ado file programs in memory

[Cynthia Inglesias]

Dear all

I recently came across a strange problem. Programs saved in ado files within the ado path are not loaded when Stata starts.

For example, assume that i have an ado file named hello.ado in the PLUS directory:

program define hello

program's content

end


program define bye

program's contents

end

Now if i type in Stata bye i get the following error:

unrecognized command:  bye
r(199);

After trial and error, i discovered that if i put program bye into a separate ado file (bye.ado) then it runs as expected.

Is it not possible to automatically load all programs in an ado file (in this example hello.ado), which is in the ado path?

Thank you.

[Nick Cox]

In this case bye is being defined as a subprogram or subroutine of hello, given you have called your file hello.ado.

The fact that you don't call it from hello is not fatal, but neither that fact nor any other implies that bye will be recognised as a separate command in its own right. .

Multiple programs can be defined in a single ado file but at most one will be defined in its own right; all others will be subroutines. Given that this is how subroutines are defined, separate command definitions require separate .ado files.

[Cynthia Inglesias]

Point well taken. Is there however a way to automatically load the subroutines into memory? What if i include program bye in hello without any arguments?

program define hello

bye
program's content  

end  


program define bye  

program's contents  

end

Will this be loaded on start up then?

[Jesse Wursten]

If you call hello, it will be able to use bye. But you will never be able to call bye without a file called bye.ado existing somewhere (if I'm not mistaken).

[William Lisowski]

Exploring the advice from Nick and Jesse led me to understand that the program you define as bye within hello.ado is shown by the program dir command as hello.bye and cannot be called as either by or hello.bye from your command line; it can only be called as bye from within the program hello; hence its status as a subcommand.

[Nick Cox]

Reply to #3: That coding doesn't affect the principle one bit. As you're defining the programs bye is a subroutine of hello.