Zugg Software :: View topic - [1.24] %vartype and #showdb #forall Errors

Wizard Joined: 11 Jul 2002 Posts: 1265 Location: USA

If you create a string list and convert it to a database record type either via %vartype or the GUI #showdb still expands it as if it were a string list, and #forall still treats it as a string list.

An example.

Open cMud and hit escape to get a blank session.

Create your string list.
#var list "key1=1|key2=2|key3=3"

Use #Forall to view the contents.
#forall list {#show %i}

results
key1=1
key2=2
key3=3

Set the variable type to database.
#call %vartype("@list",5)

Use #showdb to view the contents.
#showdb @list

results
key1=1|key2=2|key3=3:

#Forall still treats it as a string list as well. In fact the only thing that does appear to treat it as a database variable is the GUI display.

If you set the variable to auto type it will display it again as a string list. I know that cMud doesn't store variables the same way Zmud did so the pipe character is not being used to store the database records.
But I think in this case if you set a database record to string type the char should be automatically changed to a pipe and if you set a string list to a database type the char should be changed to whatever the new separation char is.

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 9:02 pm

Well, that's true. Just calling %vartype doesn't change the data itself. String lists and database variables are stored differently internally. Using %vartype just changes how the variable is treated by the compiler, but doesn't actually convert the data within the variable itself. I'll consider doing the auto-conversion, but I'm always a bit worried about things that change the data stored in your variable "automatically".

Wizard Joined: 11 Jul 2002 Posts: 1265 Location: USA

I realize that doing an arbitrary replace can cause problems with things stored in the variable. But in this case it was exactly what was expected. If #forall and the like are not supposed to work when you use %vartype to change the variable then a mention in the documentation would be better than fixing this in my opinion.

I just knew that I could change a variable from a database type to a list type on the fly easily in Zmud and could not in cMud. So I tried the %vartype and it did not work either. *shrugs* I can do the conversion another way.