Help with functions that call themselves

[MattHiggs]

Hello everyone.  Consider this autoit code:

 

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$source = _INetGetSource(ClipGet ())

            $reg = StringRegExp($source, 'source src=\"https://[A-Za-z0-9\.\-/_]+\.mp4\"', 3)
            $theurl = Null
            If UBound($grr) > 1 Then

                $theurl = findsmall ( $reg )
            Else
                $theurl = StringTrimLeft(StringTrimRight($reg[0], 1), 12)
                $file = InetGetSize ( $theurl, $INET_IGNORESSL )
                If $file = 0 Then
                    $theurl = Null
                EndIf

            EndIf


            MsgBox ( 1, "", $theurl )


            Func findsmall ( $exp )
    $grr = $exp
    _ArrayDisplay ( $grr )
    If UBound ( $exp ) = 0 Then
        Return Null
    Else
        $index = Null
        $num = Null
        For $t = 0 To UBound($grr) - 1 Step 1
            $regnum = StringRegExp(StringTrimLeft(StringTrimRight($grr[$t], 1), 12), "\d{1,3}x\d{1,3}", 1)
            If $num = Null Or Number(StringTrimRight($regnum[0], 4)) < $num Then
                $index = $t
                $num = Number(StringTrimRight($regnum[0], 4))
            EndIf
        Next
        $testurl = StringTrimLeft(StringTrimRight($grr[$index], 1), 12)
        MsgBox ( 1, "", $testurl )
        $file = InetGetSize ( $testurl, $INET_IGNORESSL )
        If $file = 0 Then
            _ArrayDelete ( $grr, $index )
            findsmall ( $grr )
        Else
            Return $testurl
        EndIf

    EndIf

EndFunc

 

In this script, I am trying to scan a web page's source html to find links to video files.  In the event that multiple video files are detected, the custom function I have written, "findsmall", will run.  The purpose of findsmall is to find the video file with a valid url and has the smallest resolution based on the url string.  To do this, I loop through the urls, in the array and determine their size based on text pulled from the url string.  After I find the video with the smallest resolution, I run Inetgetsize to verify that the link leads to a valid url.  If the url does not link to a valid url, then I run "_arraydelete" to delete the index in the array which held the invalid video url and re-run the function with the new array.  The script works as intended, but I am running into an issue in instances where the function is re-run because the first video link is not valid.  Normally, I would expect that the function would, if it encountered an invalid url, would continue to run itself, which would also reduce the size of the array, until a valid url is found or all items in the array are deleted, and then take the value returned by the re-run function and assign that to the variable which initially called it.  In other words, referencing the above code, if the function had to re-run itself due to an invalid url:

findsmall ( $grr )

Then I would expect that, if that run of the function returned a valid url, that value would be assigned to the original variable which was assigned to equal the call of the original function:
 

$theurl = findsmall ( $reg )

But that is not what is happening, oddly enough.  When the embedded function re-runs itself, it is almost as if autoit thinks it is an entirely seperate function, meaning that, in order to retrieve the value returned by the re-run function, I would need to assign the re-run function as its own variable: 

; this value would equal 0 if the function calls itself, as the initial run of the function didn't return any value
                $theurl = findsmall ( $reg )
            Func findsmall ( $exp )
    $grr = $exp
    _ArrayDisplay ( $grr )
    If UBound ( $grr ) = 0 Then
        Return Null
    Else
        $index = Null
        $num = Null
        For $t = 0 To UBound($grr) - 1 Step 1
            $regnum = StringRegExp(StringTrimLeft(StringTrimRight($grr[$t], 1), 12), "\d{1,3}x\d{1,3}", 1)
            If $num = Null Or Number(StringTrimRight($regnum[0], 4)) < $num Then
                $index = $t
                $num = Number(StringTrimRight($regnum[0], 4))
            EndIf
        Next
        $testurl = StringTrimLeft(StringTrimRight($grr[$index], 1), 12)
        MsgBox ( 1, "", $testurl )
        $file = InetGetSize ( $testurl, $INET_IGNORESSL )
        If $file = 0 Then
    ; This would be the variable that would contain the value that I am looking for, but this is not where I need the value.  I need the value assigned to the original variable in the main part of the script: $theurl
            $NEWVALUE = _ArrayDelete ( $grr, $index )
            findsmall ( $grr )
        Else
            Return $testurl
        EndIf

    EndIf

EndFunc

Is this by design?  If so, is there a way that I can get any instances of the function calling itself to assign the value it returns to the original variable ($theurl)?  Thanks in advance.

Edited December 15, 2022 by MattHiggs

[Nine]

Recursion is more complex that most ppl think.  I would strongly recommend that you remove the recursion and just do a simple loop.  As a suggestion, you can test the validity of the url immediately after finding a lower size file, if it is good you keep the index, if not you just continue with the next file.  Simple loop.