B4J Tutorial [BANano] why you might need parseBool

Ola

I use a lot of parseInt and parseFloat when I code because even when I define the variables as Int, Double, Float etc, somewhere somehow mistakes happen, you find your app not working and then simply using parseInt and parseFloat helps you along. Its my safe method to ensure quality.

So how did parseBool happen?

Im creating a custom view, i set one of the properties to String, then later change my mind and make it bool because I want to just check it. So I would think

dim bHidden As Boolean
bHidden = Props.GetDefault("Hidden", False)

would work for me?

In my code I am doing a convertion to

x = not(bHidden)

I run my app, nothing happens, blank screen. I resave the layout. nothing happens. In my code I force Hidden to be False with Hidden = False, the apps works. Problem is, this is the default behavior.

So I run GetType(bHidden) just after bHidden = Props(?), guess what, its a string with a capital False, the boolean one is smaller f, so my x = not(bHidden) will just never work!!! Phew

Sub parseBool(v As Object) As Boolean
    If BANano.IsNull(v) Or BANano.IsUndefined(v) Then
        v = False
    End If
    If GetType(v) = "string" Or GetType(v) = "object" Then
        Dim s As String = v & ""
        s = s.tolowercase
        If s = "false" Then Return False
        If S = "true" Then Return True
    End If
    Return v
End Sub

So my updated code, that kills this bug on my webapp, is for example

bHidden = Props.GetDefault("Hidden", False)
bHidden = BANanoShared.parseBool(bHidden)

Now everything is working like a charm.

 

[Mashiane]

Fixing bugs is just one of the most terrible things to do. I have a large number of layouts and having to go through class globals and the designer creation to find boolean definitions and fix them is rather a big tasks.

Decided to save myself a couple of days work by spending an hour and two fine tuning this coding smart code fixer for this bug!

 

[Mashiane]

Phew

Two hours spent trying to figure out a bug... back at this issue again. Now I have to add a blank string check. Code Updated.

'parseBool
Sub parseBool(v As Object) As Boolean
    If BANano.IsNull(v) Or BANano.IsUndefined(v) Then
        v = False
    End If
    If GetType(v) = "string" Or GetType(v) = "object" Then
        Dim s As String = v & ""
        s = s.tolowercase
        If s = "" Then Return False
        If s = "false" Then Return False
        If S = "true" Then Return True
    End If
    Return v
End Sub