Macros Dialog

Clicking Utilities > Macros displays the Macros dialog, which lets you create, edit, import, export, or delete macros. The dialog box also lists all available macros, including the version(s) of .NET on which the macro can run.

(Build and) Run	Runs the selected macro. When the macro needs to be built, this button reads Build and Run. When the macro is being built, this button changes to a progress bar that shows the build progress. Any errors or warnings that are encountered during the build process are shown in a message dialog. See Running a Macro for more information To explicitly build the macro solution, click the dropdown part of the (Build and) Run button and select Build.
Stop	Stops the selected macro. See Stopping a Macro for more information.
Edit...	Opens the Code Editor for the selected macro. If you have Visual Studio installed, you can also open the macro in Visual Studio by clicking the drop-down part of the button and selecting Using Visual Studio.
Rename...	Renames the macro. The macro folder, solution name, and project name must all match for the macro to be detected properly by the 89600 VSA software.
Delete	Deletes the selected macro directory.

Import...	Imports the selected macro into the VSA. The VSA software comes with a variety of supplied example macros, or you can import a user-created macro. See Importing and Exporting Macros for more information.
Export...	Saves a copy of the selected macro to the specified directory. See Importing and Exporting Macros for more information.

Language	Selects the programming language to create new or recorded macros with. Available selections are C# and VB.
New	Creates a new macro with the name you specify. See Creating a Macro for more information.
Record	Lets you create a macro by capturing the operations you perform while configuring the 89600 VSA. See Recording Macros for more information. You can also view the corresponding lines of code as you change VSA parameters when you enable code output in the Output window.

Toolbar

Show on Toolbar

When enabled, a macro button is added for the selected macro on the main VSA toolbar. You can enable any imported/created macro (in the Name column) to show on the Toolbar.

Macro Toolbar buttons are persistent, and will be shown on the VSA Toolbar until Show on Toolbar is disabled for the selected macro.

Title

Double-click this field to edit the name that will appear on the Toolbar button when Show on Toolbar is enabled for the selected macro. The default title is the same as the macro name.

Create

Language	Selects the programming language to create new or recorded macros with. Available selections are C# and VB.
Frameworks	Selects the .NET framework(s) that will be supported when you create or record a new macro. You can choose a single framework or dual frameworks. The .NET 4.8 checkbox is selected and grayed out as the default supported framework. This option creates a macro that runs on .NET Framework 4.8, which is supported only on the Windows operating system. You can optionally select a different framework or dual frameworks by clicking the .NET checkbox and selecting the .NET version you wish to target from the drop-down menu. The drop-down menu will display all .NET Software Development Kit (SDK) versions greater than or equal to 6.0 that are installed on your system. Macros created with support for .NET 6.0 and onward can run on both the Windows operating system as well as Linux. Selecting the .NET checkbox enables the .NET 4.8 checkbox so that you can disable .NET 4.8 if you choose not to support dual frameworks.
New	Creates a new macro with the name you specify. See Creating a Macro for more information.
Record	Lets you create a macro by capturing the operations you perform while configuring the 89600 VSA. See Recording Macros for more information. You can also view the corresponding lines of code as you change VSA parameters when you enable code output in the Output window.

About .NET Framework Versions

.NET Framework 4.8 is the last version of .NET Framework, a proprietary, Windows-only Microsoft software platform. It is the platform on which the 89600 VSA application runs.

.NET 6.0 and newer are versions of the free, cross-platform, open-source developer platform. There is a new release every year in November. Even numbered releases are deemed to be Long Term Support (LTS) versions with a free support life of 3 years, whereas odd numbered releases are deemed to be Standard Term Support (STS) with a free support life of 18 months. Generally speaking, if you are developing new applications, it is best to target the newest available LTS release.

Multi-targeting Macros

If you select both the .NET 4.8 and .NET checkboxes (any version), your macro will be multi-targeted – it will be able to run on both .NET Framework 4.8 as well as the selected version of .NET. To support this, there are some conditional sections in the project file to handle the different mechanisms required to reference the VSA API 1) Access Preamble Indicator, or 2) Application Programming Interface, and there will also be some conditional code in the macro itself to handle the different namespaces for .NET Framework vs. .NET 6.0+. Macros that target only one of .NET Framework or .NET will still have the conditional sections in the project file, but the macro code will not have any conditional sections.

Running Multi-targeted Macros

If a macro supports .NET 4.8, regardless of whether it also supports .NET 6.0+, the Run button will always run the macro inside the 89600 VSA process. If you want to run a .NET Framework macro as a separate process external to the 89600 VSA process, you will need to navigate to the folder in which the macro resides and run it from the command line or by double-clicking on it in Windows File Explorer.

If a macro supports only .NET 6.0+, the Run button will run the macro as a separate process external to the 89600 VSA process. It is not possible to run a .NET 6.0+ macro inside the 89600 VSA process since a process can only host one of the .NET Framework or .NET 6.0+ runtimes.

If you want to run the .NET 6.0+ version of a macro that targets both .NET Framework 4.8 and .NET 6.0+, you will need to navigate to the folder in which the macro resides and run it from the command line or by double-clicking on it in Windows File Explorer.