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In the circle example, \1 pauses for the user to specify the center point and
then reads a radius of 1. Note that there is no space after the backslash.
-layer off \;
In this example, the macro starts -LAYER at the Command prompt, enters the
Off option (off), and then pauses for the user to enter a layer name (\). The
macro then turns that layer off and exits the -LAYER command (;).
NOTE LAYER normally prompts for another operation and exits only if you press
Spacebar or Enter. In the macro, the semicolon (;) is the equivalent of pressing
Enter.
A macro typically resumes after one user input, such as a single point location.
Therefore, you cannot construct a macro that accepts a variable number of
inputs (as in object selection) and then continues. However, an exception is
made for SELECT: a backslash (\) suspends the SELECT command until object
selection has been completed. Consider the following example:
select \change previous ;properties color red ;
In this macro, SELECT creates a selection set of one or more objects (select \).
The macro then starts CHANGE (change), references the selection set using
the Previous option (previous;), and changes the color of all selected objects
to red (properties color red ;).
NOTE The backslash character (\) causes a macro to pause for user input. You
cannot use a backslash for any other purpose in a macro. When you need to specify
a file directory path, use a forward slash (/) as the path delimiter: for example,
/direct/file.
The following circumstances delay resumption of a macro after a pause:
■ If input of a point location is expected, object snap modes may be used
before the point is specified.
■ If X/Y/Z point filters are used, the command remains suspended until the
entire point has been accumulated.
■ For SELECT only, the macro does not resume until object selection has
been completed.
■ If the user responds with a transparent command, the suspended macro
remains suspended until the transparent command is completed and the
originally requested input is received.
52 | Chapter 4 User Interface Customization