Select case question

[Cyri]

I know this is going to be a stupid question but here goes. Why does the following code not work as expected? Both cases are evaluated to be true. I'm running the latest production code 3.3.4.0.

$test = "testing"

Select
    Case $test <> ""
        MsgBox(0, "", "$test is not equal to nothing")
        ContinueCase
    Case $test = ""
        MsgBox(0, "", "$test is equal to nothing")
EndSelect

I know the above example is better suited for a Switch statment, but I'm just using it as an example. The one in my actual script is more complex and validates different expressions in each case.

Edited February 23, 2010 by Cyri

[flyingboz]

short answer is variable types..

try ensuring you are using the proper operands or generating the proper values to test strings or numbers. to test for empty strings, I often use StringLen($var), for example.

[trancexx]

short answer is variable types..

try ensuring you are using the proper operands or generating the proper values to test strings or numbers. to test for empty strings, I often use StringLen($var), for example.

ContinueCase continues case.

[PsaltyDS]

No, the only problem is improper expectations of ContinueCase. When you do ContinueCase, the next case is unconditionally executed. Doesn't seem right to me, but that's how it works. I would have expected ContinueCase to go to the next Case test, not unconditionally execute it.

[Cyri]

No, the only problem is improper expectations of ContinueCase. When you do ContinueCase, the next case is unconditionally executed. Doesn't seem right to me, but that's how it works. I would have expected ContinueCase to go to the next Case test, not unconditionally execute it.

Thanks for the clarification on that. I would have also expected it to evaluate the next case expression. The documentation on ContinueCase doesn't really spell that out either.

[jchd]

Your initial interpretation wouldn't make sense in a Switch where Cases shouldn't overlap.

That's why ContinueCase is harder to emulate with If...

Should ContinueCase have "jumped" to the test of the next Case, then it would merely be a syntactic sugar.

Select
 Case $x = 1
    ; do something
    ContinueCase
 Case $x = 2    ; <-- assume ContinueCase would get you here
    ; do something else
 ...

could have been simply written:

If $x = 1 Then
 ; do something
Endif
If $x = 2 Then
 ; do something else
...

But if you want to emulate the actual specific behavior of ContinueCase, you have to make it less simple and less readable:

Local $skip = 0
If $x = 1 Then
 ; do something
 $skip = 1
Endif
If $x = 2 Or $skip Then
 ; do something else
...

Edited February 24, 2010 by jchd