How do DCAL and DataCAD work together?

As .html in the previous section, DCAL macros are compiled and linked into code that can be understood by DataCAD. All your DCAL macros will be written in a text format (the source code) that you as the programmer will come to understand. However, DataCAD doesn't understand the source code that you write. In order for this source code to be understood by DataCAD you must translate it into the instructions that DataCAD will be more familiar with.

First, you write out your source code in a text editor. The source code will consist of plain text files.

Next, you compile and link any optional modules to create the compiled macro.

This compiled macro can be understood by DataCAD. Simply go into the Toolbox menu in DataCAD and find the location where your newly compiled macro is stored and select it. If all is well your new macro should run.

Now if you were to open up and look at the code that DataCAD understands (the DCX file), you would not see much that made sense to you. This is due to the compilation process. When you compile the macro, it eliminates all the unnecessary info from your source code then converts the source into binary code that can quickly be processed by the program.

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