Re: interpolation question

[mikeh@minivend.com]

Quoting Kyle Hayes (kyle540@quicknet.net):
> Hi,
> 
> I have a fairly lengthy database lookup that I am trying to do once on the
> first page the user sees from MV.  I tried this:
> 
> [perl values interpolate=1]
> 	$Safe{values}{private_label_name} = '[data ...]';
> 	return '';
> [/perl]
> 
> And then I use this later in the code like this:
> 
> [value private_label_name] thanks you for shopping...
> 
> There is a problem.  I did some checks, and what happens is that the
> session value ends up with the string:
> 
> [data ...]
> 
> instead of the value I expected.  If I put the [data ...] line directly in
> the HTML, I get what I want.
> 
> I tried setting a scratch variable:
> 
> [set private_label_name][data ...][/set]
> 
> and then used it:
> 
> [scratch private_label_name] thanks you for shopping...
> 
> and again I get:
> 
> [data ...] thanks you for shopping...
> 
> Not at all what I wanted.
> 
> How do I force interpolation?  I want to perform the database lookup
> _once_ and then store the value as either a session value or a scratch
> variable.
> 

The important thing to know is that you cannot mix positional and named
parameters in Minivend tags. So [value private_label interpolate=1]
doesn't do anything like you are expecting -- it just shows the value
of private_label.

Certainly the easiest and most efficient way to do what you apparently
need is:

	[value name=private_label set='[data ....]' ]

Add a "hide=1" if you don't want it coming back to the page.
And whatever you do, don't think [value private_label set="[data ...]"] is
the same....8-)

Then, of course you reference it as [value private_label].

Different tags have different interpolate defaults; [set ...] ... [/set] in
particular needs to NOT interpolate by default because its most common
use is to set one-click actions or search profiles. It 
needs to be

	[set name=something interpolate=1]
		[sometag]
	[/set]

to interpolate a tag.

This all is easy to me, I suppose because I understand a little bit how
UNIX works (and perhaps in small part because I wrote the program ;). Note
that most UNIX programs don't allow you to mix positional arguments and
options. This comes natural to me and I forget that it doesn't to others.

-- 
Mike Heins                          http://www.minivend.com/  ___ 
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