From: David Alan Black <dblack@...>
Date: 2002-05-14T21:18:32+09:00
Subject: Re: cgi params api

Hello --

On Tue, 14 May 2002, Dossy wrote:

> On 2002.05.14, David Alan Black <dblack@candle.superlink.net> wrote:
> > > The problem is when cgi["key"] wants to return an array.
> > > Then "foo" == cgi["key"] will fail since you're comparing
> > > a String to an Array.
> >
> > But see above...
> >
> > > > cgi["key"] return first value as String.
> >
> > ...so the string comparison would work.
>
> cgi["key"] could only returns a String if there's only one value
> for "key" -- otherwise, you have to return some other object type
> that knows all of the values but only returns the first one when
> asked (through #to_s, or whatever).
>
> That's why I'm using the CGI::Param class that's a subclass of
> String.  Otherwise, string comparisons don't work if you don't
> explictly use #to_s.

But according to Wakou's proposal, cgi["name"] would always return the
first value of an array, so your concern about comparing an Array to a
String was already addressed.

I have to admit I think somehow most of what's come up in this thread
seems awfully complicated.  Also, we're pretty much going in circles
at this point.  It might be interesting to write a CGI script (in
current cgi.rb style) that does various things with various input,
handles unexpected cases, etc., and then "translate" it into some of
the proposed styles and see how much clarity is gained, how much
typing is saved, etc.


David

-- 
David Alan Black
home: dblack@candle.superlink.net
work: blackdav@shu.edu
Web:  http://pirate.shu.edu/~blackdav