From: Jean-Hugues ROBERT <jean_hugues_robert@...>
Date: 2002-05-09T19:23:45+09:00
Subject: Re: cgi params api

On Thu, May 09, 2002 at 02:39:43PM +0900, Patrick May wrote:
> > One thing that I don't like is the way cgi forces you to treat every
> > param as if there were multiples, when most of the time you're dealing
> > with single params.
> >
> > I know you can do things like
> >
> > multiple, = cgi["multiple"]
> >
> > or
> >
> > multiple = cgi["multiple"][0]
> >
> > but these seem crufty.  Here's an idea I had:
> >
> >
> > # query string =>  "multiple=something&key=value&multiple=somethingelse"
> > cgi["multiple"]                  # <= "something"
> > cgi["multiple"].multiple         # <= ["something", "somethingelse"]
> >
> > cgi["key"]                       # <= "value"
> > cgi["key"].multiple              # <= ["value"]
> >
> >
> > This api would handle the most common case in a very intuitive way for
> > the programmer.  It also allows the programmer to explicitly handle
> > multiple params.

That would be nice. However I don't understand how it works.

Is there some kind of a possibility in Ruby to define a []multiple() method ?
Looks to me that only cgi.multiple("multiple") can work. What am I missing ?

I guess a trick could be:
class CgiParamValues
   def initialize( values )
     @v = values
   end
   def to_str() @v[0] end # Makes self look like a String for most purpose ?
   def multiple() @v end
end
But, then, cgi["multiple"] does not return a String any more, it returns a
CgiParamValues.

Another trick would be
class String
   def multiple()
     $CGI_Cache[self] or [self]
   end
end
But, then, how/when do you clear the cache ?

Yours,

Jean-Hugues