[5.45] Additional syntax check in workflow designer

Abgeschlossen

Berend Veldkamp

25. März 2021 14:02

Introduced in VertiGIS Studio Workflow 5.45 - We now recognize a missing “$” prefix and a missing property suffix. (Missing “=” to follow.)

When (for instance) setting the Expression value for a Create Value activity, there are two mistakes I often make:

1. Forgetting the = symbol, e.g. just typing $someVariable rather than =$someVariable. The font will change to a variable width font, but that's easy to overlook.
2. Forgetting the $ symbol, e.g. =somevariable

 

Although both mistakes could be valid string literal expressions, I think it would be a good idea to add both mistakes ('= without $' and '$ without =') to the Problems tab as a warning, i.e. 'Did you mean...'.

 

Another thing, which may be harder to fix, is that I often forget .result when referencing a value. Is there anything that could be done about that?

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  Sean McClurkan

  1. Juli 2021 13:14

  Whenever a colleague and I are working side-by-side and I finish typing the name of a variable, we both chant out loud "DOT RESULT". We don't even think about it anymore. It's a ritual.

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  Ken Lyon

  17. März 2025 16:48

  Berend Veldkamp I think we can make this work after all. There are a few parts to this:

  1. Identifying potential mistakes in expressions. As mentioned in a few places some common ones are:
     1. Missing “.result”. Or more generally, an expression like “=$foo” which does not refer to an output. (Admittedly “.result” is the most common case.)
     2. Forgetting the equals sign: “$form1.result”
     3. Forgetting the dollar sign: “=form1.result”
  2. Communicating this to the user.
     1. I like the idea of a warning saying “Did you mean…” with our guess of what was intended.
  3. Act on the suggestion
     1. I'd like to be able to apply the suggestion. Maybe this would be a new icon in the “Problems” panel for “apply suggestion”.
     2. I'd also like to be able to suppress a suggestion. It would be annoying to have a false positive that persists and cannot be hidden. This could lead to alert blindness and you'd end up potentially missing new warnings.

  I don't have a timeline for this as a whole, but I think I can get a few of the warning cases done initially.

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  Ken Lyon

  20. März 2025 23:06

  Sean McClurkan Berend Veldkamp 
  
  Better late than never?

  

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  Berend Veldkamp

  21. März 2025 07:11

  🥳

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  Sean McClurkan

  21. März 2025 16:31

  I like it.  I'd suggest the following:

  The activity reference ‘$form1’ at position 2 is not followed by an output (e.g., ‘.result’). Is this intended?

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  Ken Lyon

  21. März 2025 16:33

  Sean McClurkan Thanks for the suggestion.

  I could also just make the message “DOT RESULT!” if you'd prefer. 😊

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  Sean McClurkan

  21. März 2025 17:05

  Only if it can be an audio file of me shouting it.

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  Ken Lyon

  21. März 2025 18:04

  Ha ha, nice. That's a whole new realm of feedback we could explore.

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  Ken Lyon

  1. April 2025 21:55 Bearbeitet

  Coming soon…

  

  (It only shows the warning if there is a $form1 in the workflow.)

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  Gareth Evans

  1. April 2025 22:13

  Ken Lyon this better not be an April Fools thing!

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  Ken Lyon

  2. April 2025 16:21

  @... Haha, no. Just happened to be April 1st. If I was more motivated, I could maybe have posted something with this in it:

  

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