{\b User Defined Macros Demonstration}
\pard
User defined macros are items of text defined by the user which are automatically replaced by HelpBuilder at build time with text which the user also defines.

User defined macros are set up in the Project/User Defined Macros Dialog. This example project has some macros set up in the dialog to demonstrate on this page how user defined macros operate.

\'24AUTHORNAME\'24=Graham Plowman
displays:
$AUTHORNAME$

\'24APPLICATIONNAME\'24=HelpBuilder
displays:
$APPLICATIONNAME$

User defined macros are similar to the in-built {\uldb text macros}{\v IDH_MACROS} except that the user can create them and define their values.

User defined macros are useful where a standard topic file is to be shared between multiple project files, but small differences are required between them, for example, application names, author names etc. These differences can be handled by User Defined Macros which are defined in the project file as opposed to a topic file.