How can a concatenated string be transformed into a variable name?

This is almost certainly not what you want to do, because creating different variable names on the fly usually means you should be creating a different data structure - e.g. a hash table indexed by the date rather than a unique variable name. However, if you really want to do this (the wrong way in my opinion), then taking your code:

item=""
lists=setof(i parseString(getCurrentTime() "") i!=" " && i!=":")
foreach(elem lists
    item=strcat(item elem)
)

(I assume you used some kind of optical character recognition because it had some spurious parentheses) then you could do:

set(concat("a_" item) 5)

you can retrieve it with:

symeval(concat("a_" item))

A cleaner (more efficient in terms of creating garbage that needs collecting) way of building the variable name would be to do:

cleanup=pcreCompile("[ :]")
varName=concat("a_" pcreReplace(cleanup getCurrentTime() "" 0))

However, if you creating a number of these, I'd use a hash table (using makeTable) as I mentioned before.

Regards,

Andrew

This is almost certainly not what you want to do, because creating different variable names on the fly usually means you should be creating a different data structure - e.g. a hash table indexed by the date rather than a unique variable name. However, if you really want to do this (the wrong way in my opinion), then taking your code:

item=""
lists=setof(i parseString(getCurrentTime() "") i!=" " && i!=":")
foreach(elem lists
    item=strcat(item elem)
)

(I assume you used some kind of optical character recognition because it had some spurious parentheses) then you could do:

set(concat("a_" item) 5)

you can retrieve it with:

symeval(concat("a_" item))

A cleaner (more efficient in terms of creating garbage that needs collecting) way of building the variable name would be to do:

cleanup=pcreCompile("[ :]")
varName=concat("a_" pcreReplace(cleanup getCurrentTime() "" 0))

However, if you creating a number of these, I'd use a hash table (using makeTable) as I mentioned before.

Regards,

Andrew

Dear Mr. Beckett,

Thank you very much for your prompt, professional and informative replies. I have tried both of your proposed methods, and both work as I expected. I will test the hash‑table approach you suggested later. I will elaborate on why I require dynamic variable names based on a small ongoing project I am developing, and seek your advice on the issues I have encountered during development.

Best regards,
Steve

This project is developed to meet requirements from the layout team. They need a persistently‑pinned UI panel that can be activated by clicks at any time. For this purpose, I planned to use dockWindow so that the panel can be docked inside the PTE frame. However, I have run into multiple issues during development, as listed below:

1. With my current implementation, the dock window is only created for a single session window. My expectation is to make this dock window available for multiple session windows simultaneously.
2. How can I completely delete an appForm from memory? I create an appForm via hiCreateLayoutForm, then construct the dock window with:

dock_W = hiCreateDockWindow(
                       ?appType "layout"
                       ?widgetType "form"
                       ?form appForm )

Afterwards I render the dock window with:

foreach( n ns hiDockWindow( ?window dock_W ?session n ) )

My intention is to automatically unset the global variable appForm after the dock window is generated. When creating the dock window for another session window, I would recreate the global appForm variable.

3. If fully destroying appForm is not feasible, I considered generating time‑dependent unique variable names. Each time a new session window opens, a brand‑new global variable such as appForm_currentTime would be generated to avoid naming conflicts caused by re‑using the same variable appForm.

This is the motivation behind my post.

There are three global variables in my codebase: appForm, layoutForm_pte and dock_W.

Source code is shown below

load_form.il:

(let (load_en reload_en)

procedure(load_form()
cond(
(dock_W
load_en = nil
reload_en = t
)
(t
load_en = t
reload_en = nil
)
)

layoutForm_pte~>loadpte_button~>enabled = load_en
layoutForm_pte~>reloadpte_button~>enabled = reload_en

hiDisplayForm('layoutForm_pte)
)

)




load_procedure.il:

(let (a b ns)

procedure(loadpte(a)
load("test_layout_demand.il")
hiFormClose(a)
layoutForm_pte~>loadpte_button~>enabled = nil
layoutForm_pte~>reloadpte_button~>enabled = t
)

procedure(reloadpte(a)
b=hiDockWindow(
?window dock_W
)

if(b==t then
hiFormClose(a)
else
dock_W=hiCreateDockWindow(
?appType "layout"
?widgetType "form"
?form appForm
)

ns=hiGetWindowList('session)

foreach( n ns
hiDockWindow(
?window dock_W
?session n
)
)
)
)
)





gui_contain.il:

(let (load_en reload_en loadpte_button reloadpte_button loadpte reloadpte boxLayout_ver )

dock_W = nil
load_en = t
reload_en = nil

loadpte_button = hiCreateButton(
?name 'loadpte_button
?buttonText "Press this button for initial loading:"
?callback "loadpte(layoutForm_pte)"
?enabled load_en
)

reloadpte_button = hiCreateButton(
?name 'reloadpte_button
?buttonText "Click to Reload: "
?callback "reloadpte(layoutForm_pte)"
?enabled reload_en
)

boxLayout_ver = hiCreateVerticalBoxLayout(
'boxLayout_ver
?items list(loadpte_button reloadpte_button)
)

layoutForm_pte = hiCreateLayoutForm(
'layoutForm_pte "LOAD PTE" boxLayout_ver
)

)

test_layout_demand.il:

(let (addMosW_string addMosW_button gridLayout boxLayout loadpte_button reloadpte_button boxLayout_ver ns)

addMosW_string = hiCreateStringField(
?name 'addMosW_string
?prompt "M1_width: "
?defValue "1.5"
)

addMosW_button = hiCreateButton(
?name 'addMosW_button
?buttonText "apply"
?callback "(AddMosM1)"
)

gridLayout = hiCreateGridLayout( 'gridLayout
?items (list
list( addMosW_string 'row 0 'col 0 )
list( addMosW_button 'row 0 'col 1 )
list( 'col_stretch 0 1)
list( 'col_stretch 1 0)
)
)

boxLayout = hiCreateHorizontalBoxLayout(
'boxLayout
?items list(gridLayout)
)

appForm = hiCreateLayoutForm(
'appForm "LAYOUT_PTE" boxLayout
)

procedure(AddMosM1()
let((cv objs metal1 temp temp1 shapes x y ux uy xy row column transform M1_width)
M1_width = evalstring(appForm~>addMosW_string~>value)
cv = geGetEditCellView()
objs = geGetSelSet()
foreach(obj objs
transform = nil
if(obj~>objType == "inst" then transform = list(obj~>transform));end if
if(obj~>objType == "mosaic" then
x = xCoord(obj~>xy)
y = yCoord(obj~>xy)
ux = obj~>uX
uy = obj~>uY
row = obj~>rows
column = obj~>columns
for(a 0 row-1
for(b 0 column-1
case(car(obj~>tileArray)
("R0" || "MXR90" xy = list(x+a*ux : y+b*uy))
("R90" || "MY" xy = list(x-a*ux : y+b*uy))
("R0" || "MXR90" xy = list(x+a*ux : y-b*uy))
("R0" || "MXR90" xy = list(x-a*ux : y-b*uy))
);end case
transform = append1(transform list(car(xy) car(obj~>tileArray) 1.0))
);end for
);enf for
);end if
shapes = obj~>master~>shapes
foreach(shape shapes
if(car(shape~>lpp) == "M1" && cadr(shape~>lpp) == "drawing"
then
foreach(trans transform
metal1 = dbCopyFig(shape cv trans)
temp = leConvertPolygonToPath(metal1)
temp~>width = M1_width
);foreach
);if
);foreach
);foreach
);let
);proc

dock_W=hiCreateDockWindow(
?appType "layout"
?widgetType "form"
?form appForm
)

ns=hiGetWindowList('session)

foreach( n ns
hiDockWindow(
?window dock_W
?session n
)
)
)

I reformatted the code to make it easier to understand (without the indentation it's nigh on impossible):

load_form.il

(let (load_en reload_en)

  procedure(load_form()
    cond(
      (dock_W
        load_en = nil
        reload_en = t
      )
      (t
        load_en = t
        reload_en = nil
      )
    )

    layoutForm_pte~>loadpte_button~>enabled = load_en
    layoutForm_pte~>reloadpte_button~>enabled = reload_en

    hiDisplayForm('layoutForm_pte)
  )

)

load_procedure.il

(let (a b ns)

  procedure(loadpte(a)
    load("test_layout_demand.il")
    hiFormClose(a)
    layoutForm_pte~>loadpte_button~>enabled = nil
    layoutForm_pte~>reloadpte_button~>enabled = t
  )

  procedure(reloadpte(a)
    b=hiDockWindow(
      ?window dock_W
    )

    if(b==t then
      hiFormClose(a)
    else
      dock_W=hiCreateDockWindow(
	?appType "layout"
	?widgetType "form"
	?form appForm
      )

      ns=hiGetWindowList('session)

      foreach( n ns
	hiDockWindow(
	  ?window dock_W
	  ?session n
	)
      )
    )
  )
)

gui_contain.il

(let (load_en reload_en loadpte_button reloadpte_button loadpte reloadpte boxLayout_ver )

  dock_W = nil
  load_en = t
  reload_en = nil


  loadpte_button = hiCreateButton(
    ?name 'loadpte_button
    ?buttonText "Press this button for initial loading:"
    ?callback "loadpte(layoutForm_pte)"
    ?enabled load_en
  )


  reloadpte_button = hiCreateButton(
    ?name 'reloadpte_button
    ?buttonText "Click to Reload: "
    ?callback "reloadpte(layoutForm_pte)"
    ?enabled reload_en
  )

  boxLayout_ver = hiCreateVerticalBoxLayout(
    'boxLayout_ver
    ?items list(loadpte_button reloadpte_button)
  )

  layoutForm_pte = hiCreateLayoutForm(
    'layoutForm_pte "LOAD PTE" boxLayout_ver
  )

)

test_layout_demand.il

(let (addMosW_string addMosW_button gridLayout boxLayout loadpte_button reloadpte_button boxLayout_ver ns)


  addMosW_string = hiCreateStringField(
    ?name 'addMosW_string
    ?prompt "M1_width: "
    ?defValue "1.5"
  )


  addMosW_button = hiCreateButton(
    ?name 'addMosW_button
    ?buttonText "apply"
    ?callback "(AddMosM1)"
  )

  gridLayout = hiCreateGridLayout( 'gridLayout
    ?items (list
      list( addMosW_string 'row 0 'col 0 )
      list( addMosW_button 'row 0 'col 1 )
      list( 'col_stretch 0 1)
      list( 'col_stretch 1 0)
    )
  )

  boxLayout = hiCreateHorizontalBoxLayout(
    'boxLayout
    ?items list(gridLayout)
  )


  appForm = hiCreateLayoutForm(
    'appForm "LAYOUT_PTE" boxLayout
  )


  procedure(AddMosM1()
    let((cv objs metal1 temp temp1 shapes x y ux uy xy row column transform M1_width)
      M1_width = evalstring(appForm~>addMosW_string~>value)
      cv = geGetEditCellView()
      objs = geGetSelSet()
      foreach(obj objs
        transform = nil
        if(obj~>objType == "inst" then transform = list(obj~>transform));end if
        if(obj~>objType == "mosaic" then
          x = xCoord(obj~>xy)
          y = yCoord(obj~>xy)
          ux = obj~>uX
          uy = obj~>uY
          row = obj~>rows
          column = obj~>columns
          for(a 0 row-1
            for(b 0 column-1
              case(car(obj~>tileArray)
                ("R0" || "MXR90" xy = list(x+a*ux : y+b*uy))
                ("R90" || "MY" xy = list(x-a*ux : y+b*uy))
                ("R0" || "MXR90" xy = list(x+a*ux : y-b*uy))
                ("R0" || "MXR90" xy = list(x-a*ux : y-b*uy))
              );end case
              transform = append1(transform list(car(xy) car(obj~>tileArray) 1.0))
            );end for
          );enf for
        );end if
        shapes = obj~>master~>shapes
        foreach(shape shapes
          ; Andrew changed M1 to Metal1 for testing
          if(car(shape~>lpp) == "Metal1" && cadr(shape~>lpp) == "drawing"
            then
              foreach(trans transform
                metal1 = dbCopyFig(shape cv trans)
                temp = leConvertPolygonToPath(metal1)
                temp~>width = M1_width
              );foreach
          );if
        );foreach
      );foreach
    );let
  );proc


  dock_W=hiCreateDockWindow(
    ?appType "layout"
    ?widgetType "form"
    ?form appForm
  )

  ns=hiGetWindowList('session)

  foreach( n ns
    hiDockWindow(
      ?window dock_W
      ?session n
    )
  )
)

My first observations are:

1. You are using SKILL (not SKILL++) and have procedures defined within lets. These are not lexically scoped, and hence any variables they reference in a surrounding let are actually not local - they are global. This makes the code confusing and almost certainly is not doing what you think it's doing. SKILL++ mode (having the files with a .ils suffix) does introduce lexical scoping but then the procedures would be local (and you'd need to use globalProc to make them visible from outside) - but then some of the form variables wouldn't work.
2. You will need a separate dock window for each session window, but you don't need to store that in a global variable
3. You will need separate global variables for each form. Each (independent) form needs to have a unique global variable to represent it - you can't just re-use the same variable after constructing it (the reason is that the name needs to be known so that SKILL expressions can be generated as you interact with the form - you'll see these in the replay). You can use gensym() to create a unique symbol each time

Anyway, I'll restructure your code a little to tidy things up and show how this can be done. This will take me a little while to clean up what you've done... I'll be back soon!

Andrew

Thank you very much. I will take some time to go through this and get my head around it.