Declaration Statements - MODAL / NON-MODAL

Variables may be MODAL or NON-MODAL. Non-modal variables are never turned "off". Modal variables are turned "off" when their values are output and "on" again when they are assigned a new value. They may be reset to "on" using the executable statements RESET or SET_ON, even when they have not changed value. In addition, they may be turned "off" with the SET_OFF statement even if their values have changed. Their "on/off" status affects if and when they may be output.

All variables are assigned a modal or non-modal status according to their format type as defined in the last format option question in the DFPOST stage.

MODAL

The MODAL declaration statement overrides the modal status set by the FORMAT or INTERACTION statement. See Toolpath Variables for a list of Toolpath Variables and the default format type for each.

Example:

FORMAT (Coordinates) PECK;

MODAL PECK CYC_DWELL;

In the example above, the user-defined variable, PECK, and the Tool Path variable, CYC_DWELL, are both declared to be modal. When it was defined in the FORMAT statement, PECK was assigned the same format definition, including the modal setting, specified for Coordinates (Format type 1). CYC_DWELL has the format defined for Dwell (Format type 5). After the MODAL statement, both still have their original format definitions except for their modal/non-modal status. Now both are modal.

A list of variable names may be included in one MODAL statement.

NON_MODAL

NON_MODAL declaration statements operate like MODAL statements.

Example:

FORMAT (Coordinates) PECK;

NON_MODAL PECK CYC_DWELL;

The difference is that the mode is changed from modal to non-modal. In the example above, the user-defined variable PECK, and the toolpath variable CYC_DWELL, will both be non-modal even though they were previously set as modal by their respective format types.