Sideview Gate - Feature Suggestion - nullKeys

[snoobzilla]

Nick,

Something would make more robust logic easier with Gates would be to add a nullKeys parameter that would proceed only if keys listed in that param are null. An anti-requiredKeys parameter if you will.

What do you think?

Regards,

Ian

[sideview · Accepted solution]

Actually you can get what you need by using a ValueSetter module with a little conditional logic in it.

Say you have a key called "foo" upstream, and you want the Gate to open if foo is null, and be closed when foo has a value.

  <module name="ValueSetter">
    <param name="name">isFooNull</param>
    <param name="if.$foo$=*"></param>
    <param name="default">yes!</param>

downstream from this ValueSetter you can use $isFooNull$ and it'll only have the "yes!" value when $foo$ is null.

This should do it. ValueSetter is exactly for tweaky little tasks like this. In the docs it has a number of different sections going through it's various features. If you've missed the conditional stuff, some other things in there might be useful to you as well.

Also if you'd prefer to get nitty gritty working examples, there's a hidden view that ships in the app called "testcases_for_value_setter_conditionals" that might be useful for cribbing working config from.

[snoobzilla]

Thanks. I will take a look at this solution.

I have used conditional logic in value setter. For multi-case logic, setting the name of valuesetter using an upstream token from search results/results valuesetter and then used corresponding downstream gates for each branch has worked very nicely.

I was thinking nullKeys solution suggested would be convenient for things like flagging required fields on a form with a simple gate then html module combo with less fuss.

Thanks

Ian

[sideview]

Hm. That's a great point. OK I'll put it in the icebox if not the queue and it may very well appear in a future release.

Although, one other way to think about it a little differently and not use a Gate at all, is to do this:

<module name="ValueSetter">
  <param name="name">emptyFieldWarning</param>
  <param name="if.$foo$=*"></param>
  <param name="default"><![CDATA[ 
    <strong>You need to enter a value for foo</strong>
   ]]></param>

And then just plug $emptyFieldWarning$ into the HTML module. But you're right if there are more than one or two keys to check this gets really tedious whereas a nullKeys feature as you describe would be a bit better.

[snoobzilla]

Awesome. Thanks for considering it and for valuesetter suggestion above.