The Output operation appends data to the Output buffer and then advances the pointer to where the newly-appended data in the buffer ends.
To display the General page of the Output I/O Table Operation Properties window, first select the operation from the I/O Operation View. Then, open the Properties window for the operation by selecting Properties from the View menu. The General page displays by default.
The following fields are available:
Select Output as the I/O Table operation type. For more information on available operations, see I/O Table Operations.
Select one of the following modes. For information on when to use these modes, see Defining Output Operation Modes.
● Const String. Appends the string of characters specified in the Argument edit box to the Output buffer. Selecting this option disables the Type edit box and the Array, Range, and Discrete tabs.
● Parameter to ASCII. Converts a parameter you supply to an ASCII string and appends the result to the Output buffer. The argument you pass to this parameter must match the type specified by the Type combo box.
● Selecting a String type enables you to specify an optional maximum size in the Max Size edit box. If the argument string length is greater than the Max Size, only the length is used.
● Selecting a numeric type such as double, word and more converts the data to ASCII using the mask specified in the Format list. For more information see Format Procedure. Leaving this field empty causes ATEasy to convert the number to a string using the default format. For more information see the Str Procedure.
● Parameter to Binary. Converts a parameter you supply to a binary.
● Parameter to Discrete String. Converts a numeric value you supply to a string using the list of values and strings specified in the Discrete page.
● From File. Uses the argument as a string parameter. Contains the file name that its content will append to the Output buffer. You can set the Max Size of bytes that will be appended.
When the Mode selection requires a parameter, select a parameter type. Depending on the selection and type, you can enter a maximum size for a string based parameter in the Max Size field, or a format mask for numeric parameters in the Format field.
Depending on the selections made in the Mode and Type lists one of the following edit boxes appears:
● Max Size. Enter a maximum number of characters for the argument. Only values equal to or less than this size are used. String lengths longer than this size are decreased until they match the size.
● Format. The Format field appears if the Type selected was numeric. Enter a format mask that is applied to the argument. For example using the format mask '-9999990.000 on the value 27, produces the output 27.000. If you leave the mask empty, it uses the default mask similar to the Str function. For more information on format masks, see Format Procedure. For more information on the Str function, see Str Procedure.
Enter a comment to more fully describe the operation. Click the Desc button to expand the Desc edit box. When you are finished entering the description, click the Desc button again to shrink the box.