Designing the Macro
  Document what inputs and outputs are needed, what issues need to be addressed, and what process will be used to generate the correct result.
• Coding the Macro
  The bulk of the macro development will be spent on actually writing the code. This section shows a typical macro development session.
• Testing the Macro
  Ensure it works and repair it if it does not.
• Creating a User Interface
  Add a simple user interface to the macro and integrate it into the SmartCAM application.

Please note that this macro development tutorial will be far more complex than the previous examples. However, all features used in the development of this macro are described in simpler terms in other sections of the documentation. This tutorial demonstrates how the combined application of several simple techniques can be used to create a fairly complex results.