SID-00134: IF and CALC not the same in TWiki 4.1.2 and 4.2.3

Status:	Answered	TWiki version:	4.2.4	Perl version:	indigoperl 5.86
Category:	SpreadSheetPlugin	Server OS:	WIndows 2003 server	Last update:	17 years ago

Hello,

I have a web, with many pages for info on various cities. Each city has a menu page (named with the 3-character city code, plus the word Menu, like ACAMenu or SYDMenu), which a form containing the city name, country, and several other fields. In WebLeftBar, I have an if statement that decides if the current page is a city page or something else (like WebHome, or a report page, etc). The way it decides if a page is a city page is it checks the first 3 characters of the current page, adds "Menu" to it, and sees if there's a formfield called citycode. If there is, then it includes the file with the sidemenu, if not, it doesn't show anything.

Here's the code:

%IF{ "%FORMFIELD{"citycode" web="%BASEWEB%" topic="%CALC{$REPLACE(%BASETOPIC%, 4, 100)}%Menu"}%" then="%INCLUDE{InclCitySideMenu}%"}%

This works fine in Twiki 4.1.2, but something has changed in 4.2.3/4.2.4 and it no longer works.

In 4.2.3 and 4.2.4 I get nothing if it's a city page, and this in red if it's not a city page (this is from webhome):

IF{ "" then="*[[WebMenu][]]* links:
♦City Info? 
♦Clearance? 
♦Concierge? 
♦Crew Rec? 
♦Operations/Port Infra? 
♦M&A/Xfers/ShoreEx? 


" }: Empty expression 

I have spent an entire day trying to redo this into something that works, but I'm having no luck. I've tried using EXISTS, other IF constructions, but nothing seems to work.

I would appreciate any advice!

Thank you, Kathy

-- KathyDeLaCruz - 25 Feb 2009

Discussion and Answer

The new IF doesn't seem to evaluate a empty string as FALSE. But it should work if you compare the returned value to an empty string, represented by '' (i.e., two single quotes):

%IF{
  "'%FORMFIELD{"citycode" web="%BASEWEB%" topic="%CALC{$REPLACE(%BASETOPIC%, 4, 100)}%Menu"}%'!=''"
  then="%INCLUDE{InclCitySideMenu}%"
}%

Something to watch out for: do not use a double-quote in the body of InclCitySideMenu, else the INCLUDEd text will be truncated at that point (I would LOVE to know a work-around for that).

-- SeanCMorgan - 25 Feb 2009

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

That works perfectly. I can't believe I spent so many hours on this, and you responded in only a few minutes. I REALLY appreciate it

-- KathyDeLaCruz - 25 Feb 2009

No problem. It helped that I knew that the form 'A'!='B' would work.

-- SeanCMorgan - 25 Feb 2009

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