Using module-wide variables in Powershell 2.0 - variables

I've written a module to work with IBMs ClearCase through Powershell. At first it just contained a couple of often used functions, but now I'm expanding it. Most of the commands have to use a ClearTool object ($ct = new-object ClearCase.ClearTool), but I'd rather not have to recreate that object in every function call as it's a bit of overhead.
I also create a ClearCase view in many of these functions, but I can simply check for existence of the view and decide not to recreate it.
My question is, what's the best pattern for this? I can have a "create ct object" function and put the onus on the calling code to maintain it, but I don't think I like that method. Is it possible to have a module-wide variable for the ClearTool object and have Powershell check to see if it's filled before trying to recreate it each time?
Thanks!

In the end I created a couple of module-wide variables. I could hide them if necessary, although I haven't explicitly done that yet. I have a single function to create a view which must be called before doing any actual work and included in that is code to create the ClearTool object. I also have code to set the module-wide variables with the correct ClearTool object for use in other functions and the name of the view.
In the code of each of the functions if the ClearTool object ($ct) has not yet been set, they return an error condition.

Related

Using find_library() in cmake function

In my project I use function, which calles find_library(...). Function is defined in SomeScript.cmake.
It works fine if called one time. But now I want to use it several time in my project. The problem is
that find_library caches the first result, and simply doesn`t run again.
So, the part I don't understand - function should provide it's own scope. But it looks like that there is,
only one "copy" of the function with all variables cached. Is it really so? And is there a correct way to use
find_library(...) inside a user function?

Dynamic project-wide variable in Emacs

I'd like to have a project-wide variable which I can change during looking at that project. In other words, I'd like to get it affected whenever opening a file. Yes, I know .dir-locals.el exist in Emacs world. But I think it would be reset to the value set in .dir-locals.el whenever opening a file under that project.
Could I get some hints from you, please?
For this kind of thing you might want to use a function instead of a variable (directly). Specifically, use a getter and setter function.
All of your project code can invoke the getter function to get the value (which can be cached in a variable). And all of your code can invoke the setter function to change the value (which, again, can be cached in a variable).
These functions can be visible globally to your project. The cache variable would be accessed only by the getter and setter functions.
But as for code everywhere in your project being informed when the value gets updated and do what's appropriate with the new value whenever that happens, see #Phil's comment about the use of a variable - the same considerations apply.
You can have a hook in the setter function (or advise it), so that it does something additional (e.g. informs interested/subscribed code) whenever it updates the value.
For a variable you can do something similar using, as #Phils said in a comment, using add-variable-watcher.
For a user-option variable you can do something similar using :set and :get functions in the defcustom. (But those take effect only if changes are made using appropriate Customize functions or the Customize UI.)
You can eval in the dir-locals.el So, if you have a variable my-var that you want to be able to change with setq you could do something like
((nil . ((eval . (or (boundp 'my-var) (setq my-var 'default))))))
There are warnings about using eval in a dir-local though, since any code could be run there.

Use data in plugin outside the SCIPsolve call

I would like to share data between a plugin and my main function (this is, use it outside the call to the SCIPsolve function). For example, a branching rule sets a certain int variable to 1 and then, after the optimization is done I can go and check wether the variable was changes or not.
I thought I could accomplish this by using the plugin data (e.g. SCIP_BranchruleData) but it can't be accessed from outside the plugin's source file.
How can I do it?
I will appreciate any help.
Rodolfo
An easy solution is to add a getter function to the branchrule which you implement in branch_xyc.c and prototype in branch_xyz.h. Then your code needs to include the header file and you can access the fields in the branchdata.
See also the documentation of branch_allfullstrong.cpp where an external function is defined and you can see how to get the branchdata and branchrule when passing just a SCIP pointer.

VB.net : How to protect a global variable from being modified inside a sub (ByVal, ByRef : not applicable)

I have a global variable X in an winform application.
The variable X is used in different forms inside the application and I don't want it to be modified. It's not used as a parameter in the functions... so ByRef, or ByVal are not applicable.
It's used like that:
Declaration
dim X as whatever;
dim Y as whatever;
private sub SubExample(A as object)
'Do some staff
'Locally modifiy X
X = something else;
end sub
Main program
call SubExample(Y);
'After this, X should still have its original value
Any idea please ?
You can't protect a global variable (unless it has to be assigned only once, in that case it can be Const). By definition it's global so it's visibile by all classes.
I would avoid them every time it's possible because of that: you can't restrict their access to who really has to use it (as you found by yourself) and they couple all classes use them. Main problems I see with them are:
Testing: because they couple many (all?) classes they make code testing pretty hard. You can't really isolate a class or sub-system for testing.
Concurrency: they're free accessed by everything in any thread then you'll have concurrency issues and you'll need to make them thread-safe. A variable in VB.NET can be thread-safe (at least atomic read/write) only for primitive types.
Access: as you saw you can't restrict access to them. Even if you make them global properties you can just make them read-only but somewhere a write function/setter must exist (unless you're using them for singleton pattern or for other - few - corner cases).
Maintenability: your code will be harder to understand because implications won't be obvious and local.
What you can do to replace them with something more "safe"?
If you put them in a global class with Shared members just remove Shared and make them instance members. If they're in a Module just move them to a Class.
Make your class singleton (I would use a method instead of simple property to make this more obvious). This may or not be your case, you may simply create your object in your startup method.
Add a public property in each form will need them and when you create your form just set this property to class you previously created. According to effective implementation this may be or not a Context Object pattern.
If you have multiple sets of global variables (and each set has different users) you may need to create multiple classes (one class for each set of variables).
This is a pretty general method to quickly replace global variables, better way implies some deeper refactoring to make your code more OOP-ish but I can't say without a more complete view of your code.
As a low-tech solution, I would recommend using an unambiguous name like
Dim READONLY_X
as the name of your global variable. Then you are less likely to forget that you should not be writing a new value to it. When you feel the temptation to write the line:
READONLY_X = 2
it should ring an alarm bell. Wrapping inside getter functions etc (without the formalism of a class) seems like a kluge. But that's just an opinion.
As was said before, global variables are a pain; think carefully about the scope you want them to have, and whether there isn't another solution...

Is there a way in IntelliJ to make a usage search of a method and filter this by specific arguments passed to the method?

I have a method in my Service class which executes an hibernate update for any domain object:
update(Object obj)
It's called from lot's of classes in my project for different kind of objects. I would like to find all usages of this method when it's called for a specific domain object. I.e. call methods call wich executes an update of my Title object:
serviceClass.update(Title title)
I'm using IntelliJ as my IDE and I'm wondering if there is a way to find all those usages.
Does anyone have an IDEA how to do this?
Thanks a lot in advance,
Ronny
I've tried it with a small sample project and was able to achieve the desired behavior using Structural Search and Replace feature with the modified method calls template:
$MethodCall$ Text constraints, Text/regexp should be set to update so that methods with other names are ignored. $Parameter$ Occurrences count, Minimum count should be set to 1 to ignore method calls with no or more parameters.
Results:
If you're interested in the call chains that are providing a specific input into a given method, try the Analyze->Data Flow to Here command.
This allows you to see which values are passed in, through which call chains. And, for example, where null values might be coming from.
Quite a powerful feature, really.