Last week I wrote a post about casting in if statements, focusing on the difference between equality and identity. Well that post started out in my mind as being about boolean values, but then I found I needed to cover that ground first.
Boolean is a rather interesting datatype in Uniface. The description in the manuals goes like this....
The Uniface default packing code for boolean stores the value as "T" or "F", but a number of different packing codes can be used...
This means that it is always safest to reference a boolean in an if statement without a relational operator, like this...
As empty values are interpreted as false, this example would output "b is False".
This is fine, as long as you know that you've got a boolean datatype. However, I've seen developers get into trouble when they use this type of if statement (without a relational operator) but with other datatypes.
For example, to check a blank string in javascript, you could easily do something like this...
If you translate this directly into Uniface, then you get something like this...
And this works, no problem here. Empty string is interpreted as false and you get the same result.
Consider this though; what if s is set to "0"?
In javascript, we would not get the alert - this is because the string is not blank, so quite right! However, in Uniface we do get the message saying that s is blank, even though it's not. This is because "0" is interpreted as false.
Summary: In an if statement, if you've got a boolean datatype then don't use a relational operator, but if you've got any other datatype then do use one.
Boolean is a rather interesting datatype in Uniface. The description in the manuals goes like this....
The Boolean data type is interpreted as either TRUE or FALSE. An empty value, and the values 0, F, f, N, and n are interpreted as FALSE. All other values are interpreted as TRUE.
The Uniface default packing code for boolean stores the value as "T" or "F", but a number of different packing codes can be used...
- B - Optimum DBMS Boolean default
- B1 - ASCII Boolean (0 or 1)
- B2 - ASCII Boolean (F or T) *Uniface default
- B3 - ASCII Boolean (N or Y)
- B4 - Binary Boolean (0 or 1)
- B5 - Binary Boolean (0 or -1)
This means that it is always safest to reference a boolean in an if statement without a relational operator, like this...
variables
boolean b
endvariables
if ( b )
putmess "b is True"
endif
if ( !b )
putmess "b is False"
endif
As empty values are interpreted as false, this example would output "b is False".
This is fine, as long as you know that you've got a boolean datatype. However, I've seen developers get into trouble when they use this type of if statement (without a relational operator) but with other datatypes.
For example, to check a blank string in javascript, you could easily do something like this...
var s = "";
if(!s) {
alert "s
is blank";
}
If you translate this directly into Uniface, then you get something like this...
variables
string s
endvariables
s = ""
if ( !s )
putmess "s is blank"
endif
And this works, no problem here. Empty string is interpreted as false and you get the same result.
Consider this though; what if s is set to "0"?
In javascript, we would not get the alert - this is because the string is not blank, so quite right! However, in Uniface we do get the message saying that s is blank, even though it's not. This is because "0" is interpreted as false.
Summary: In an if statement, if you've got a boolean datatype then don't use a relational operator, but if you've got any other datatype then do use one.
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