General Preprocessor Statement Rules
Macro variables are substitution parameters that you can define and give a value. The preprocessor, when it encounters a macro variable in the source file, substitutes the name with its defined value. In the case where the defined value is a character string, the value substituted does not contain the delimiting quotation marks. A macro variable's scope is global to the frame being generated from the point in the file where it is defined.
There are two types of macro variables that you can use in your 4GL code for preprocessing purposes:
• User-defined macro variables
You define these in the Frame Editor or Procedure Editor, or in your source script.
• Built-in macro variables
The OpenROAD preprocessor determines the value of these macro variables each time you compile. You can use these, but you should not change their values.
The following sections describe how to use preprocessor statements with these macro variable types.