Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Macros in AX 2009 - AX 2009

Macros are constants, or pieces of code, that are being taken care of by the compiler before the rest of the code to replace the code where the macro is used with the content of the macro.

There are three different types of macros: stand alone macros, local macros, and macro libraries.

Macros are typically constant values that are only changed by developers. They are used so that developers don't have to hardcode these kind of values in the X++ code, but rather refer to the macro.

The macro libraries can be found in the AOT under Macros. Each of them can contain multiple macros that can be used throughout the rest of AX.

To use the macros from a macro library in AX, simply include them in the scope that you would like to use them. The next example shows how to use two different macros from the same macro library in a Job.

First we create a macro library that consists of two macros:

#define.Text('This is a test of macros')
#define.Number(200)


Then we use these macros from within a Job:

static void Datatypes_macro_library(Args _args)
{
// Referencing macro library has to be done in the class declaration
// or in the declaration like in this example
#MacroTest
;
info(strfmt("Text: %1. Number: %2", #Text, #Number));
}


A local macro is defined in the class declaration of a class or in the variable declaration of a method like in the next example:

static void Local_Macro(Args _args)
{
// Define the local macro
#localmacro.WelcomeMessage
{
info("Welcome to Carz Inc.");
info("We have the best offers for rental cars");
}
#endmacro;
// Use the local macro
#WelcomeMessage
}


Standalone macros are the same as the macros used in macro libraries, except that they are defined in a method's variable declaration or in the class declaration of a class.
 

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