GComm has a built-in expression and macros analyzer. It can be used for filtering, to query the lists,and to write macro functions.
Note that most of the GV query/filter language is supported.

In the current version, 3 lists are available:

• Race list
• ShipGroup list
• Planet list

To write filters and queries, one needs to specify an expression. Expressions consist of operands and operations.

Operands are string or scalar constants, list fields and macro function calls.

The operations may be unary or binary.

There are 2 unary operations: unary minus,  and boolean not. All others (+,-,*,/, and, or, >, <, >=, <=, <>, =, ==, &, |) are binary. Operation == is used for register-independent string comparisons..

The un-naming operation '^' deserves a special mention: this operation allows to refer to a necessary planet. The plant name is the left operand, and the right one is the arbitrary reference to the planet's fields. So, to find the size of the planet #1 one can write '#1'^.size , 'MyHW'^size or var1^.size, where the value of var1 is equal to the name or number of the planet. In the ship list, the fields dest and from can also be operands here. For example, to filter our the ships that are on the same planet with the ships of a given race, one may use a filter  dest^.fleet('RaceName')>0.

In addition to the un-naming operation, there is an additional possibility to refer not only to a planet, but also to a race or a ship. To do so, the macro language has operators of choosing a record from a list WithRace, WithPlanet, WithGroup, that have the following syntax:

WithRace <expression> [ as 'name'] do {<operator>;} EndWith;

When this operator is executed, the value of the <expression> is searched in the list, and the result is a new list that consists of 1 record. The race should be addressed by name, the ship by number. The operators are executed on the new list, and all the fields will refer to the fields of the new list. Name - an optional parameter , it will name the new list and one will be able to refer to the list by that name afterwards.

Example:

macro GetDrive;
begin
  WithRace me  as 'mytable' do
     result:=mytable.drv;
  EndWith;
end;

It returns the drive tech of the main race.

If one wants to form a new list with several records, one should use  the same operators WithRaces, WithPlanets, WithGroups. The syntax is the same, and the expression is a filter that will be used to create the new list.

Example (a slower GetDrive analog):

macro GetDrive;
begin
  WithRaces 'name="'+me+'"' do do
     result:=drv;
  EndWith;
end;

String constants are given in "-s or '-s, it is possible to enclose one into the others. All comparison operations are register-sensitive, i.e. 'World'<>'WorLD'.

Example: “Normal 'string' constant”

The numeric values can be given in the exponential or fixed-point form:

Example: 1e-3, 0.001

The name of a field in any list is the same as its name on the display. It is not register-sensitive.

Reserved constants:

#NL – new line

Additional fields:

Race list fields
 

Name	race name
Drv	Drive tech
Wpn	Weapons tech
Shld	Shield tech
Crg	Cargo tech
Pop	Total POP
Ind	Total IND
#	Number of planets
State	Status
Votes	Votes (G+), in other versions POP/1000
Rating	Simple rating
Level	Complex rating
Team	Team, for G+ Team series games
VisiblePlanets	1, if at least one planet of the race is visible, otherwise 0
VisibleShips	1, if at least one ship of the race is visible, otherwise 0
DDrv	Change in the Drive tech during the last turn
DWpn	Change in the Weapons tech during the last turn
DShld	Change in the Shields tech during the last turn
DCrg	Change in the Cargo tech during the last turn
DPop	Change in the POP during the last turn
DInd	Change in the IND during the last turn
D#	Change in the number of planets during the last turn
DVotes	Change in the votes during the last turn

Planets list
 

Num	Number (G+, NG: O GPLUS)
Name	Name
Size	Size
Pop	POP
Ind	IND
Res	RES
Production	Production
$	CAP
Mat	MAT
Col	COL
L	L = 0.25*POP+0.75*IND
Race	Owner (may be Uninhabited or Unidentified)
Qlty	Ship weight the planet could produce if it had POP=Size and IND=Size
OutCap	CAP production
OutWgt	Mass produced in a turn
Battle	Size of the battle at he planet, 0 in no battle happened
BestETA	Time until the planet is observed. 0 if there are your ships at the planets, and -1 if none of your ships are en route to the planet.
YourFleet	Total weight of your fleet at the planet
FriendFleet	Total weight of allied fleet at the planet
AlienFleet	Total weight of enemy fleet at the planet
DestTo(Pl)	Distance to another given planet (string parameter)
Ships(Race), Fleet(Race)	Weight of the Race's fleet at the planet
Team	Team, in G+ Team series games

Ship list
 

Grp	Group number, -1 if the group is not yours
#	Number of ships in the group
Name	Ship type name
Drv	Drv tech
Gun	Guns
Wpn	Weapons tech
Shld	Shield tech
Crg	Cargo tech
Attack	Effective attack
Defence	Effective defense
Cargo	Cargo bay size
Q	Amount of cargo
Typ	Cargo type
Dest	Destination planet
From	Source planet
R	Distance to destination (0 if in orbit)
Weight	Ship weight
Fleet	Fleet name (or "" if none)
State	ship status
Speed	Speed with current cargo load
ESpeed	Empty speed
CSpeed	Speed with full cargo
D	Drive mass
W	Weapons mass
S	Shields mass
C	Cargo mass
Race	Owner
Bomb	Bombing of one ship in the group (G+)
WarShip	1 if a mobile military ship, 0 otherwise
Waitl	1 if the group is ready to be launched (in orbit, has engines, and the total weight is >2).
ETA	Estimated time to arrival
CanSendTo(Planet)	ETA if sent to Planet, -1 if out of range (G+)
Team	Team, G+ team series

Also, every list has a Count field and a function Current(NewPos). Count is the number of records in the list, numeration is 0 to Count. Current allows to jump to a new record.
For example, sum(#*Weight) may be rewritten as follows:

macro mysum;
var
  summa, i;
begin
  summa:=0;
  for i:=0 to shipgroup.count do
     shipgroup.current(i);
     summa:=summa+shipgroup.#*shipgroup.Weight;
  endfor;
  result:=summa;
end;

it can be run in any query window since it does not depend on the current list.
 
 

Macro language syntax

The descriptions of all the macros should be written into gcomm.mac file, in hte same directory with gcomm.exe.
 

Macro definition:

Macro <ident>[(<ident>{,<ident>})];

Var <ident>{,<ident>};

Begin

{<operator>;}

End;

Where in VAR part one lists all the variables. The variable type is determined during execution and can be dynamically changed.

Also, there is a reserved variable result, that determines the function return value.

Operators' syntax:

<operator> ::=

Macro language functions
 

PlanetDest("Planet1", "Planet2")	Distance between two planets
sum(<expression>)	<expression> is evaluated for every line in the list, and the sum of the results is returned
avg(<expression>)	<expression> is evaluated for every line in the list, and the average of the results is returned
count	Number of lines in a list
me	Name of the race in the master report
FloatToStr(<digital>[,<N>,<D>])	Number to string conversion, number of numbers (N) and number of decimal points (D) can be specified.  Default is N=10, D=2.
sqrt, sqr, sin, cos, ln, exp, round, trunc	mathematical functions with one real argument
AddCommand("command")	The command is executed and added to the order
StrPos(<substring>,<string>)	First instance of the substring in the string, result is the position in the string or 0 if not found
StrChar(<string>, N)	Quick: Nth symbol in the string
StrCopy(<string>, P,N)	Substring, starting from position P and of length N
StrLen(<string>)	String length
StrCut(<string>, P,N)	Removing a substring, starting from position P and of length N

 

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