For those interested, I have written a function which will return as
a single character the type of variable you pass it, or else "U" for
undefined if it doesn't exist. Why you ask? Because sometimes you
want to know if a variable has yet to be defined, and if so what the
value is. This is particularly important with modular applications.
And it's nice to be able to do it by calling a function to check. The
big deal for me is that the app I am porting uses this technique to
determine if a module has been initialized yet. Sure I could figure
another way to do it, but my approach is to convert the source with
minimal trauma. I will optimize it later.
The problem is, Revolution script is soooo friendly with variable
typing that just passing an undefined variable name as an arguement
to a function will simply pass the variable name as a literal to the
parameter of the called function, so within the function, no matter
what, the value of the parameter will be something. It would be nice
if Revolution did not do that, but I understand they need to be
compatible with prior xCard solutions.
Once inside the function, variableNames and globalNames knows nothing
of a local variable in the calling handler. And there is no way to
distinguish if the parameter passed is the value of an existing
variable, or the literal name of the variable I thought I was passing
it. Revolution is simply being too friendly. Passing the variable as
a reference doesn't help either. The parameter is still resolved to
the value of the passed variable regardless, (which begs the question
"what's the difference?") In short, there is no way for a called
function to tell if a variable belonging to the scope of the calling
script exists or not, and what it is. Until now.
The trick is to pass the variable AND the name of the variable as
another variable:
on mouseUp
put "novar" into somevar --a variable containing the name of the
variable
put theType(novar, somevar) into myType
end mouseUp
At this point, assuming the variable novar has not been defined
anywhere, the following function will return "U".
function thetype @mVar, mvarName
local mtype
--Assume undefined until proven otherwise
put "U" into mtype
--see if it is a number
if mvar is a number then
put "N" into mtype
return mtype
end if
-- Let's try logical
if mvar is a boolean then
put "L" into mtype
return mtype
end if
-- How about a date?
if mvar is a date then
put "D" into mtype
return mtype
end if
-- If mvar and mvarName are the same, the variable was undefined
-- in the calling program, becase Revolution will assume you meant
-- to pass a literal value as an arguement
if mvar is not mvarname then
put "C" into mvar
return mvar
end if
return mtype
end thetype
So this is a 2 liner way to mimic the type() function in Foxpro. It's
not perfect but it will save me a lot of coding.
Bob Sneidar
IT Manager
Logos Management
Calvary Chapel CM
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