How can I know if an object exists?

[jesb4ppc]

Hi everyone,

I've got an error when I close a form and checks a method from an object. As it hasn't been created yet, I got an error (as expected). Not always the object is needed, so sometimes it doesn´t exists.

Is there a way to check if an object exists prior to use it? (similar to FileExist function).

Thanks in advance,

Jesus.

[agraham]

I assume that you mean an object from a library that has not yet had its' New method invoked. I can think of an arcane method that might work by assigning a B4PObject to the ControlRef of a HashTable from my Collections library but it is probably easier if you just New any existing objects in App_Start.

[Erel]

You can use something like:

Sub ObjectExist(obj)
 ErrorLabel(ObjectExistErr)
  dim a
  a = ControlType(obj)
  return true
ObjectExistErr:
 return false
End Sub

[agraham]

I've been silly, Erel's is a good idea - I always look for the complicated way of doing things. It should also be returned in the control collection from GetControls("")

[jesb4ppc]

Hi Erel and Agraham,

to Agraham: Yes, it was my first approach, but as the object not always exists, is not always needed to 'New' it.

to Erel: Tried your code, but I can´t parse the objet to Objetexist function.

I'll try to explain myself better. It's a Serial objet, and I got the 'undeclared array' error using Erel's code.

The error I got is in the following sentence:

Sub Form_Close
If Serial1.PortOpen=true Then Serial1.PortOpen = false
End Sub

If Serial1 hasn't been created with the New method, I can't use it (obviously). What I was looking for is something like this:

Sub Form_Close
If ObjetExist(Serial1.) Then
If Serial1.PortOpen=true Then Serial1.PortOpen = false
End if
End Sub

or

If Serial1.Exists then...

but this method doesn´t exists, isn´t it?

Thank you.

[Erel]

You should write:

If ObjectExist("Serial1") Then ...

Also note that I fixed a small mistake in my previous example (obj instead of crl).

[agraham]

Erel's method does work but the result differs between the IDE and the optimised compiler for a pre-defined object. In the IDE the control exists even if it has not been Newed but when optimised it exists only after being Newed so this following code shows a "Yes" message box and Object appears in the list in the IDE, but optimised compiled there is no Yes message box and Object is absent from the control list.

Sub Globals
	'Declare the global variables here.
	Dim Ctls (0) 
End Sub

Sub App_Start
	'Object.New1
	If ObjectExist("Object") Then
		Msgbox("Yes")
	End If
	Ctls() = GetControls("")
	For i = 0 To ArrayLen(Ctls())-1
		msg = msg & Ctls(i) & crlf
	Next
	Msgbox(msg)
End Sub

Sub ObjectExist(obj)
 ErrorLabel(ObjectExistErr)
  Dim a
  a = ControlType(obj)
  Return true
ObjectExistErr:
 Return false
End Sub

EDIT: Note that "Object.New1" is commented out.

[jesb4ppc]

With the new code, it's working fine now.

Once again, thank you both, gentlemans.