Good explanation, Kirk, especially because it is so simple. I had not been able to ‘get into’ v18 yet—just a cursory glance at the documentation—What’s new etc. This is a very exciting feature. It will definitely help when processing collections, etc. — Chris
> On Nov 2, 2019, at 12:40 PM, Kirk Brooks via 4D_Tech <[email protected]> > wrote: > > The v18 beta introduces a new variable type: variant. Not surprisingly > there is already discussion about what it could possibly be useful for and > why it doesn't have more capabilities. We are who we are. > > I have come across a clear case where it's a perfect solution. > > Consider a collection of text and null values. Like so: > > $tuple_col:=New collection("a";"b";"c";null;null;null;"z") > > I want to iterate through the collection and concatenate the values into a > string. > > $str:="" > For each ($element;$tpl_col) > > If ($element#Null) > > $str:=$str+$element > > End if > > $str:=$str+$delim > > End for each > > > If this code is interpreted and not typed things are fine. As soon as I > declare $element as TEXT it throws an error when I hit a Null. If I declare > it as an object it throws an error when it hits a text. But if I declare > $element as C_VARIANT it's all good. > > I suspect something like this is the motivation behind the C_VARIANT data > type to begin with. Otherwise accomplishing this loop would get > complicated. So here in 4D land C_VARIANT solves the problem of how we deal > with a stream of different data types. Like a collection or object > properties. > > -- > Kirk Brooks > San Francisco, CA > ======================= > > What can be said, can be said clearly, > and what you can’t say, you should shut up about > > *Wittgenstein and the Computer * > ********************************************************************** > 4D Internet Users Group (4D iNUG) > Archive: http://lists.4d.com/archives.html > Options: https://lists.4d.com/mailman/options/4d_tech > Unsub: mailto:[email protected] > ********************************************************************** ********************************************************************** 4D Internet Users Group (4D iNUG) Archive: http://lists.4d.com/archives.html Options: https://lists.4d.com/mailman/options/4d_tech Unsub: mailto:[email protected] **********************************************************************
