Variables in HAL from INI

It appears to me we can use a limited variable set in a HAL file. (Prolly better to think of it as a macro substitution) as in this example:
Now of course I have a question, why does board need () around it but not DIRSETUP?

can I name my own section and bring values to HAL in this same manner? Are there any published guidelines for doing this? In all my reading over the last 2+ years, I have never noticed them. Not a big surprise. And I assume there can be no actual computing such as X+Y.

Hi

My SWAG would be that [INI_SECTION] INIVALUE returns a value
and [INI_SECTION] (INIVALUE) allows its use as a string literal instead of a value

(a bit like VALUE and $(VALUE) in bash)

I have never seen documentation for this either, you might find the answers in halcmd and what it does when it parses inifiles and executes .hal files

And I assume there can be no actual computing such as X+Y.

Try it, see what value gets passed for say ( [AXIS_0]DIRSETUP + [AXIS_0]DIRSTEP ) (might have to play with the syntax)

regards

I would say your SWAG (although maybe just WAG? snicker) is prolly spot on. At least it makes sense - passing strings or actual values.

As for the try it part, I will give it a go, though not sure how I will prove it to myself what if anything happened. But the value passing part could be VERY nice to use in my setup!.

Thanks ArcEye