When setting or getting property

[PLUCKYHD]

Do numbers have to be in quotes like words do?

[Opus4]

No. You don't need to put true and false in quotes either.

But, you should be aware that if you are going to any math with a numerical property value, you should multiply it by 1 after getting the property to make sure it gets converted to a number rather than remains as a string.

Use: GetProperty("SomePropName",DefaultNum)*1
Because: "12" + 5 != 12 + 5

Edit: for very large numbers, see the tip in the Studio PDF manual, around p. 155.

- Andy

[PLUCKYHD]

Okay but that is only if I am doing math correct?

I am setting a transparancy property so I would set it just numbers no quotes.

Then when I call for it on the items transparancy

=GetProperty("propertyname")

correct?

[Opus4]

I probably should have left out the "math" comment... you are probably safe using it w/o multiplying by 1 (just try it), but I've learned to do that when I want to make sure it is a number so I don't accidentally make a mistake with the value at some future time if I were to modify the code.

And, don't forget that GetProperty("propertyname") needs a default value.

- Andy

[PLUCKYHD]

Yeah I got the default value set on the propert value

I don't need to call a default again when calling in the translucent area do I?

Thanks for all your help

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Use: GetProperty("SomePropName",DefaultNum)*1

While the *1 hack does work, I prefer something along the lines of java_lang_Integer_parseInt(GetProperty(...)). It's more typing, but it makes the intention crystal clear to anybody reading the code.

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

I don't need to call a default again when calling in the translucent area do I?

GetProperty() require two arguments, so you must pass two arguments on every call.

[PLUCKYHD]

Talk about throwing allot code at me

By the way the *1 did the trick.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

While the *1 hack does work, I prefer something along the lines of java_lang_Integer_parseInt(GetProperty(...)). It's more typing, but it makes the intention crystal clear to anybody reading the code.

Yeah, the *1 trick was a quick fix used a long time ago & it was just always used that way ever since. I got curious whether one way was faster... and *1 seems to be barely faster than parseInt. Then, I tried comparing to parseFloat for a decimal value & found that *1 is almost 3 times slower for whatever reason. Neither one is really that slow by itself though: over 50,000 iterations, the time was 600 ms for *1 vs 220 ms for parseFloat. <sigh> I suppose I ought to type more code in the future.

- Andy

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by Opus4

<sigh> I suppose I ought to type more code in the future.

Another option might be a family of API methods along the lines of GetPropertyAsInt(), GetPropertyAsFloat(), etc. That makes the intention clear with a minimum of extra typing (for us, anyway; not for the person who writes the API docs).

[PLUCKYHD]

Okay kind of a relates question what about when setting or getting property's for animation such as

CacheFocus or LayerForeGround

Do these need quotes. I have tried it both but when I call the property in animation it does work

using

=GetProperty("propertyname","CacheFocus")

But that doesn't seem to work I can tell the propert is getting set from the properties file.

thanks

[Opus4]

Check out the Animation widget property description in the Studio PDF manual, around p. 21.

I'm not sure if it is clear to anyone other than me, but the manual should indicate that if you use a dynamic value for the Animation property, then it means the widget should animate when the expression evaluates as 'true'. So, you can't assign animation layer names that way.

What are you trying to accomplish?

- Andy

[PLUCKYHD]

Okay good to know. I see what is says on page 21 but it says "more explained on this later"

So I need a true or false expression that is easy enough but I don't fully understand

"With dynamic
properties, animation will occur whenever the expression after the equal sign"

So I am trying to turn CacheFocus on or off based on a property

so would the correct coding be

CacheFocus = GetProperty ("PropertyName")

[Opus4]

As I said in my last post: "you can't assign animation layer names that way". You either give the Animation property a layer name or it acts as a property to fire an animation.

I'm not sure I understand why the layer of a widgets needs to change. If you explained what you are trying to do, maybe someone would have a suggestion. You could always use a conditional leading up to the widgets to be shown in different ways.

- Andy

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by Opus4

As I said in my last post: "you can't assign animation layer names that way". You either give the Animation property a layer name or it acts as a property to fire an animation.

I'm not sure I understand why the layer of a widgets needs to change. If you explained what you are trying to do, maybe someone would have a suggestion. You could always use a conditional leading up to the widgets to be shown in different ways.

- Andy

Yeah I am using a conditional after reading it took more coding but works

[PLUCKYHD]

I am having an issue. I set a attribute widget to a property with a number

which is 2500

I then call that property later

time = GetProperty("property",2500) + 50

but the result I get is 250050 not 2550?

* merged; this was discussed above *

[razrsharpe]

properties are all strings... you need to do the *1 workaround discussed above.

[PLUCKYHD]

Yeah I stupidly didn't think before posting this morning. I used the integer and got it to work

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by razrsharpe

properties are all strings...

It's not so much that the properties are stored in the file as text. The relevant fact is that GetProperty() is documented as returning a java.lang.String, so any operation performed on that result will be interpreted as a string operation (regardless of what's in the file).

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

It's not so much that the properties are stored in the file as text. The relevant fact is that GetProperty() is documented as returning a java.lang.String, so any operation performed on that result will be interpreted as a string operation (regardless of what's in the file).

Thanks for the clearification it makes sense now.