What do I need MacroExpandedCount for?

[jacdelad]

Hello,
I know what it does, but I don't know what I could need it for. Has anyone ever used that, and why?

[skywalk]

I use this to auto-generate DataSection elements:

Code: Select all

;-{ MACROS
Macro HASH
  #
EndMacro
Macro DQ  ; Required in Macros since leading '#' conflicts with #DQ$ constant
  "
EndMacro
Macro QM  ; Required in Macros
  ?
EndMacro
Macro PC  ; Required in Macros
  %
EndMacro
Macro ds_MakeLabel(Label)
  QM#Label
EndMacro
Macro ENUM_RESET(n=0)
  Enumeration n
  EndEnumeration
EndMacro
Macro ds_PtrToLabel_Img(Label_Num)
  ; Create a pointer to an identical label named later.
  ; Enables automatically referencing the label in code since PB creates a pointer to the actual label.
  nImagesToLoad = MacroExpandedCount  ; Running count of images to load.
  DataSection
    Data.i QM#Label_Num   ; ?Label_Num
  EndDataSection
EndMacro
Macro ds_InclBin_Img(Label_Num, File)
  DataSection
    Label_Num:  : IncludeBinary File
    ;Label_Num#Q: ;FYI; No closing label since CatchImage() determines when to stop reading.
  EndDataSection
EndMacro
;-} MACROS
;-{ IMAGES:
; May also create #img_xxx constants for referencing if desired. Ex. #img_LOGOe = 3
ds_START(ds_ImagesToLoad)     ;-! ds_img()
ds_PtrToLabel_Img(Image_1)
ds_PtrToLabel_Img(Image_2)
; CREATE IMAGE LIST AND LABELS. Image_0 reserved for no image.
ds_InclBin_Img(Image_1, "..\img\blah.ico")
ds_InclBin_Img(Image_2, "..\img\blah2.png")
;-} IMAGES

[jacdelad]

That's...very specific and very cool. Thanks for sharing! Never thought about using datasections dynamically.