- Written and documented by David Deley

Have you encountered a situation where a regular expression search and replace just won't cut it, or user input is required, or perhaps keystroke macros are just not offering the complexity you need? Well, then it's time to look at Multi-Edit's CMAC language.

CMAC is a complete programming language, similar in syntax to C, designed specifically for the automation of text manipulation tasks. In fact, most of Multi-Edit itself is written in CMAC.

If you're already familiar with a programming language like C and want to quickly get up to speed on CMAC, then have a look at the tutorials David Deley has written. From the simple "Hello World" to the complexities of dialog boxes and calling user written DLLs, these tutorials are a good companion to the CMAC User Guide. You'll find them in the User Created Macros forum. Here is a list of the articles:

• Introduction to CMac. 1: Hello World
  

• Introduction to CMac. 2: Hello World II
  

• Introduction to CMac. 3: Caveats
  

• Introduction to CMac. 4: Make_Message
  

• Introduction to CMac. 5: DebugLog
  

• Introduction to CMac. 6: Command Map Report
  

• Introduction to CMac. 7: Multi-Edit Tags
  

• Introduction to CMac. 8: GetSystemTime & GetLocalTime
  (calling external routines provided by the windows operating system)
  

• Introduction to CMac. 9: Calling user-written dll
  

• Introduction to CMac. 10: ARRAYS & STRUCTURES
  

• Introduction to CMac. 11: Defining a key to run a macro
  

• Introduction to CMac 12.1: DIALOG BOXES: The Elements
  

• Introduction to CMac 12.2: DIALOG BOXES: The Coordinates
  

• Introduction to CMac 12.3: DIALOG BOXES: Sample Code For Each Control
  

• Introduction to CMac 12.4: DIALOG BOXES: DlgExecute {under construction}
  

Chapter 7 on Multi-Edit Tags is applicable to any programming language Multi-Edit supports, so anyone not familiar with Multi-Edit tags should read that tutorial. (And if you use a language not currently supported, post a message on the Support Forum. Support can be added for any language.)

Also chapter 11 on how to define a key to run a macro is applicable to all Multi-Edit users.