How can I use a string in a formula?

[Virginityrocks]

I want to ask the skin, does a string contain any letters? No? Then set the variable to 0. If it does, set the variable to 1. Easy enough to do this with just numbers, but I need to know if a particular measure if giving me words or is giving me a dummy string.

Code: Select all

Measure=Calc
Formula=MeasureCondiments  = "" ? 0 : 1
IfEqualValue=0
IfEqualAction=[!SetVariable hotdog 0][!Redraw]
IfAboveValue=0
IfAboveAction=[!SetVariable hotdog 1][!Redraw]

Also, is this possible? With its then and else being strings, not numbers? (This part is pure curiosity)

Code: Select all

Measure=Calc
Formula=MeasureCondiments = "" ? "ketchup" : "mustard"
IfEqualValue="ketchup"
IfEqualAction=[!SetVariable hotdog 1][!Redraw]
IfAboveValue="mustard"
IfAboveAction=[!SetVariable hotdog 2][!Redraw]

[jsmorley]

No, a Calc measure can only use numbers in the formula and / or IfActions.

[Virginityrocks]

Straight up? Is there no way to ask if a string has a value, or not? Like a true or false type-deal?

I have a plugin that stores 20 strings in a table. It stores 20 strings even if 10 of those strings are blank, but if you were to ask the plugin how many strings it has, it will always say 20.

[jsmorley]

Straight up? Is there no way to ask if a string has a value, or not? Like a true or false type-deal?

Nope. You would need to jump out to Lua to do string comparisons, unless you use a Substitute on a measure returning a string to turn string values into numbers.

[Virginityrocks]

I was learning lua yesterday trying to figure out how to do that, but it's pretty complicated. And I can't seem to get anything to work right.

Also, how can I use substitutes to get the desired result?

[poiru]

This should do the trick:

Code: Select all

[MeasureCondiments]
...
Substitute="^.+$":"1","^$":"0"
RegExpSubstitute=1

[MeasureCheck]
Measure=Calc
Formula=[MeasureCondiments]
IfEqualValue=0
IfEqualAction=...
IfAboveValue=0
IfAboveAction=...
DynamicVariables=1

(If you need the actual value of MeasureCondiments, duplicate it.)

[Virginityrocks]

OOOOkay. I think I understand now. It's kind of strange that, even though the number is still part of a string, it's still recognized as a number. I think programming Rainmeter to accept strings as values for formulas would be a good addition to future versions of the program.

[Virginityrocks]

Alright, so now that I have that sorted out, it causes a new problem.

Since I've substituted all of my blank strings with 1 (Substitute="":"1") in order to calculate the total number of blank strings by adding each 1 together, now each blank string is shown as 1. For example, my output might be:

4walled
Facebook
Google+
1
1
1
1
1

I want to remove the 1s from the string immediately after the value is calculated, and before the string is written.

I have tried using !SetOption Strings Text "", but that doesn't do anything.
I have also tried setting it to something else, but that doesn't solve the problem, it just changes 1 to some other visible entity.

Is there a character that I can use in !SetOption Strings Text "" that rainmeter will not display if I place it in the editor? Like a double slash, or some other combination of characters that do not display if written?

[poiru]

Like I said, duplicate the measures if you need the actual value.

[Virginityrocks]

I saw that you wrote that but I don't understand what you mean by duplicate.

Also, I just want to make a note that RegExpSubstitute causes Rainmeter to crash when I place it in the field you've written. I'm not sure if that is necessary for this function.