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DMC-1700/1800 Chapter 7 Application Programming • 165
Formatting Variables and Array Elements
The Variable Format (VF) command is used to format variables and array elements. The VF command is specified
by:
VF m.n
where m is the number of digits to the left of the decimal point (0 thru 10) and n is the number of digits to the right
of the decimal point (0 thru 4).
A negative sign for m specifies hexadecimal format. The default format for VF is VF 10.4
Hex values are returned preceded by a $ and in 2’s complement
.
:V1=10 Assign V1
:V1= Return V1
0000000010.0000 Default format
:VF2.2 Change format
:V1= Return V1
10.00 New format
:VF-2.2 Specify hex format
:V1= Return V1
$0A.00 Hex value
:VF1 Change format
:V1= Return V1
9 Overflow
Local Formatting of Variables
PF and VF commands are global format commands that effect the format of all relevent returned values and
variables. Variables may also be formatted locally. To format locally, use the command, {Fn.m} or {$n.m}
following the variable name and the ‘=’ symbol. F specifies decimal and $ specifies hexadecimal. n is the number
of digits to the left of the decimal, and m is the number of digits to the right of the decimal. For example:
Examples:
:V1=10 Assign V1
:V1= Return V1
0000000010.0000 Default Format
:V1={F4.2} Specify local format
0010.00 New format
:V1={$4.2} Specify hex format
$000A.00 Hex value
:V1=”ALPHA” Assign string “ALPHA” to V1
:V1={S4} Specify string format first 4 characters
ALPH
The local format is also used with the MG* command.
Converting to User Units
Variables and arithmetic operations make it easy to input data in desired user units such as inches or RPM.
The DMC-1700/1800 position parameters such as PR, PA and VP have units of quadrature counts. Speed
parameters such as SP, JG and VS have units of counts/sec. Acceleration parameters such as AC, DC, VA and VD
have units of counts/sec
2
. The controller interprets time in milliseconds.