AutoHotkey Community

Is there a way for a function to put into a variable the line number of the line that called the function? Thanks!

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...Ed

Not so elegant but it works.

Regards

thanks. i think I understand it. 2 AM here in San Francisco so I'll try it again in teh morning. Thanks again.

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...Ed

Requires v1.1.04+. See Throw.

God bless you Lexikos i been passing a_line number for years its a pain in the butt

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No matter what your oppinion Please join this discussion
Formal request to Polyethene

Thanks. Based on what Odlanir wrote, (for which thanks again) I came up with the following to record variable states in a debug file.


It writes lines like the following into AutoHotkeyDebugLog.txtMy questions:

1) Lexikos, thanks, and how would I do the above with your approach instead? This is not urgent: I've solved the problem, but I want to understand what you did.

[I respect the sparse elegance of the OTB and particularly the "MsgBox % ..." notations. But, I am almost never using the code that way, and I'm often unable to intuitively grasp those examples. Unfortunately for me, those so often are the only kind of examples available, and lack of examples I can experiment with is most often what leads me to I post a question here. In any case, if you're willing, please use variables as you explain. Thanks]

I did look at Throw, but I don't understand the examples in the help. Right dominant brain trying to play a left-brain game, I guess.

2) I have assigned the full address of my debug log to a variable upon starting my script. I can read the file that way elsewhere in the script, but the variable doesn't seem to deliver the address to my function; why?

Thanks!

_________________
...Ed

See definition of functions and usage of variables inside functions. In your particular case, if you want the variable defined outside the function to be recognized inside the function, you'll have to define it as Global in the beginning of the function, unless you want to pass it as yet another parameter (not recommended since it may be a long string):
I hear you on the brain thing... happens here all the time.

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AHK tools by Drugwash (AHK 1.0.48.05 and Win98SE)

Ah, define it as Global, gotcha! Thanks!

I now have re-read docs on functions and variables and things are becoming a bit more clear. I also read around the forum: it sounds as if <gasp> global variables are satanic devices! Well _I_ can stand up to anything...

<sigh> except temptation: Can I declare my AutoHotkeyDebugLog variable to be global when I first load it (upon starting the script), and thus, know that that never-changing value will always be available for any function?

Or is there some kind of shorthand other than a variable, that I could use for often-reused items like a file name and path? THANKS

...Ed

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...Ed

I'll narrow down the documentation for you:
An Exception object is created which contains the filename and line number of the line that called TheCalledFunction. The Line field of this object is then retrieved and shown in the MsgBox. % (followed by space) was used in the previous example to indicate that what follows is an expression; this is often necessary because objects can't be used effectively with the %traditional% syntax.

You can just use the expression from my previous example (Exception("", -1).Line) directly in your function:

Not in v1. It mostly works in the current v2 alpha:

You can use a function.
This also works if AutoHotkeyDebugLog is a global variable, since dynamic variable references (a.k.a. double-derefs) don't need global declarations in v1 (but since it's a common cause of confusion, they do in v2).

Global declarations (as you probably mean it) are valid only inside functions.
Any variables declared/initialized in the autoexec section (at the beginning of a script) are always available throughout the script, but accessible inside functions only when declared as Global inside the respective functions.

So your debug log path will be available to menus, hotkeys, subroutines (labels), etc. but functions will only see it if declared as Global.

Strings can be passed by handle too, but only where there is code that can manipulate that handle (DllCall() or other newer function/command in AHK_L that I'm not familiar with); FileAppend cannot, AFAIK, so it would be useless to pass it a handle to the log. Either way, that handle would have to be declared as Global too, or passed as a function parameter.

EDIT: Lexikos beat me to it... again.

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AHK tools by Drugwash (AHK 1.0.48.05 and Win98SE)

Thank you both very much. I've learned a lot from my first couple of read-through's, and will get more I'm sure.

Lexikos, I saw the link to v2 alpha, and, <poof!> there went another 45 minutes, spent in awe of the work of art that is AutoHotkey. I can't say I understood all of what I read there. Imho, your writing is crystal clear, so I picked up a lot from context. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of work in this project.

So now, this function thread seems more important to me than I realized: it looks to me as if V2 increases the emphasis on functions. I've been locked in the land of commands and expressions; I guess they fit my learning style better than functions and objects.

My style is to find examples, infer what I can by inspection, bash on them to sorta fit what I want, tinker & test til they work. I'm finding it much harder to learn functions, objects and so on, partly because I'm not finding examples that I can clone, so it's hard to use my pattern brain to figure this stuff out. I want to learn. Do you have any suggestions, where I could find more examples?

I guess this throw-catch-try-exception stuff is brand new, yes? I haven't seen it before. If you could point me to a few more examples of using it, I'd be grateful. If not, no worries, I can see how busy you guys are.

Thanks for your help, and for all you're doing for AHk!

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...Ed

Exception and try-catch-trow syntax was introduced in the latest AHK_L release. Functions basically work like this:

Ah, "ByRef Param3" means that SomeVariable got to keep its new
value, 4. I took out ByRef and got 8. yeah! Thanks for sticking with me;
my "frustrated<--/>fascinated" meter now is way over to the
peg on the right. Thx again, y'all. ...Ed

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...Ed