check if is a String

[imox]

Hello,

how can I check a variable if is a String? Normaly it is very simple but not in foxpro

Thanks a lot

 

[imox]

I want cast all incomming type like date, integer some else to a string.

 

[Olaf Doschke]

No, in VFP this is simple, too:

If Vartype(variable) = "C"
   ? "It's a string! It's a string!"
Endif

Each vartype has a letter, NUL is denoted with "X".
For other variable type see

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/downloads/tt9t2x67(v=vs.90)

There also is the TYPE() function, it differs from VARTYPE() in that you would need to pass in the name of the variable to check as string, eg TYPE("variable") is the same as VARTYPE(variable).

Bye, Olaf.

 

[Olaf Doschke]

Sorry, the link won't work, that's what Bing gave me.
Look up the MSDN Reference at

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/tt9t2x67(v=vs.80).aspx

Bye, Olaf.

 

[Olaf Doschke]

To cast anything to string use TRANSFORM(anything).

Bye, Olaf.

 

[imox]

Ok thanks it works I only tried type() and I got something errors.

 

[Olaf Doschke]

Well, what error? You have to put the name in quotation marks for TYPE, so TYPE() only accepts a string as paramters, a string containing the name of a variable or an expression evaluatable, and of course it returns the type the expression or variable has, not always "C". VarType() is more straight forward.

But you need neither of these two functions, because Transform() will turn everything into a string.

What do you need that for? To create a file with CSV output? Use COPY TO TYPE CSV instead.

Bye, Olaf.

 

[imox]

I need it to write XML. I use TRANSFORM() but when I transform 0.0000000 then I get only 0 as string. It is possible do not cut anything?

 

[Mike Lewis]

when I transform 0.0000000 then I get only 0 as string. It is possible do not cut anything?

That is correct. If you want to get "0.0000000" as a string, you should use TRANSFORM(<your integer>, "9.9999999").

(But that's got nothing to do with XML.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads

 

[Olaf Doschke]

Mike is right, more generally speaking lookup the reference section on Transform. STR() also is a specialised version of the conversion of numerical variable to string. Ther are others, eg DTOC() or TTOC(), for Date or Datetime to string conversion, Transform is just the core function handling all types, the special functions are slightly faster for each certain type.

In case XML creation, why reinvent the wheel? Eiter use Rick Strahls wwXML classlib or CURSORTOXML(), just to name two possible already existing solutions. You might also automate MSXML OLE classes.

Bye, Olaf.