Misc Functions

args

The 'args' table holds command-line-like data that is passed to the script when it is executed.

The first argument (args[1]) will always be the script name as typed by the user, while the rest of the arguments are tokenized by spaces. That is, if you run the script "test.lua testing 123", args[1] contains the script name ("test.lua"), args[2] contains "testing" and args[3] contains the number 123.

Example

-- Assume the user typed in: script.lua something
if( args[2] ) then
  -- They have added an argument to the script call.
  if( args[2] == "something" ) then
    -- The user wants us to do something!
    do_something();
  end
end

rest

rest(time)

Causes the macro to pause for some 'time' milliseconds (1/1000th of a second).

Example

rest( 1000 ); -- 1 second will elapse before continuing.

setPriority

setPriority(priority)

Sets the macro interpreter's priority. You should pass in one of following variables: priority.high, priority.normal, or priority.low. Use this to overcome processes fighting over timeslice. If you don't understand what this does, you probably won't need it.

Example

setPriority(priority.high);

logMessage

logMessage(message)

Adds a formatted log message (string only) to the log file. Follows the format: "{time} : {message}\n", where {message} is a string containing the text you want logged. The newline marker is automatically appended.

If you would like to format your own messages, see logRaw().

Example

logMessage("This is an example logged message.");

This may at first seem restrictive as it only allows you to input a single string. If you would like to place strings, numbers, or other datas into the string that you want to log, you simply need to format it first using sprintf() or other string-formatting functions.

Example

local myStr = sprintf("PI: %0.4f", 3.1415926);
logMessage(myStr);

logRaw

logRaw(message)

Adds a message (string or number) directly to the log file without formatting. You may use this function to format your own messages.

Example

logRaw("My favorite number is ");
logRaw(12);
logRaw("\n");

getVersion

getVersion()

Returns MicroMacro's version number as an integer. A value of 100 would be equivilent to version 1.0, or a value of 95 would be equivilent to version 0.95. This can be used to check whether or not an end user's version of MicroMacro supports functions in a script you are designing. You can use division and modulo to separate the major and minor version numbers from the value returned, as done in the example.

Example

version = getVersion();
major = math.floor(version / 100);
minor = version % 100;
io.write("MicroMacro v", major, ".", minor, "\n");

-- This will print (assume we are using micromacro 1.0):
-- MicroMacro v1.0

setTextColor

setTextColor(cli.col)

Sets the color for output text. This will remain into effect until the text color is changed again using setTextColor, so you should probably use cprintf() to make your life easier. 'cli.col' must be an option from the cli module (lib/mods/cli.lua), and you may not use makeColor().

cli.lightgray is the default text color. If you decide to use this function, you should always return back to cli.lightgray when you are done outputting different colored text.

Example

setTextColor(cli.green);
printf("Green text!\n");
setTextColor(cli.lightgray);

showWarnings

showWarnings(bool)

This function enables or disables the showing of warnings such as memory read/write failures. Warnings should only be disabled on near-complete projects that have extensive error checking in place. By default, showing warnings is turned on (true).

Example

local err;
showWarnings(false); -- hide warnings.
err = memoryWriteInt(proc, location, value);
showWarnings(true); -- turn them back on.

if( err ) then
  printf("Some error occured.\n");
end

bitAnd

number bitAnd(val1, val2)

Applies a binary 'and' (which allows you to check if a given value is 'on' in a flag set) to the given values and returns the result as a boolean.

Example

local FLAG_ONE = 0x1
local FLAG_TWO = 0x2
local FLAG_THREE = 0x4
local FLAG_FOUR = 0x8

local flagSet = bitOr(FLAG_ONE, FLAG_TWO); -- flagSet contains both FLAG_ONE and FLAG_TWO now

if( bitAnd(flagSet, FLAG_ONE) ) then -- Check if flagSet contains FLAG_ONE
  printf("flagSet contains FLAG_ONE\n");
end

bitOr

number bitOr(val1, val2, ...)

Combines all the given values into a single flag. Use bitAnd() to check a flag set for a given value.

Example

local FLAG_ONE = 0x1
local FLAG_TWO = 0x2
local FLAG_THREE = 0x4
local FLAG_FOUR = 0x8

local flagSet = bitOr(FLAG_ONE, FLAG_TWO, FLAG_FOUR);
-- flagSet contains FLAG_ONE, FLAG_TWO, and FLAG_FOUR, but not FLAG_THREE.

bitLShift

number bitLShift(val, amt)

Applies a binary left shift on 'val' by 'amt' amount.

Example

local newVal = bitLShift(0x10, 4);
-- newVal should now contain 0x100, or 256

bitRShift

number bitRShift(val, amt)

Applies a binary right shift on 'val' by 'amt' amount.

Example

local newVal = bitRShift(0x100, 8);
-- newVal should now contain 0x1, or 1

getTime

table getTime()

Returns a high-resolution timestamp of the current time on the user's computer. This should be used in combination with deltaTime().

Example:

local now = getTime();

getTimerFrequency

table getTimerFrequency()

Returns a 64-byte integer (represented as a table) detailing how many processor cycles occur in a second. This varies across processors, and is generally not of much use to the average user.

local freq = getTimerFrequency()

deltaTime

number deltaTime(T2, T1)

Returns a floating-point integer that gives a precise amount of time, in milliseconds, that have elapsed between two timestamps. T2 should represent a 'newer' time than T1, such that T2 - T1 would be a positive value.

Example:

local startTime = getTime();
yrest(1000);
local endTime = getTime();

printf("%d milliseconds have elapsed.", deltaTime(endTime, startTime));
-- The value displayed should be roughly 1,000.