Syntax conventions

• MDL verbs and keywords display in code or bold form. Verbs and keywords are not case-sensitive, but otherwise must be typed as is. For example, if the syntax includes CatMake, you can type CatMake, catmake, or CATMAKE.
• Italicized words are placeholders for things you must supply. If more than one placeholder can be supplied, the italicized word is plural, such as objCats in the following example:

  StartList objCats EndList

• Italicized words starting with obj are placeholders to identify an object. The identification must be an object name, object identifier, or both. For example, objCat is a placeholder for a category and might appear in the MDL file as 135 "Dishwashers", which identifies a category with object identifier 135 and object name Dishwashers.
• Square brackets [ ] indicate optional items. If only one of two or more optional items may be chosen, they are separated by a pipe (|). For example, [red | green] means that you can specify red or green, or neither. The syntax, [red][green] means that you can use either, neither, or both red and green.
• Braces { } indicate a set of choices, separated by a pipe, from which you must choose one. For example, {red|green} means that you must specify either red or green, but not both.

When the syntax is too long to fit on one line, it wraps at a space between characters.