ScriptBasic does not have a built-in macro preprocessor, like language C. However it has an open interface that third party developers can use to develop preprocessors. A ScriptBasic program may have one or more USE commands in it. This command should stand alone on a line being a preprocessor command.
The format of the command is:
USE preprocessor_name
After ScriptBasic has loaded the source code and has included all the files specified by the include statements it scans the lines containing a USE statement. When it finds one it loads the external preprocessor module compiled by the third party developer into a DLL or SO file and calls the preprocessor function. The preprocessors get total control over the source file loaded into memory and are free to alter the source code.
The preprocessor DLL or SO file should be specified in the configuration file. For example the line
preproc (
internal (
dbg "E:\\MyProjects\\sb\\Debug\\dbg.dll"
)
...
from the default Win32 `scriba.conf' file defines what DLL file to load when the source file uses the preprocessor called dbg that actually happens to be the debugger preprocessor.
Internal preprocessors can also be loaded using the command line option `-i'. For example in case you want to start a ScriptBasic program from the command line using the command line debugger you can type:
# scriba -i dbg mybugous_program.bas
For more information on how to use a preprocessor see the documentation of the preprocessor.