Right now I do pad spaces where I can but in the instance of the tool post line, I can't because the tool call could be 1, 2 , or 3 characters long which would move it to 3 different locations depending on the tool number. I can write a postblock to read the current string's length and then calculate the number of spaces needed but I was hoping there would be a super secret variable that's the opposite of no_spc$ that would move it to a specific column or by a specific number of tab keystrokes.

Is there a way to add tabs to the line output or set the specific location, column, of a string so it is offset from the rest of the line. in the example belwo, the comment onthe line is just added as text in the tool call section like T$, "M03 (Tool Call)",e$ What I get is "T1 M03 (Tool Call) T111 M03 (Tool Call)" What I want is "T1 M03 (Tool Call) T111 M03 (Tool Call)" Something like T$, "M03", someway to call a tab, "(Tool Call)", e$ Does that make sense???

Is there a way to get the date when a file is binned? Is this stored in the file automatically somewhere? Thanks!

In the pprep$ post block you can insert a simple postblock like below to set how each one is handled. In the pdrillinfo block, only the misc 1 and misc 2 canned cycles can be used. All the others become long code no matter what the Control Definition has in it. pprep$ #Pre-process postblock - Allows post instructions after the post is parsed but before the NC and NCI file are opened. #DO NOT ATTEMPT TO OUTPUT TO THE NC FILE IN THIS POSTBLOCK (OR ANY POSTBLOCKS YOU MAY CALL FROM HERE) BECAUSE THE NC OUTPUT FILE IS NOT YET OPENED! rd_cd$ #Read CD Parameters rd_mch_ent_no$ = 0 #Read only the machine base parameters (use to collect common parameters from CNC_MACHINE_TYPE) rd_md$ #Read machine definition parameters pdrillinfo #Call the drill block that turns off the can cycles pdrillinfo usecandrill$ = no$ # Use canned cycle for Drill usecanpeck$ = no$ # Use canned cycle for Peck usecanchip$ = no$ # Use canned cycle for Chip Break usecantap$ = no$ # Use canned cycle for Tap usecanbore1$ = no$ # Use canned cycle for Bore1 usecanbore2$ = no$ # Use canned cycle for Bore2 usecanmisc1$ = yes$ # Use canned cycle for Misc1 usecanmisc2$ = yes$ # Use canned cycle for Misc2

I absolutely love it that people are trying to get there 2020 to look like V9!!!

Thank you Nick for your help. Mastercam responded with the information I was looking for. This lets me know exactly how long it is in each post block! https://kb.mastercam.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50634.aspx

Nick, It is a custom post and I know it is a post issue I just need to track down what post block it's stalling in and why. Unfortunately I can't share the post though. I know in the past after posting something like this I was able to see what post blocks where called in the file and how many times they were called. It also gave a total amount of time in each post block but for the life of me I can't find where or how I did it before. This is what I'm really after. How to get this information. I have gone through the debugger documentation multiple times and cant find anything about it. Thanks.

I have a file that is a relatively small and easy file with only 3 operations in it but it takes over an hour to post process! I can't post the file or the post here unfortunately. I know there is a way to see how many times a postblock ran in a post and how long it took roughly but I can't remember where or how to get to that information. Can someone please point me in the right direction?

I'm not totally sure what you are asking so I'll try to cover the whole thing but not in great detail. The information that is shown in the operations is stored inside of the Control Definition text information in XML format. You're suppose to set this up inside of the Control Definition under the text section. This is only what is displayed in the operation, not what is in the actual code. I'm not sure about your post but the information for the actual code is stored as string variables sm01 through sm200 normally. The numbers in these strings correspond to the numbers in the Control Definition's text area. Again, I'm not sure about your post but the post should build the strings in the order you place the texts in the can text area using the pcan, pcan1, pcan2, pcant_1 through pcant_200, and the pcant_out postblocks. Hope this helps. Edit: forgot the T in pcant_out.

It is documented.

Mastercam responded to an enhancement request with the following: "Hi, You should be able to do this by evaluating tt_count$. If tt_count$ is anything other than 1, then the tool hasn't been output yet (tt_count$ = 0), or has already been output (tt_count$ > 1). Below is a very simple snippet showing this in use. ptooltable$ if tt_count$ = 1, [ sopen_prn, *tt_tool$, sdelimiter, *tt_tlngno$, sclose_prn, e$ ]"

Also, the buffer is defined in the format section of the post as fbuf 2 0 1 0 0 and wc1 is defaulted to 1prior to the ptooltable$ call.

I decided to use a buffer file and a while loop. Seems to work... ptooltable$ rc1=1 size1=0 tnote = tt_tool$ tldia$=opinfo(10005, 0) write_tool=0 ploop if tt_tool$<>prv_tt_tool$ & write_tool<1, [ toffnote = tt_op_id$ tlngnote = tt_tlngno$ if tt_tool$ >= zero, "(", *tnote, ",", *tldia$,string_user if tt_tool$ >= zero, tcnt = tcnt + one if tt_speed$ <> zero & tt_tool$ >= zero, ")",e$ if tt_speed$ = zero & tt_tool$ >= zero, " - - THIS TOOL HAS A ZERO SPEED ASSIGNED!!!!)", e$ !tt_tool$ ] opcount=opcount+one pminmax tnote=wbuf(2,wc1) ploop #loop through the tool buffer looking for current tool size1 = rbuf(2,0) while rc1<= size1, [ result2=rbuf(2,rc1) if result2 = tt_tool$, write_tool = write_tool+one ]

That makes perfect sense. Thank you. Now I have to decide if it's worth creating a table for 1000 tools.

I'm not following how a lookup table would accomplish this. Would it not be the same output for the tool number every time the table is used? How would it output the information once then not the second time?