I apologize in advance for the newbiness of this question; I think I'm not grasping the basics of Actionscript but haven't been able to find an answer elsewhere.
What I want is some global constants like one would have in C++. In C++, I would simply have a file where I would #define MAP_HEIGHT 20, or something like that, and they would be globally accessible when I included the file at the top. In Actionscript, I've tried making a static class instead, like so:
package
{
public class Settings {
public const mapx:int = 20;
public function Settings() {}
}
}
But when I try to reference it in my code with colon syntax
var a:int = Settings::mapx;
I get the error "[Fault] exception, information=TypeError: Error #1034: Type Coercion failed: cannot convert Settings$ to Namespace."
I tried dot syntax:
var a:int = Settings.mapx;
and got a different error, "Access of possibly undefined property mapx through a reference with static type Class."
But what I really want is a file of global static variables, like in C++, and can't find a way to do it in Actionscript.
Mark variables, constants, and functions with the static keyword, as in:
package
{
public class MathUtil
{
public static const PI:Number = 3.141592653589;
public static function deg2rad(angle:Number):Number
{
angle = !isNaN(angle) ? (angle) : (0);
return angle * PI / 180;
}
}
}
Then you may use dot notation.
var pi:Number = MathUtil.PI;
var angle:Number = MathUtil.deg2rad(45);
From ActionScript 3.0 Reference for the Adobe Flash Platform: Statements, Keywords & Directives
Usage
class someClassName {
static var varName;
static const kName;
static function methodName() { }
}
You can use static in class definitions only, not in interface
definitions.
Static class members are not inherited. You cannot refer to a static
class member using the name of a subclass, as you can in Java or C++.
You can, however, refer to a static variable or method within a class
or subclass, without using any qualifier. See the example below.
You cannot use the super statement or the this keyword inside a static
method.
Related
Why is it an error in Dart to try to set a class's static variable in the global space?
Example:
class Name {
static String? firstName;
}
Name.firstName = 'Mike'; // Error
void main() {
Name.firstName = 'Mike'; // Ok
}
It's not a big deal. I just came across this and then couldn't find an explanation for why it is. Where in the documentation does it describe the nuance here?
[UPDATE]
The actual error thrown is, among others: "Variables must be declared using the keywords 'const', 'final', 'var', or a type name."
You actually can execute statements outside of a function, but they have to be statements that declare scoped variables. Maybe these aren't technically statements, but just variable instantiations.
class Name {
static String? staticName;
String? lastName;
}
final me = Name(); // Ok
me.lastName = 'Jones'; // Error
void main() {
Name.staticName = 'Mike'; // Ok
final you = Name(); // Ok
you.lastName = 'Smith'; // Ok
}
Without the variable scoping, the compiler thinks I must be defining a function and it gets confused when there is no parameter list or function body.
It makes sense that statements are restricted to variable instantiations of function definitions only, so that there won't be side effects related to execution order to other importers of the file, as per #jamesdlin answer.
Name.firstName = 'Mike'; is a statement. You can't execute arbitrary statements in the global namespace. In what order would they execute? Suppose you had:
name.dart:
class Name {
static String? firstName;
}
and mike.dart:
import 'name.dart';
Name.firstName = 'Mike';
and spike.dart:
import 'name.dart';
Name.firstName = 'Spike';
and finally:
import 'name.dart';
import 'mike.dart';
import 'spike.dart';
void main() {
print(Name.firstName);
}
What should happen? Should it be illegal for multiple libraries to assign to Name.firstName? Should the last one imported win? If so, then suddenly importing a library would have side-effects, and order would matter. What would happen if an imported library imports other libraries with side-effects?
It's a huge headache that is completely unnecessary since you could have just done:
class Name {
static String? firstName = 'Mike';
}
in the first place.
I'm working on a library, and I have a implementation pattern users are required to follow:
class MyView extends LibView {
static Foo f = Foo();
#override
void render(){
use(f); // f should be static, otherwise things not work correctly
}
}
I would like to tell the compiler that, if someone ever does this, it's incorrect:
class MyView {
Foo f = Foo(); // Error: Foo can only be used in Static field.
...
}
Anyone know if this is possible? I find it really hard to find good docs on these sorta of language details when it comes to dart.
[EDIT] Since the "why" question always comes up, imagine something like:
class ViewState{
Map<int, Object> props = {};
}
ViewState _state = ViewState();
class View {
View(this.state);
ViewState state;
static int _key1 = getRandomInt();
void render(){
print(state(_key1))
}
}
// These should both print the same value off of state since the 'random' int is cached
View(_state);
View(_state);
If the key's were not static, everything would compile fine, but they would not print the same results.
What you properly need are a singleton which can be created in different ways in Dart. One way is to use a factory constructor like this:
class Foo {
static final Foo _instance = Foo._();
factory Foo() => _instance;
// Private constructor only used internally
Foo._();
}
void main() {
final a = Foo();
final b = Foo();
print(identical(a, b)); // true
}
By doing it like this, there will only be one instance of Foo which are then shared each time an instance are asked for. The instance are also first created the first time it is asked for since static variables in Dart are lazy and only initialized when needed.
I just want to do the functional equivalent of
int someUniqueKey = 0, or MyViewEnums.someUniqueKey but do it with a typed object rather than a int/enym, like: Object<Foo> someUniqueKey = Object<Foo>(). In order for this to work with Objects, it needs to be static. It's similar to how int someUniqueKey = random.nextInt(9999) would have to be static in order to be used as a key that all instances could share. That way keys are auto-managed and unique, and people don't need to assign int's, strings, or whatever. It also has the advantage of letting me use the type later for compile time checks.
bool prop = getPropFromRef(_prop1Ref); //Will throw error prop1Ref is not Ref<bool>
I think I've figured out something that does the trick using darts package-level methods.
class Ref<T> {}
// Re-use existing ref if it already exists
Ref<T> getRef<T>(Ref<T> o) => o ?? Ref<T>();
class RefView {}
// In some other package/file:
class MyView extends RefView {
static Ref<bool> prop1Ref = getRef(prop1Ref);
static Ref<int> prop2Ref = getRef(prop2Ref);
}
This will make sure that prop1 and prop2 have the same values across all instances of MyView and it will throw an error if these are not static (since you can not pass an instance field before Constructor)
This still has the downside of a potential hard to spot error:
class MyView extends RefView {
static Ref<bool> prop1 = getRef(prop1);
static Ref<bool> prop2 = getRef(prop1); // passing prop1 to prop2's getRef, and they have the same<T>, compiler will miss it
}
But I think it might be preferable than having this potential error:
class MyView extends RefView {
//Both of these will fail silently, keys will change for each instance of MyView
Ref<bool> prop1 = getRef(prop1);
Ref<bool> prop2 = getRef(prop2);
}
Say I have the following Annotation and 2 classes:
class AppModel extends Reflectable {
final String name;
const AppModel([this.name])
: super(newInstanceCapability, metadataCapability);
}
const appModel = const AppModel();
#appModel
class ImGonnaBePickedUp {
}
#AppModel(' :( ')
class AndImNotPickedUpOnServer_IDoOnWebClient {
}
main() {
appModel.annotatedClasses // that's what I mean by "Picked Up".
}
On CmdApp side (Server): only AndImNotPickedUpOnServer_IDoOnWebClient is given in appModel.annotatedClasses.
On the web side, both classes are given.
Long story short, how do I retrieve classes annotated with direct const constructor calls like in the example above #AppModel(' :( ') (for both CmdApp and Web)?
since version 0.5.4 reflectable classes doesn't support constructors with arguments
This appears in reflectable documentation:
Footnotes: 1. Currently, the only setup which is supported is when the metadata object is an instance of a direct subclass of the class [Reflectable], say MyReflectable, and that subclass defines a const constructor taking zero arguments. This ensures that every subclass of Reflectable used as metadata is a singleton class, which means that the behavior of the instance can be expressed by generating code in the class. Generalizations of this setup may be supported in the future if compelling use cases come up.
one possible solution could be to use a second annotation to handle the name, for example:
import 'package:reflectable/reflectable.dart';
import 'package:drails_commons/drails_commons.dart';
class AppModel extends Reflectable {
const AppModel()
: super(newInstanceCapability, metadataCapability);
}
const appModel = const AppModel();
class TableName {
final String name;
const TableName(this.name);
}
#appModel
class ImGonnaBePickedUp {
}
#appModel
#TableName(' :( ')
class AndImNotPickedUpOnServer_WorksOnWebClient {
}
main() {
print(appModel.annotatedClasses); // that's what I mean by "Picked Up".
print(new GetValueOfAnnotation<TableName>()
.fromDeclaration(appModel.reflectType(AndImNotPickedUpOnServer_WorksOnWebClient)).name);
}
Note: I'm also using drails_common package
Consider this code:
class Foo {
List<String> listOfStrings;
}
Using the smoke package, how can I get String by looking at listOfStrings ?
I see we can get a Declaration from a Type, but I don't see how to get the parameterized type from Declaration.
This is important for, among other things, building a serialization library.
That's not currently possible to do in smoke.
It might not even be possible to do with the mirrors API directly either. For example:
import 'dart:mirrors';
class B<T> {}
class A {
static B<int> b = new B<int>();
}
main() {
var x = reflectType(A);
print(x);
print(x.declarations[#b].type);
}
will print B, but not B<int>.
I want to create a private variable but I cannot.
Here is my code:
void main() {
var b = new B();
b.testB();
}
class A {
int _private = 0;
testA() {
print('int value: $_private');
_private = 5;
}
}
class B extends A {
String _private;
testB() {
_private = 'Hello';
print('String value: $_private');
testA();
print('String value: $_private');
}
}
When I run this code, I get the following result:
String value: Hello
int value: Hello
Breaking on exception: type 'int' is not a subtype of type 'String' of 'value'.
Also I not get any error or warnings when editing this source code.
How can I create a private variable in Dart?
From Dart documentation:
Unlike Java, Dart doesn’t have the keywords public, protected, and private. If an identifier starts with an underscore _, it’s private to its library.
Libraries not only provide APIs, but are a unit of privacy: identifiers that start with an underscore _ are visible only inside the library.
A few words about libraries:
Every Dart app is a library, even if it doesn’t use a library directive. The import and library directives can help you create a modular and shareable code base.
You may have heard of the part directive, which allows you to split a library into multiple Dart files.
Dart documentation "libraries-and-visibility"
Privacy in Dart exists at the library, rather than the class level.
If you were to put class A into a separate library file (eg, other.dart), such as:
library other;
class A {
int _private = 0;
testA() {
print('int value: $_private'); // 0
_private = 5;
print('int value: $_private'); // 5
}
}
and then import it into your main app, such as:
import 'other.dart';
void main() {
var b = new B();
b.testB();
}
class B extends A {
String _private;
testB() {
_private = 'Hello';
print('String value: $_private'); // Hello
testA();
print('String value: $_private'); // Hello
}
}
You get the expected output:
String value: Hello
int value: 0
int value: 5
String value: Hello
In dart '_' is used before the variable name to declare it as private. Unlike other programming languages, here private doesn't mean it is available only to the class it is in, private means it is accessible in the library it is in and not accessible to other libraries. A library can consists of multiple dart files as well using part and part of. For more information on Dart libraries, check this.
The top answer as of now is definitely correct.
I'll try to go into more detail in this answer.
I'll answer the question, but lead with this: That's just not how Dart is intended to be written, partly because library-private members make it easier to define operators like ==. (Private variables of a second object couldn't be seen for the comparison.)
Now that we've got that out of the way, I'll start out by showing you how it's meant to be done (library-private instead of class-private), and then show you how to make a variable class-private if you still really want that. Here we go.
If one class has no business seeing variables on another class, you might ask yourself whether they really belong in the same library:
//This should be in a separate library from main() for the reason stated in the main method below.
class MyClass {
//Library private variable
int _val = 0;
int get val => _val;
set val(int v) => _val = (v < 0) ? _val : v;
MyClass.fromVal(int val) : _val = val;
}
void main() {
MyClass mc = MyClass.fromVal(1);
mc.val = -1;
print(mc.val); //1
//main() MUST BE IN A SEPARATE LIBRARY TO
//PREVENT MODIFYING THE BACKING FIELDS LIKE:
mc._val = 6;
print(mc.val); //6
}
That should be good. However if you really want private class data:
Though you technically aren't allowed to create private variables, you could emulate it using the following closure technique. (HOWEVER, you should CAREFULLY consider whether you really need it and whether there is a better, more Dart-like way to do what you're trying to accomplish!)
//A "workaround" that you should THINK TWICE before using because:
//1. The syntax is verbose.
//2. Both closure variables and any methods needing to access
// the closure variables must be defined inside a base constructor.
//3. Those methods require typedefs to ensure correct signatures.
typedef int IntGetter();
typedef void IntSetter(int value);
class MyClass {
IntGetter getVal;
IntSetter setVal;
MyClass.base() {
//Closure variable
int _val = 0;
//Methods defined within constructor closure
getVal = ()=>_val;
setVal = (int v) => _val = (v < 0) ? _val : v;
}
factory MyClass.fromVal(int val) {
MyClass result = MyClass.base();
result.setVal(val);
return result;
}
}
void main() {
MyClass mc = MyClass.fromVal(1);
mc.setVal(-1); //Fails
print(mc.getVal());
//On the upside, you can't access _val
//mc._val = 6; //Doesn't compile.
}
So yeah. Just be careful and try to follow the language's best-practices and you should be fine.
EDIT
Apparently there's a new typedef syntax that's preferred for Dart 2. If you're using Dart 2 you should use that. Or, even better, use inline function types.
If you use the second, it will be less verbose, but the other problems remain.