custom hal component failed to compile, undeclared (first use in this function)

You can't have a hyphen in a variable name in C.

my-pin looks like my (minus) pin to C, and it looks for variables "my" and "pin" and doesn't find them.

However, the convention (not well enforced) is that HAL pins should use - as the word separator, not _.

Halcompile handles this for you, but you need to remember that it is - above the ;; separator and _ below when referring to pin names.

Also confusing is that it is (index) to refer to members of a pin array, despite the fact that is is [index] to reference an array in C. Again this is a workaround in halcompile forced by C base code and macro syntax.

Halcompile does very clever things, but there are some assumptions in the C compilers that is can't work around quite as elegantly as one might wish.

I really think hal, should embrace a basic, like YAB or similar. 

smc.collins wrote:

I really think hal, should embrace a basic, like YAB or similar. 

Nooooooo
Hal is the main reason i love LinuxCNC.

C is a great language, but hal is already behaving like a Basic type language. it'd make more sense to have a basic type of syntax in hal. Back to my mess, I can get it to compile, but I still can't get it to work. If someone can explain why this doesn't work, I'd love to hear the explanation. latest source and config.

smc.collins wrote:

C is a great language, but hal is already behaving like a Basic type language. it'd make more sense to have a basic type of syntax in hal.

 

HAL files can be Tcl files, if you want actual code in there. 

The custom comps _have_ to be C files as they are compiled into Linux kernel modules and C is the only language allowed in the kernel. 
 

i got some motion today, sniffing out a logic problem but i think i might be on the correct path now. 

any idea why iocontrol doesn't fetch the tool number from the component when homing ???