Precompiled (always there) SCL routines

Over the course of the last few years, I have developed some SCL utility logics that I use quite often and don't like having to copy over and over again. For example, a routine for replacing strings, or converting text to upper or lower case.

It's nice to have these logics, but normally, if you wanted to use them, you'd have to find a copy of the routines declared somewhere on your computer (possibly using my subroutine indexer). However, QUEST provides a directory within your QUESTlib folder called USERDEF, with a folder for logics that, if present there, will compile every time QUEST starts up.

This means that any procedures and routines within one of those USERDEF files will be available to you without having to copy them to the logic you're working on. They're always there. If you're trying to use a precompiled routine, however, you'll have to remember to declare the routine in the Extern section of your logic file.

What I usually do to cover this is to put in the extern definition for all my routines along with the definition of the routine in the USERDEF library. This way I can just go in and grab the extern def rather than the actual SCL definition.

In fact, to make it even easier to set up the extern definitions for all my routines, I've actually written an SCL macro that will do this, more or less, for me. You can download it at:

http://fournier.jonathan.googlepages.com/get_extern_names_from_scl.scl

Just load this into an SCL macro button, and when executed it will prompt you to select an SCL file. It will then search through the file you selected and export the extern representation for all your routines to a text file. It will then launch notepad and open this file for you.

Then all you have to do is copy the extern definitions. Hopefully that makes life a little easier for you.