CODEWITHSUNDEEP
applescript
alipica
alipica

Reputation: 45

How to create Applescript dynamic variables

I have a script that has an array of terms. I'd like to create variables based on each term. I'm attempting to count how many times each term is chosen by the user and log a number associated with the term (also from user input).

My history with jQuery leads me to want to do something like this:

set term + "_Count" to term + "_Count" + 1
set term + "_Log" to term + "_Log" + inputNum

However, (obviously) that sort of syntax is not possible with AppleScript. Is there a way to concatenate a string onto a variable name?

-- for more reference, I'm trying to avoid listing every term out as I try to set 2 variables related to each term. I've currently got a long If/Then statement to set each one when the user picks a term.

I've been searching everywhere but haven't found anything conclusive for my question. Perhaps I just don't know the proper terms to search or maybe my whole approach is incorrect. Any help would be appreciated.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1216

Answers (3)

wch1zpink
wch1zpink

Reputation: 3142

It's difficult to give an exact answer without seeing all of your code but you can use Concatenation to define new variables.

If you were to save this following code as an application, the item chosen and the amount of times it has been chosen, get stored in the script and the values get updated.

Again, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what you need but this is an example of Concatenation and defining how many times an item has been chosen

property theUserChose : {"Project_1", "Project_2", "Project_3"}
property term_1_count : 0
property term_2_count : 0
property term_3_count : 0
property minutes : 120
property term : missing value

set resultValue to choose from list theUserChose ¬
    with title "Make Your Choice" OK button name ¬
    "OK" cancel button name "Cancel" without empty selection allowed

set resultValue to resultValue as string

if resultValue is item 1 of theUserChose then
    set term_1_count to term_1_count + 1
    set term to resultValue & "_" & term_1_count & "_" & minutes
else
    if resultValue is item 2 of theUserChose then
        set term_2_count to term_2_count + 1
        set term to resultValue & "_" & term_2_count & "_" & minutes
    else
        if resultValue is item 3 of theUserChose then
            set term_3_count to term_3_count + 1
            set term to resultValue & "_" & term_3_count & "_" & minutes
        end if
    end if
end if

display dialog term

Upvotes: 0

has
has

Reputation: 167

You really don’t. What you want is a dictionary datatype (aka "hash", "map", "associative array", etc), which store and retrieve values using arbitrary keys (most commonly strings). AS doesn’t have a native dictionary type, but for storing simple value types (boolean, integer, real, string) you can use Cocoa’s NSMutableDictionary class via the AppleScript-ObjC bridge:

use framework "Foundation"

set myDict to current application's NSMutableDictionary's dictionary()

myDict's setValue:32 forKey:"Bob"
myDict's setValue:48 forKey:"Sue"

(myDict's valueForKey:"Bob") as anything
--> 32

Upvotes: 4

vadian
vadian

Reputation: 285082

Short story:

Variable names are evaluated at compile time. Dynamic variables (evaluated at runtime) are not possible.

Upvotes: 0

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