Re: Metakit and Tcl (and maybe others)

Bob X wrote:

> I am using 2.4.9.3 on Windows XP with ActiveTcl.
>
> I am creating a simple ticket tracker and I defined my view:
>
> set view [mk::view layout db.tracker "username:S ticket:S recieved:I 
> closed:I problem:S notes:S status:I"]
>
> I then append into the view:
>
> mk::row append $view username "Jeff Walsh" ticket "000001081" recieved 
> "20040419" closed "20040419" problem "Password locked" notes "Reset 
> password to Ellipse" status "0"
>
> I then get errors:
>
> <error>
> expected integer but got "000001058" (looks like invalid octal number)
>     while executing
> "mk::row append $view username "Don Lang" ticket "000001058" recieved 
> "20040409" closed "20040409" problem "Application is hanging" notes 
> "Network prob..."
>     (file "initial_loader.tcl" line 18)
> </error>

Yes, leading zero's bite when treating a Tcl string as an integer.  I'm 
assuming the "ticket:S" is actually a "ticket:I" in the example you 
gave - then it would fail.

The leading zero defaulting to octal mode is a painful idiosyncrasy of 
Tcl, see
	http://mini.net/tcl/498
	http://www.tcl.tk/cgi-bin/tct/tip/114.html

> I could change it to a String (works that way) but I would like to 
> leave it an Integer. Are the leading zero's causing the problem? I 
> have to have those as the program spitting the data out uses those.

You can't have your cake and eat it in cases like these :) - either you 
treat values as integers (which have no knowledge of representation, 
such as leading zero's) or you stick to a string, which is slower and 
takes up more space.

I tend to use either of two tricks for this:

- add 1000000000 to the value and store that
   (then strip 1st char again on extract to make sure the 0's stay)

- convert to int via ... ticket [scan %d "000001058"] ...
   (and convert back as needed with: "puts [format %9d $value]")

-jcw

_____________________________________________
Metakit mailing list  -  [email protected]
http://www.equi4.com/mailman/listinfo/metakit