SDDS_table: Address of the SDDS_TABLE structure for the data set.
name: A NULL-terminated character string giving the name of the parameter. Must be
supplied.
symbol: A NULL-terminated character string giving the symbol to be used to represent
the parameter. If none is desired, pass NULL.
units: A NULL-terminated character string giving the units of the parameter. If none
is desired, pass NULL.
description: A NULL-terminated character string giving a description of the parameter.
If none is desired, pass NULL.
format_string: A NULL-terminated character string giving a printf format string to
be used to print the data for ASCII output. If NULL is passed, a reasonable default will
be chosen.
type: An integer value specifying the data type of the parameter. Must be one of
the following constants, defined in SDDS.h: SDDS_LONGDOUBLE, SDDS_DOUBLE,
SDDS_FLOAT, SDDS_LONG, SDDS_ULONG, SDDS_SHORT, SDDS_USHORT,
SDDS_CHARACTER, or SDDS_STRING.
fixed_value: A pointer to a numerical variable giving the permanent value of the
parameter.
return value: On success, returns the index of the newly-defined parameter. Returns -1 on failure and records an
error message.