I am investigating types in VB especially in VBA. Generally, given an entity there are two types: Effective value type, I guess, is defined as value types in this part of the specification; Declared Type is defined in this part of the specification.
To do tests, I need to use some functions to check types. There are TypeName and VarType. I think they are used to check effective value type of an entity, because TypeName can return DBNull, Decimal and Nothing; VarType can return vbNull, vbEmpty, vbError and vbDecimal. These types exist in the table of effective value types, but not in the table of declared type.
So now, my question is, does anyone know how to check/display the declared type of an entity (variable, expression...)?
Edit 1: Probably for a variable, its declared type is just the type that the declaration of the variable specifies. I would like to insist that, it seems that VBA has declared type for expressions. For instance, Operator Declared Type is mentioned in this link. I think that refers to the declared type of the result of an operation. That means such entities as -i, i+5, i>6... can have a declared type. I would like to know how to display their declared type.
If,
Dim i as integer
i = 6/3
then you do, TypeName(i>3)
it returns Boolean which is the expression's Type based on the Type of the resulting value it holds not operand's declare type. And it complies with the specification given in your link for msdn 2.2 Entities and Declared Types.
Or else are you looking for a syntax/function (e.g. DType, imaginative function) that could return DType(i>3) as integer which is operand's (i) Type? Or rather it's more useful when you have multiple variables within some expression, so you can find all their Types in one go?
e.g. some String that combined all sorts of different TYPE variables in one expressoin.
Just trying to understand when and how this can be useful to you and what could be the end result you are looking for.. Seems like this is more to lanague root definitions.
PS: I do not have reps points to comment. So I added as an answer.
Related
There are three only ways, which are discussed on the Internet and on this forum in particular
How to check type of object in VB 6 - Is there any method other than 'TypeName'
How to check type of Object in VB 6 ? - I do not want to use 'TypeOf' method
How to check type of object in VB 6 - Is there any method other than 'TypeName'
Namely:
- the string method TypeName
- the clumsy TypeOf
- by name of control, defined in a specific notation
Am I right, that there are no built-in tools to get a normal numeric constant, like the MsoControlType?
.
Direct answer
Am I right, that there are no built-in tools to get a normal numeric constant, like the MsoControlType?
Yes, that is correct. Unless you implement your own, using the techniques you've listed.
Well, excluding VarType, which will return vbObject given any object reference.
Pedantic answer
What you're referring to as a "normal numeric constant" has strictly nothing to do with a control's type - these MsoControlType constants are just Enum values that the CommandBar API uses to determine the type of the control to create when you ask to create one.
MsoControlType.msoControlButton is not a type of control, it's a constant with a value of 1. Nothing more, nothing less - the type of a control is a class, not a numeric constant:
?TypeName(Application.VBE.CommandBars(1).Controls(1))
CommandBarPopup
CommandBarPopup is the class (and thus the type of the control), not msoControlPopup, and not 10:
A type is what you give to TypeOf [variable] Is [*type*], or Dim [variable] As [*type*]: it's an identifier that refers to a class/interface (in the case of an object, of course - a type could also be one of the primitives, e.g. Integer or Boolean). And given the weakness of reflection capabilities in VB6/VBA for lack of a .net-like type system where a type itself is an abstraction that can be worked with, a custom Enum type and a function taking an object, featuring a Select Case block with TypeOf checks, is your best bet for that function to return a normal numeric constant that represents the type of the provided object.
I need to verify a variable is a certain type.
Is there a way to check the type of a variable in Ada?
I've tried looking at Ada attributes but didn't see anything.
Ada is a strongly typed language so there is really no need to have a function to return the variable's type, as there is in Python or Ruby (duck typed languages) because when you declare a variable you specify its type. The program already knows its type.
If a variable X is declared with type T'Class, then the type of the actual value can be T or any type derived from T. In that case, you can use X'Tag to get the tag of the value's actual type, which is the closest you can come to getting the actual type. Once you have a tag, you can do things like getting the type's name (there are functions for this in Ada.Tags), comparing it to the tag of some type to see if it's that type, etc. But Integer is not a tagged type, so you can't use 'Tag on it and there would be no use for it because it is a primitive type.
I am using a procedure which involves parameter passing and the parameter being passed is a variable. Because I have explicitly declared the data type of another parameter, I need to do the same for this one. What data type do I declare the parameter as if it is a variable?
Thanks
An example of what you are doing and what Types you are dealing with would have been nice. You can implement Overloading to provide for different parameter Types:
Friend Function FooBar(n As Integer) As Integer
Friend Function FooBar(n As Int64) As Integer
Friend Function FooBar(n As Short) As Integer
The compiler will pick the function which matches the data type being passed. Internally, they might do whatever based on the Type passed, then call another procedure to perform any stuff common to them all.
There is probably a finite number of types you need it to work with. For instance Font, Point and Rectangle probably make no sense. Even Date is dubious because you cannot do stuff to a date in the same way as with an Int or Long. String is also not likely needed because you can always pass it as FooBar(CInt(someString)) provided it does contain a valid integer or whatever.
You can also use a generic to tell the function what you are passing:
Private Function FooBar(Of T)(parm As T) As Integer
' called as:
ziggy = FooBar(Of Int32)(n)
zoey = FooBar(Of String)(str)
This might even be Private Function FooBar(Of T)(parm As T) As T if the function return varies depending on the parameter Type passed. There are many uses for this (one of which is to avoid passing a param as Object), but as a general purpose way of passing any type you want it is not a good idea: internally you will likely have to have a big If/Else to handle the different types their own way.
Turning off Option Strict is never advisable since all sorts of unwanted type conversions can take place.
In VB.NET, you can use Object as the type but with Option Strict Off. You can pass any kind of parameter in that case.
for more information, refer : https://stackoverflow.com/a/2890023/3660930
I am trying to design a data structure composed of objects which contain, as instance variables, objects of another type.
I'd like to be able to do something like this:
CALL type1_object%get_nested_type2_object()%some_type2_method()
Notice I am trying to immediately use the getter, get_nested_type2_object() and then act on its return value to call a method in the returned type2 object.
As it stands, gfortran v4.8.2 does not accept this syntax and thinks get_nested_type2_object() is an array reference, not a function call. Is there any syntax that I can use to clarify this or does the standard not allow this?
To give a more concrete example, here is some code illustrating this:
furniture_class.F95:
MODULE furniture_class
IMPLICIT NONE
TYPE furniture_object
INTEGER :: length
INTEGER :: width
INTEGER :: height
CONTAINS
PROCEDURE :: get_length
END TYPE furniture_object
CONTAINS
FUNCTION get_length(self)
IMPLICIT NONE
CLASS(furniture_object) :: self
INTEGER :: get_length
get_length = self%length
END FUNCTION
END MODULE furniture_class
Now a room object may contain one or more furniture objects.
room_class.F95:
MODULE room_class
USE furniture_class
IMPLICIT NONE
TYPE :: room_object
CLASS(furniture_object), POINTER :: furniture
CONTAINS
PROCEDURE :: get_furniture
END TYPE room_object
CONTAINS
FUNCTION get_furniture(self)
USE furniture_class
IMPLICIT NONE
CLASS(room_object) :: self
CLASS(furniture_object), POINTER :: get_furniture
get_furniture => self%furniture
END FUNCTION get_furniture
END MODULE room_class
Finally, here is a program where I attempt to access the furniture object inside the room (but the compiler won't let me):
room_test.F95
PROGRAM room_test
USE room_class
USE furniture_class
IMPLICIT NONE
CLASS(room_object), POINTER :: room_pointer
CLASS(furniture_object), POINTER :: furniture_pointer
ALLOCATE(room_pointer)
ALLOCATE(furniture_pointer)
room_pointer%furniture => furniture_pointer
furniture_pointer%length = 10
! WRITE(*,*) 'The length of furniture in the room is', room_pointer%furniture%get_length() - This works.
WRITE(*,*) 'The length of furniture in the room is', room_pointer%get_furniture()%get_length() ! This line fails to compile
END PROGRAM room_test
I can of course directly access the furniture object if I don't use a getter to return the nested object, but this ruins the encapsulation and can become problematic in production code that is much more complex than what I show here.
Is what I am trying to do not supported by the Fortran standard or do I just need a more compliant compiler?
What you want to do is not supported by the syntax of the standard language.
(Variations on the general syntax (not necessarily this specific case) that might apply for "dereferencing" a function result could be ambiguous - consider things like substrings, whole array references, array sections, etc.)
Typically you [pointer] assign the result of the first function call to a [pointer] variable of the appropriate type, and then apply the binding for the second function to that variable.
Alternatively, if you want to apply an operation to a primary in an expression (such as a function reference) to give another value, then you could use an operator.
Some, perhaps rather subjective, comments:
Your room object doesn't really contain a furniture object - it holds a reference to a furniture object. Perhaps you use that reference in a manner that implies the parent object "containing" it, but that's not what the component definition naturally suggests.
(Use of a pointer component suggests that you want the room to point at (i.e. reference) some furniture. In terms of the language, the object referenced by a pointer component is not usually considered part of the value of the parent object of the component - consider how intrinsic assignment works, restrictions around modifying INTENT(IN) arguments, etc.
A non-pointer component suggests to me that the furniture is part of the room. In a Fortran language sense an object that is a non-pointer component it is always part of the value of the parent object of the component.
To highlight - pointer components in different rooms could potentially point at the same piece of furniture; a non-pointer furniture object is only ever directly part of one room.)
You need to be very careful using functions with pointer results. In the general case, is it:
p = some_ptr_function(args)
(and perhaps I accidentally leak memory) or
p => some_ptr_function(args)
Only one little character difference, both valid syntax, quite different semantics. If the second case is what is intended, then why not just pass the pointer back via a subroutine argument? An inconsequential difference in typing and it is much safer.
A general reminder applicable to some of the above - in the context of an expression, evaluation of a function reference yields a value. Values are not variables and hence you are not permitted to vary [modify] them.
For instance, when to use
GetterUtil.getBoolean()
and when
ParamUtil.getBoolean()?
Are both same, or is it expected to be used differently according to a parameter, a variable, etc? Can you give some examples for both?
Both are util methods to avoid Null-Pointer Exceptions.
GetterUtil internally returns the default type and does the casting too. So in case where someone has passed a null value, it will return default value of the type.
Example:
Assume you have a String value "true", and you are expecting it will always be of type boolean. So you use GetterUtil.getBoolean("true") which will internally do the casting to boolen and return the value as boolean-true. Incase someone passes rubbish characters like "tr", it will be converted to boolean-false.
As mentioned ParamUtil does the same treatment with request parameters. ParamUtil internally uses the GetterUtil to have the above behaviour. It first retrieves the parameter (which always would be a string) and then passes it to GetterUtil.getType() method and in turn returns the proper type.
GetterUtil and ParmUtil both are different classes.
GetterUtil is to get the default values for basic Java data types.
ParamUtil is to retrive the values(of primitive data types) from the HttpReqeust.
Check the source code here for these two classes here
For GetterUtil
http://docs.liferay.com/portal/6.0/javadocs/src-html/com/liferay/portal/kernel/util/GetterUtil.html
For ParamUtil
http://docs.liferay.com/portal/5.1/javadocs/portal-kernel/com/liferay/portal/kernel/util/ParamUtil.java.html