Variables in VMFG Macros

Is there a way to store a value in a variable in one macro that can be read and changed in another macro?

Example:
1. Set x = 100 in OnNew or OnLoad
2. Get the value of x in OnSave

So far, my testing seem to indicate that the variables don't persist.

Thanks for your help.

Regards,
John Keegan

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mseppanen

Hey John,

Interesting thing you're asking about, but directly the Macro Variables cannot be passed from one step to another.

You however, can write to a User Defined Field as a placeholder and then reference that User Defined in both Macros.

You can even reference a UDF that is not being used on your document and it'll be saved into the database. If you have an open USER_# field in the window, that'll also carry over throughout the system, whereas the UDF fields are stuck in the window you build them in.

This is an excerpt I use to get the First Printed Date into the Estimate user fields (since the Printed Date disappears when you put it back into a released status).

OnLoad

If udfDate5 = "" Then
udfDate5 = PRINTED_DATE
End If

OnSave

'Set Original Print Date to User1

User_1 = udfDate5

Legacy Contributor

Thanks Mat!

Yes, I was playing around with this yesterday. I used udfNumber10 as a placeholder, and saw that it did indeed hold a value that could be accessed by other macros.

But what I noticed, was that the value was not saved to the database (which is OK for my application), which surprised me. I did not have more than a couple of Customizable UDF Number fields, so I figured it was safe and that I would not stomp on existing data.

I looked in the USER_DEF_FIELDS table after playing around, but did not see my play data anywhere there.

And that makes me wonder, how does VMFG know which udf field to use if you have any defined? In the USER_DEF_FIELDS table, there is no field that indicates which of the defined Customizable Fields belong to which udf variable / macro field.

I assume that it assigns them based on the order of precedence of the Sequence Number. I'll have to test that theory out.

Anyway, at least there is a method to communicate between Macros.

Regards,

John Keegan

mseppanen

It stores the Custom UDF's in the USER_DEF_FIELDS table you are correct. It is fairly obtuse how though. It creates an entry for the Window in the table and then a number ID which then holds the data, usually as STRING_VAL or NUMBER_VAL.

If you want to use it in an outside report use extreme caution as if you add a new udf field of the same type and alphabetically it is before your current udf field, then it gets all mixed up. Visual will continue to reassign the numbers more or less dynamically... which is super awesome for reporting.

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