Following the header section is the body of the message compiler source file. The body consists of zero or more message definitions. Each message definition begins with one or more of the following statements.
MessageId = [number|+number]
Severity = severity_name
Facility = facility_name
SymbolicName = name
OutputBase = {number}
The MessageId statement marks the beginning of the message definition. A MessageID statement is required for each message, although the value is optional. If no value is specified, the value used is the previous value for the facility plus one. If the value is specified as +number then the value used is the previous value for the facility, plus the number after the plus sign. Otherwise, if a numeric value is given, that value is used. Any MessageId value that does not fit in 16 bits is an error.
The Severity and Facility statements are optional. These statements specify additional bits to OR into the final 32-bit message code. If not specified they default to the value last specified for a message definition. The initial values prior to processing the first message definition are:
Severity=Success
Facility=Application
The value associated with Severity and Facility must match one of the names given in the FacilityNames and SeverityNames statements in the header section.
The SymbolicName statement allows you to associate a C/C++ symbolic constant with the final 32-bit message code.
The constant definition in the generated include file has the format:
//
// message text
//
#define name ((type) 0xnnnnnnnn)
The comment before the definition is a copy of the message text for the first language specified in the message definition. The name is the value given in the SymbolicName statement. The type is the type name specified in the MessageIdTypedef statement. If no type was specified, the cast is not generated.
The following comment appears in each header file to explain the bit fields in the 32-bit message:
// Values are 32 bit values laid out as follows:
//
// 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
// 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
// +---+-+-+-----------------------+-------------------------------+
// |Sev|C|R| Facility | Code |
// +---+-+-+-----------------------+-------------------------------+
//
The meanings of the fields in the message code are:
| Bits | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 00 | Success |
| 01 | Informational |
| 10 | Warning |
| 11 | Error |
The OutputBase statement lets you set the output radix for the message constants output to the C/C++ include file. It does not set the radix for the Severity and Facility constants; these default to HEX, but can be output in decimal by using the -d switch. If present, OutputBase overrides the -d switch for message constants in the include file.
The legal values for number are 10 and 16
You can use OutputBase in both the header section and the message definition section of the input file. You can change OutputBase as often as you like.