Shouldn't this behavior be documented?

[Spiff59]

I couldn't find any posts regarding this, and there's nothing under "Language Reference - Operators"

Test(1,3,0,5)
;-------------------------------------------------
Func Test($a="",$b="",$c="",$d="",$e="",$f="")
Local $Parms[7] = [0, $a,$b,$c,$d,$e,$f]

For $i = 1 to 6
    If $Parms[$i] = "" Then ExitLoop
    $Parms[0] += 1
Next
MsgBox(1,"","Parms = " & $Parms[0])

$Parms[0] = 0
For $i = 1 to 6
    If $Parms[$i] == "" Then ExitLoop
    $Parms[0] += 1
Next
MsgBox(1,"","Parms = " & $Parms[0])
EndFunc;------------------------------------------

(There are more differences between the "=" and "==" operators than just case sensitivity)

Edited January 27, 2009 by Spiff59

[BrettF]

Think of 0 being false. Which in a sense is also null. And since Autoit doesn't have data types, I kinda expect this...

And now comes a question, what is the outcome for this? Its obvious you are working on something, and well knowing the outcome can provide base for solutions... I could think of a few ways for a few different things, but I'm not sure how well they would go exactly...

EDIT:

A better way to explain what AutoIt perceives as true of false is like so:

Basically anything that is 0 or a blank string is false. True is everything else.

So we can do the following:

$d = 0

If $d = False Then
    MsgBox (0, "$d = 0", "$d is false!")
EndIf

$d = ""

If $d = False Then
    MsgBox (0, "$d = """"", "$d is false!")
EndIf

And they are both false...

Since If <EXP> Then is looking for something true, it will work (because 0 and "" are false...)

If we use == then it is case sensitive where it will look for whether they are both the same.

This is very complicated for me to explain

P.S- I may be wrong, and if I am, can one of you more knowledgeable peeps tell me

Cheers,

Brett

Edited January 27, 2009 by BrettF

[ivan]

You are correct in the documentation. You are comparing to a string, so perhaps you should cast your parameters as strings.

Test(1, 3, 0, 5)

;-------------------------------------------------
Func Test($a = "", $b = "", $c = "", $d = "", $e = "", $f = "")
    Local $Parms[7] = [0, String($a), String($b), String($c), String($d), String($e), String($f)]

    For $i = 1 To 6
        If $Parms[$i] = "" Then ExitLoop
        $Parms[0] += 1
    Next
    MsgBox(1, "", "Parms = " & $Parms[0])

    $Parms[0] = 0
    For $i = 1 To 6
        If $Parms[$i] == "" Then ExitLoop
        $Parms[0] += 1
    Next
    MsgBox(1, "", "Parms = " & $Parms[0])
EndFunc  ;==>Test

[Spiff59]

I understand exactly what is taking place, and understand the reasoning behind it.

Minus seperate string and numeric data types, the behavior of the "=" operator in boolean compares is required.

It is also valuable, when necessary, to be able to determine between an ASCII "0" and a null-string.

My point is that, being useful, this behavior of the "==" operator ought to be mentioned in the documentation.

EDIT: Technically, I guess I should be trying to fight my way through the 'ticket' system and request someone update the docs, rather than posting here.

Edited January 27, 2009 by Spiff59

[BrettF]

Well wait for a Dev to pop their head in, and if they give the okay, make a feature request

Cheers,

Brett

[ivan]

I posted what seemed to me a viable solution to the problem, though it's good to have a ref.

IVAN

[Spiff59]

I posted what seemed to me a viable solution to the problem, though it's good to have a ref.

IVAN

Actually, I didn't have a problem, I prefer to pass a variable number of parameters in numeric format to the function. The loop using "==" works perfectly for me. I was just surprised that I had happened upon a currently undocumented difference between the two operators (= and ==).

[ivan]

As mentioned, I agree with need for improved documentation