What are Macros?
An PTC ALD macro is simply a keyword, followed optionally by a set of parameters, that defines an action. A rough equivalent is a statement in many programming languages.
There are two main types of macro within the PTC ALD system:
1. Internal macros: automatically generated by PTC ALD on every action carried out by a user. Menu selection, keystroke, and mouse movement all generate an internal macro
2. Command macros: macros passed into the composition engine by a user, a script or other methods to define the actions to be taken by the system.
With the combination of these two types, every action that is possible within PTC ALD is invoked, carried and controlled by a macro. The PTC ALD processor runs macros one by one from a stack to provide a logical processing routine. Although this stack is internally defined depending on the macros PTC ALD has been instructed to run, for example by user actions or the list of macros contained in a document, it is possible to also add macros directly to the processor based on conditional circumstances. This is accomplished by the use of scripts.