Page 15 of 62
SBasic User's Manual SBasic Version 2.7 Page 15
Printed: December 5, 1999
Include files and the INCLUDE statement
SBasic supports the use of include files to help you organize and
maintain your projects. Include files are simply files containing
SBasic source code for commonly-used functions.
You can insert any include file into your SBasic program file by using
the INCLUDE statement. SBasic will automatically open the named file,
compile the code it contains, then resume compiling your original
file.
For example, you might keep a single file of SBasic code for
controlling servo motors. You can force SBasic to include the code in
this file (call it servo.bas) in your current program file, by using
the INCLUDE statement:
include "servo.bas"
Note the use of double-quotes around the file name.
You can, if you like, supply a full pathname with the file name. For
example:
include "c:\sbasic\inc\servo.bas"
forces SB to search only the supplied path for the file servo.bas. If
SB cannot find the file using this path, it will report an error.
You can also, if you wish, set the DOS environment variable SB_INCLUDE
to contain the full pathname of a directory dedicated to holding your
include files. If SB_INCLUDE exists, SBasic will search that
directory for any files named in INCLUDE statements, provided that the
file name does not itself contain any path information. If SB_INCLUDE
does not exist, SBasic defaults to searching the current directory.
To summarize:
1. If the file name does not contain any path information, SB checks
for the existence of a DOS environment variable, SB_INCLUDE. If
SB_INCLUDE exists, SB searches the path in that variable for the named
file. If SB_INCLUDE does not exist, SB searches the current
directory.
2. If the file name contains path information, SB checks only the
given path, regardless of the existence of SB_INCLUDE.
Rule 2 above means that you can force SB to search the current
directory, even if SB_INCLUDE exists, by using an INCLUDE statement of
the form:
include ".\test.bas"