Hash array

Hi all,

In my DCT I am calling ipl file from FormAPI. In this ipl I am using hash array like

my %locations = (
'NorthAmerica' => {'Sunnyvale' => 'Sunnyvale, CA', 'Bathesda' => 'Bathesda, NC', 'NewYork' => 'New York City, NY', 'Vancouver' => 'Vancouver, Canada'},
'SouthAmerica' => {'SanPaulo' => 'San Paulo, Brazil'},
'AsiaPac' => {'HongKong' => 'Hong Kong, RPC', 'Tokyo' => 'Tokyo, Japan', 'Singapore' => 'Singapore'},
);

Since i can't hardcode this hash variable i tried to call this hash array from one more ipl but it didn't work. Can anybody tell me where(in which file like txt or ipl or some other) this hash should be stored and in which format and how to call that file from my ipl.

any help will be appreciated.

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Comments

jed

I think I know what you want to do, but I am not sure...

You want to take the contents of the hash in put it in a central location so it can be accessed by other scripts?? To do that, it would be best to store it in an XML file, parse the contents of the XML and create the desired hash. This way, a non-programmer can maintain the list.

If that is beyond your scope, you could always create a custom perl module, stick the global vars into there, and then include the module in your code. This might help you get started:

http://search.cpan.org/~jhi/perl-5.8.0/pod/perlmod.pod

--
Jed Michnowicz
jedm@sun.com
Content Management Engineer
Sun Microsystems

gzevin

Not only that. Data could be serialised differently. Data&colon; Smiley Very Happy

umper will help as well.

Greg Zevin, Ph.D. Comp. Sc.
Independent Interwoven Consultant/Architect
Sydney, AU

Migrateduser

In order to use those, you can just use

require PERLFILENAME.ipl

This way, all the variables in it should be available for use by the next perl program. Though Jed's recommendation for using Perl module would be a recommended solution.

Adam Stoller

What do you mean by "i tried to call this hash array from one more ipl"?

You have two scripts (A.ipl, B.ipl) - and A.ipl creates a hash called %locations - right?
Now does B.ipl call A.ipl?

If so:

As suggested, you could 'require' A.ipl within B.ipl -- but that sometimes pollutes the variable and/or subroutine information - generally not good practice.
Does A.ipl have expected output (to STDOUT) or no output (i.e. it just "does something")?
If there's no expected output from A.ipl - you could add a command line flag that requests it generate output - which could be a delimited string of key/value pairs that B.ipl could then turn back into a hash - something like:

"NorthAmerica:unnyvaleunnyvale, CA:Bathesda:Bathesda, NC:...:outhAmerical:anPauloan Paulo, Brazil:...::AsiaPac::HongKong:Hon Kong, RPC:..."

You could then split this string on "::" first, and that would give you:
"NorthAmerica" "Sunnyvaleunnyvale, CA:..." "Bathesda" "..." "AsiaPac" "..."
And then every other element could then be split on ":" to give you the other key/value pairs.

This is perhaps a little better than the previous suggestion.
There's the dump-and-read method, also suggested - in which you could use something like Data&colon;umper:umper() [with basic Perl I/O functions] in A.ipl to create a file with the data structure in it, and then read it back in B.ipl.
This is probably on-par with the previous suggestion.
The best solution would probably be to create a Perl module (*.pm) that contains a subroutine for generating and returning [a reference to] the hash - and then 'use' that module in both A.ipl and B.ipl - sharing code - this is generally the best solution architecturally.

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

Enthu

[red] "I tried to call this hash array from one more ipl" [/red] it means i have two script (A.ipl, B.ipl) and A.ipl needs to create %locations which i have to pass in my B.ipl. I am storing hash value contents in XML(which i am calling in A.ipl) but as I am not v. comfortable in perl so I am unable to parse it to create the desired hash. A.ipl doen't expect any output. Basically i have two dropdowns(in B.ipl), and one is depend on the other and the values of both the drop down will come from Hash array generated in A.ipl.

Adam Stoller

I'm still not sure I'm understanding how the two scripts are being used (serially, in parallel, nested).
If you're not comfortable in Perl you might want to spend some time with a few good books from O'Reilly ...
The fun part about Perl is that you can take a subset of what you are trying to accomplish and write a script (or two) to test and work things out. You can even run perl in debug mode (iwperl -d scriptname) or - if you're on the console of the TS server you can even use the GUI debugger (iwperl -d Smiley Tongue

tkdb scriptname) to work through what's going on.

If you're not only not comfortable with Perl but not comfortable with programming - then you need to get some help.

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

Enthu

Sorry for making confuse. Actually I am using two scripts to make the code less complicated. I want to use script(say A.ipl) as like <include> tag in B.ipl.

Adam Stoller

Okay - then script A should really be a perl module - try running the following command from a shell on your teamsite server:

perldoc perlmod

Give it a good read and/or look for some books on Perl and in particular Perl modules (there are several of them out there) - also look at some of the modules that come with TeamSite / iwperl (some are better examples than others).

In short - a Perl module is like a library of subroutines that other scripts can use (and hence the 'use' directive that goes into the script code to reference the module)

Hope that helps.

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

Enthu

Hi,

Thanks for your advice. I am using data dumper and simple xml and i feel i am somewhere near my goal. But still i am getting one error which i am unable to fix and need your help in resolving it.

error is "Odd number of elements in hash assignment"

I am attaching xml and ipl files.

Adam Stoller

Try this:#...
$data = $xml->XMLin("location.xml");

# assgning the o/p to hash
my $locations = eval(Dumper($data));
#...
my $region = $in->param('region');
my $city = $in->param('defaultCity');
my $locationOptions = '';
if ($locations->{$region}) {
my $i = 0;
my $firstCity = 1;
foreach $k (keys %{$locations->{$region}}) {
# Mark defaultCity (if passed in as argument) otherwise
# mark first in the list as selected.
my $isDefaultSelected = (! $city && $firstCity) || $k eq $city ? "true" : "false";
$locationOptions .= "locations[" . $i++ . "] = new Option('$locations->{$region}{$k}','$k', $isDefaultSelected, $isDefaultSelected);\n";
$firstCity = undef;
}
}
#...I plugged in NorthAmerica and Sunnyvale as defaults for region and city, and locationsOptions comes out looking like:

Which I assume is what you're looking for - yes?

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

Enthu

when i run this code i get the error as
"Use of uninitialized value in hash element at line 36" which is
if ($locations->{$region}) line.

Though both $locations and $region are declared and initialized.

Adam Stoller

Did you pick up the changes in this line too?

my $locations = eval(Dumper($data));

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

Enthu

Yeah i made all corresponding changes and debug it too. Even i printed value of "my $locations = eval(Dumper($data)); " line too which gives some
Hash output (like HASH<0*1b3fdc0>) and i am running the code mention below but getting error.

#! C:\Interwoven\TeamSite/iw-perl/bin/iwperl -w

#This is a sample program to return locations given geography/region.
# use module
use XML: Smiley Frustrated

imple;
use Data&colon; Smiley Very Happy

umper;

use CGI;

#Turn buffering off.
$| = 1;

# create object
$xml = new XML: Smiley Frustrated

imple;

# read XML file
$data = $xml->XMLin("location.xml");

# assgning the o/p to hash
my $locations = eval(Dumper($data));

my $in = new CGI;
my $region = $in->param('region');
my $city = $in->param('defaultCity');

#Generate Option objects for locations in that region.
my $locationOptions = '';
if ($locations->{$region}) {
my $i = 0;
my $firstCity = 1;
foreach $k (keys %{$locations->{$region}}) {
# Mark defaultCity (if passed in as argument) otherwise
# mark first in the list as selected.
my $isDefaultSelected = (! $city && $firstCity) || $k eq $city ? "true" : "false";
$locationOptions .= "locations[" . $i++ . "] = new Option('$locations->{$region}{$k}','$k', $isDefaultSelected, $isDefaultSelected);\n";
$firstCity = undef;
}
}

Adam Stoller

Well, not sure why - but the code I posted worked for me. - sorry.

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

Enthu

But you might have seen in my previous post that i did all the neccessary changes. were you able to run it or you too have got this error.

Adam Stoller

I ran the same code - minus the CGI, with my own hard-coded values for $region ('NorthAmerica') and $city ('Sunnyvale') - everything else is identical - and it works for me.

Try doing the same - run it with hard-coded values and see if it works.

If so - then the problem is in the values you are using for $region and/or $city.

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com