6.10.6 Meta parameters

When specifying the command line for the called tool, meta parameters can be used. Meta parameters are variables and they are replaced by their contents before passing the command line to the tool.

$CAP

Captures the output of the tool.

$CAP_MSG()

Captures the output of the tool and puts it in the messages window.

$CAP_EDIT()

Captures the output of the tool and puts it in a separate editor window.

$COL

Replaced by the column of the cursor in the active editor window. If there is no active window or the active window is a dialog, then it is replaced by 0.

$CONFIG

Replaced by the complete filename of the current configuration file.

$DIR()

Replaced by the full directory of the filename argument, including the trailing directory separator, e.g.

  $DIR('d:\data\myfile.pas')

would return d:\data\.

$DRIVE()

Replaced by the drive letter of the filename argument. e.g.

  $DRIVE('d:\data\myfile.pas')

would return d:.

$EDNAME

Replaced by the complete file name of the file in the active edit window. If there is no active edit window, this is an empty string.

$EXENAME

Replaced by the executable name that would be created if the make command was used. (i.e. from the ’Primary File’ setting or the active edit window).

$EXT()

Replaced by the extension of the filename argument. The extension includes the dot. e.g.

  $EXT('d:\data\myfile.pas')

would return .pas.

$LINE

Replaced by the line number of the cursor in the active edit window. If no edit window is present or active, this is 0.

$NAME()

Replaced by the name part (excluding extension and dot) of the filename argument. e.g.

  $NAME('d:\data\myfile.pas')

would return myfile.

$NAMEEXT()

Replaced by the name and extension part of the filename argument. e.g.

  $NAMEEXT('d:\data\myfile.pas')

would return myfile.pas.

$NOSWAP

Does nothing in the IDE; it is provided only for compatibility with Turbo Pascal.

$PROMPT()

Prompt displays a dialog box that allows editing of all arguments that come after it. Arguments that appear before the $PROMPT keyword are not presented for editing.

$PROMPT() can also take an optional filename argument. If present, $PROMPT() will load a dialog description from the filename argument. E.g.

$PROMPT(cvsco.tdf)

would parse the file cvsco.tdf, construct a dialog with it and display it. After the dialog closed, the information entered by the user is used to construct the tool command line.

See section 6.10.7, page 291 for more information on how to create a dialog description.

$SAVE

Before executing the command, the active editor window is saved, even if it is not modified.

$SAVE_ALL

Before executing the command, all unsaved editor files are saved without prompting.

$SAVE_CUR

Before executing the command the contents of the active editor window are saved without prompting if they are modified.

$SAVE_PROMPT

Before executing the command, a dialog is displayed asking whether any unsaved files should be saved before executing the command.

$WRITEMSG()

Writes the parsed tool output information to a file with name as in the argument.