Re: [Webmacro-devel] setprops directive

[Keats K. <ke...@xa...>]

I agree.  The more I think about it, the more I think it makes sense the 
way it is. 

I like that you can do stuff like:

#setprops $List {
  #set baseDir="/export/accounts/"
  #set $i=0
  #foreach $Account in $AccountList {
    #set $i=$i+1
    Account$i=\$Account.Number
    Holder$i=\$Account.Holder
    File$i=\$baseDir\$Account.File
  }
  Count=$i
}

I'll try to update the Wiki page this weekend.

Keats

Lane Sharman wrote:

> Hi Keats,
>
> Let's document the way that it is and work with it for a while. As 
> long as I can escape evaluation, then i have a working solution. 
> Solving it may induce other side effects we have not thought of. I 
> like the fact that you can complete evaluation.
>
> -Lane
>
> Keats Kirsch wrote:
>
>> Lane,
>>
>> Thanks for finding this.  It's not strictly a "bug", but it is 
>> undocumented, and maybe undesirable, behavior.
>>
>> First of all, the workaround is to escape the $ char, i.e.,
>>
>> #bean $Time = "java.util.Date"
>> #setprops $Duration class="com.opendoors.entity.fundamental.Duration"
>> {
>> Start = \$Variable.get("Time")
>> End = \$Variable.get("Time")
>> }
>>
>> or more simply:
>>
>> #bean $Time = "java.util.Date"
>> #setprops $Duration class="com.opendoors.entity.fundamental.Duration"
>> {
>> Start = \$Time
>> End = \$Time
>> }
>>
>> The reason for this is that the block argument of #setprops is 
>> evaluated prior to assigning the properties.  The idea of this is to 
>> allow you to intermix directives and property assignments.  E.g.,
>>
>> #setprops $Obj {
>>  Count1: $x
>>  #set $x = $x + 1
>>  Count2: $x
>> }
>>
>> This works fine with Strings and ints, but for other types you will 
>> see the problem that you experienced.  In your case, the dates were 
>> expanded into Strings, which then could not be assigned to a Date 
>> property.
>>
>> I'm not sure which trade-off is preferable; unescaped variable syntax 
>> or disallowing directives.  I suppose we could add an option, like 
>> "as macro" with #setblock, to give the user a choice.  Something 
>> like, "#setprops noeval ..."
>>
>> What do you think?
>>
>> Keats
>>
>> Lane Sharman wrote:
>>
>>> #bean $Time = "java.util.Date"
>>> #bean $Duration = "com.opendoors.entity.fundamental.Duration" onNew
>>> {
>>> #set $Duration.Start = $Variable.get("Time")
>>> #set $Duration.End = $Variable.get("Time")
>>> #set $Duration.End = $Time
>>> }
>>>
>>>
>>> works fine.
>>>
>>> so there is a bug in the #setprops unless this is a "feature", 
>>> converting all RHS evaluations to string.
>>>
>>> -Lane
>>>
>>> Lane Sharman wrote:
>>>
>>>> is the RHS term always evaluated as a String before the assignment? 
>>>> What can I do to make an assigment of an object?
>>>>
>>>> #bean $Time = "java.util.Date"
>>>> #setprops $Duration class="com.opendoors.entity.fundamental.Duration"
>>>> {
>>>> Start = $Variable.get("Time")
>>>> End = $Variable.get("Time")
>>>> }
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> generates this error:
>>>>
>>>> 4:40:52 PM    template    ERROR    Error parsing template: 
>>>> StringTemplate("unknown";"#set $Duration.Start=Fri Nov 25 16:40:53 
>>>> PST 2005")
>>>> org.webmacro.engine.ParseException: Parser Exception
>>>> org.webmacro.parser.ParseException: Encountered "Fri" at line 1, 
>>>> column 22.
>>>