Assigning Many Variables via One Block of HSL Code

[yhs.allen]

Is there any way to declare and set variables as task-local or global through one block of HSL code?

The only pseudo-solution I found is to do something like:

{
const string test1(“test1”);
const string test2(“test2”);
const string test3(“test2”);
const string test4(“test3”);
}

But this solution creates the variables as local scope and cannot be modified as they are set as constant. For now, I just manually right-click and set them to task-local but I feel like there has to be a better way.

The other workaround is to just open the HSL Editor and insert lines of code with the variables that I want, however I want to see if this can all be done on Venus without having to go through extra steps.

This would save a lot of time and would avoid the trouble of having to constantly assign new variables through the click and drag UI.

[Gareth]

If you declare the variables outside of the HSL block, either by using assignment=“” or by right clicking, new, in the Variables and Constants pane (image below), you can then assign multiple variables in the HSL block:

[yhs.allen]

Yeah that seems to be another method. I was just looking to see if this could be done in one chunk of HSL code since that saves the most time. If I had to declare all the variables outside the HSL code block then I would still need to manually click and drag for every single one.

I’m wondering if there’s a more intuitive approach to this outside of the code block I attached above.

[yhs.allen]

Just doing a final bump to see if there are any HSL gurus that can help out with this.

[Nat]

I believe this is a limitation of using HSL code blocks, even in the HSL powerpoint documentation (see link below), it states that “all NEW variables you create in the HSL code block are only valid within this block”.

Ways to learn Hamilton HSL code?

Hi all, Hamilton Standard Language (HSL) can be a complex topic to talk about and is generally reserved as a means for those who have expertise in similar programming languages, such as C/C++ or C#, to extend the functionality of VENUS in a way that can only be done in a text-based programming environment. Although there is always room for improvement, we put a lot of emphasis on the Help features in our software to the point that nearly every function has a Help (?) button. The documentation …

It is true since when I declare a new variable in a code block, while it does not show in the Variables and Constants pane, it does show in the trace view. It’s ideal if you want to create temporary variables but, otherwise, you would have to manually set it as @Gareth mentioned.

{
variable NewVar, NewStr;

NewVar = 25;
NewStr = "Hello";

Trace("my new variable:  ",NewVar);

Trace("my new string:  ",NewStr);
}

[yhs.allen]

Yeah I took a look at the slide deck earlier as well as the Example_HSL.pkg and it seems like variables that are created inside a code block is limited to the scope of that code block.

It’s unfortunate. I was hoping if there was a hackable solution to it but I guess that’s just one of Venus’s limitations.

[Nat]

Yeah, unfortunately. The only other way I can think of (which was intended in the documentation) is to declare it within the .hsl file instead. But, of course, it isn’t as convenient as it is to write it within a code block of a more user friendly interface like Venus

[Gareth]

Its just variable scope, right? All variables are local until declared as global/public - you can do both within an HSL file but the HSL code block step is intended to be for local variables, unless you declare as global/public beforehand as I suggested.