CALL

CALL

Support Command

Accesses and executes the specified DATAPLOT macro (= subroutine) stored on mass storage file. CALL is identical to ADD. CALL is the preferred command to use.

DATAPLOT macros are files containing DATAPLOT commands. These are ASCII text files that can be created and edited with any standard text editor available on your system. The CREATE command can be a convenient way to generate a macro file (it simply echoes commands entered interactively to a file).

Macros have several uses:

1. The same set of commands can be used with different data sets. Common analyses can be stored for repeated use.

2. An analysis can be archived for later reference.

3. A complicated analysis can be broken down into smaller, more manageable steps.

4. Analysis techniques not supported directly by DATAPLOT can be coded in a macro that can be made available to other users.

CALL <file name>
where <file name> is the name of a file containing DATAPLOT commands.

If the file name does not contain a period, place a period (no spaces) at the end of the file name.

CALL PLOTCALIB.
CALL PROG.PLOTLAB

DATAPLOT has no restrictions on the file name other than it be a valid file name on the local operating system and that it contain a period "." in the file name itself or as a trailing character. DATAPLOT strips off trailing periods on those systems where it is appropriate to do so. On systems where trailing periods can be a valid file name (e.g., Unix), DATAPLOT tries to open the file with the trailing period. If this fails, it then tries to open the file with the trailing period stripped off.

Some users prefer to give all macro files a ".DP" or ".dp" extension. Although this is a useful method for keeping track of macro files, it is strictly a user convention and is not enforced by DATAPLOT in any way.

File names are case sensitive on Unix file systems. For Unix, DATAPLOT attempts to open the file as given. If this fails, it attempts to open the file as all upper case characters. If this fails, it attempts to open the file as all lower case characters. All other currently supported systems are not case sensitive regarding file names.

As a further caution for Unix hosts, certain expansion characters (specifically ~ to refer to your home directory) are interperted by the shell and are not recognized by the Fortran compiler. These expansion characters are interperted as literal characters and do not yield the intended file name.

A large number of sample macros are provided with the DATAPLOT installation. Print the on-line directory file for a list of these macros (they are not documented in HELP). See your local site installer if you do not have a copy of this file.

If DATAPLOT can not open a macro file as given, it looks for it in the directory where the DATAPLOT reference files are stored. This means that you can run the sample macros by simply typing the name of the file (i.e., no directory name is required). However, be aware that the file extensions can vary on some operating systems.

All variables are global in DATAPLOT. This means that the macro file can use any parameters or variables defined in the calling program. There is no mechanism for passing arguments to the macro. However, the use of the NAME command or the substitute character can be used to mimic this capability. For example, the calling program can enter LET STRING VAR1 = PRESSURE while in the macro you do something like PLOT ^VAR1.

The ability to pass arguments to macros was implemented 11/2005. Enter
HELP MACRO SUBSTITUTION CHARACTER

for details.

Starting with the 07/2010 version of Dataplot, if a file name is given as the first argument on the command, then this file will be run as a macro.

The following commands were implemented 03/2015:
CALL EXIT
CALL EXIT ALL


The CALL EXIT command will exit the currently running macro. The CALL EXIT ALL command will exit all currently running macros and return control to the keyboard.

These commands are typically used in error checking sections of macros. That is, if a sufficiently serious error is detected, the macro can essentially be terminated with these commands without exiting Dataplot.

The command
PROBE MACRO SWITCH

can be used to determine the current setting of the macro switch. It can have one of the following values

OFF	-	no macro is currently running
EXEC	-	a macro is currently executing
ON	-	the CREATE command has been entered
EOF	-	a CALL EXIT command has been entered or an EOF has been encountered in the macro file

Most typically, this command would be entered to determine if we are currently running a macro (i.e., checking for either OFF or EXEC).

If you are running nested macros, you can determine the current nesting level with the command

PROBE MACRO LEVEL

A value of 0 means that no macro is currently running.

None

ADD, RUN, EXECUTE

CREATE	= Starts copying commands to macro file.
END OF CREATE	= Stops copying commands to macro file.
LIST	= Lists the contents of a file (including macro and data files).

Program Control

Pre-1987
2005/11: Support for arguments added
2010/07: If file name given as command, run it as a macro
2014/10: Maximum number of arguments to CALL increased from 10 to 50
2015/03: CALL EXIT and CALL EXIT ALL added

CALL MINITEST.DP