Problems with upper/lower case config class names

[VictorFarbau 0]

Sorry, lengthy post. I'll try to be concise in describing what I want and what I did.

Here's the one line description of my problem:

I can get the ammo class name linked to a unit's weapon through the addon config file but cannot find the same names back in the unit magazines names so I won't know whether a unit has sufficient magazines left. And this behaviour occurs if class names are defined in an upper/lower case mix.

More details:

I am currently completely rewriting my Equipment.AI (VFAI) addon that allows units to independently take weapons and ammo as needed. One of the limitations so far was that I used fixed weapon and corresponding ammo class names. This caused 3rd party addon weapons to be not properly recognized and used.

Now I use the "weapons <unit>" command to query for the weapon class names, then I query the config file for the corresponding magazines using the "getArray (configFile >> ... >> magazines)" command. I have tested this with the built-in weapons as well as Skaven RACS and HD units and it reports back the required ammo class names fine in all cases.

So what's the problem? I have scripted this in a way that units would drop weapons for which they can't determine any magazine class or when they are out of magazines. So during test runs I noticed that it works with built-in weapons and also Skaven's RACS units. But the HD units from the same addon would drop their weapons rightaway.

A quick check in the config files showed that the HD units use a mix of upper/lower case weapon and magazine class names (sth like "Ska_HD_Ak74Mag" e.g.). So the script expects to find magazines with this exact name in the unit's inventory (using "magazines <unit>"). However the comparison between config name and magazines command result seem to differ. If I debug the values through "unit sidechat" then everything is being put into upper case letters; if I use hintC then upper/lower case is being shown correctly - and it even displays config and magazine command class names to be identical    Nonetheless a comparison such as (a == b) results in FALSE so the weapons get dropped still. The same comparison works fine if all class names are defined upper case.

I looked at Skaven RACS class weapons and they're all defined in upper case letters - lo and behold that all works brilliant. The same goes for the built-in weapons.

I begin to believe this is the root cause for these issues - any ideas anybody?

Cheers,

VictorFarbau

[Jackal326 1182]

To sum up, your basic issue you wish to convey to the masses is, ArmA is a tempermental beast, and is cAsE-sEnSiTiVe.

I imagine a work around for this issue, would be for all addon-makers to agree on a standard for their class-name cases, much like the OFPEC Tagging and Naming conventions. i.e. Weapons should be defined entirely in UPPER-CASE.

[VictorFarbau 0]

Quote[/b] ]your basic issue you wish to convey to the masses is, ArmA is a tempermental beast, and is cAsE-sEnSiTiVe.

I am more pragmatic than this. I am looking for a way to query configs in a way I can match data to the "weapons" and "magazines" commands within the scripting environment.

VictorFarbau

[VictorFarbau 0]

Quote[/b] ]your basic issue you wish to convey to the masses is, ArmA is a tempermental beast, and is cAsE-sEnSiTiVe.

I am more pragmatic than this. I am still looking for a way to query configs in a way I can match data to the "weapons" and "magazines" commands within the scripting environment.

VictorFarbau

[Jackal326 1182]

Sprry, I misunderstood you, I thought you were just bringing the issue to light so addon-makers become aware of ArmA's case-sensitive nature. Sorry for the misunderstanding. However, the issue I raised, if you/anyone else are/is unable to come up with a solution, may be a viable alternative for future releases.

[VictorFarbau 0]

Quote[/b] ]the issue I raised

You mean addon makers using only upper case names? Yeah, I would subscribe to that. I am still not sure why this fails occasionally since the built in "Strela" works fine for example. But after hours of scripting it's easy to miss out on something so I thought I'll pick on some brains here. Didn't work out yet

Regards,

VictorFarbau

[General Barron 0]

IIRC, string comparison like this should be case INsensitive:

"blah" == "BLAH" -> result is true

String comparison inside of arrays should be case SENSITIVE:

"blah" in ["BLAH"] -> result is false

Another trick you might try is to compare class data types, instead of strings. For example:

(configFile >> "cfgMagazines" >> "blah") == (configFile >> "cfgMagazines" >> "BLAH") -> result should be true?

Hope that helps,

GB

[VictorFarbau 0]

Thanks General, I will give that with the config entries a go in my next improvements round on VFAI!

Will definitely need to understand which comparisons are handled strict or non-strict when it comes to case sensitivity.

Regards,

VictorFarbau