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Techniques for Shortening Code

 
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Voltron43



Joined: 27 Mar 2009
Posts: 76
Location: Dublin, IE
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 11:55 pm    Post subject: Techniques for Shortening Code Reply with quote
Being a noobie to AHK, my code tends to be a little longer than it can be. Going through other people's code and reading the command list, I've come across some nice ways of shortening my code and I thought it'd be nice to start a thread compiling all of the techniques.

Feel free to add/correct and of techniques!

TERNARY OPERATORS
Code:
; Original code
If var = 1
    i = 1
Else
    i = 2

; Shortened code
i := var = 1 ? 1 : 2
    I also found the ternary operators useful for if statment message boxes.
Code:
; Original code
If var = 1
    MsgBox, Var equals 1!
Else
    MsgBox, Var doesn't equal 1!

; Shortened code
i := var = 1 ? "It exists!" : "It doesn't exist!"
MsgBox, % i

    If the message boxes are long, you can use the ternary operators to continue the line above (although, this example doesn't make the number of lines any smaller).
Code:
i := var = 1
    ? "Why does var have to equal 1?"
    : "Var does not have to equal 1 all of the time"
MsgBox, % i
    Has anybody figured out how to shorten Else If statements?

ASSIGN OPERATOR ".="
    The ".=" operator is very useful when creating parsed lists in loops.
Code:
; Original code
Loop, 10
    i := i "|" A_Index

; Shortened code
Loop, 10
    i .= "|" A_Index

BOOLEAN
    Instead of having to check if boolean values equal 0 or 1, you can just drop the "= 1" in the if statment and check if the boolean is not blank or zero.
Code:
; Original code
WinWait, Untitled - Notepad, , 1
If ErrorLevel = 1   ; i.e. it's not blank or zero.
    MsgBox, The window does not exist.`nErrorLevel: %ErrorLevel%
Else
    MsgBox, The window exists.`nErrorLevel: %ErrorLevel%

; Shortened code
WinWait, Untitled - Notepad, , 1
If ErrorLevel   ; i.e. it's not blank or zero.
    MsgBox, The window does not exist.`nErrorLevel: %ErrorLevel%
Else
    MsgBox, The window exists.`nErrorLevel: %ErrorLevel%

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Drugwash



Joined: 07 Sep 2008
Posts: 921
Location: Ploiesti, RO
PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 12:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Code:
MsgBox, % "The window " (ErrorLevel ? "does not exist" : "exists") ".`nErrorLevel: " ErrorLevel

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Voltron43



Joined: 27 Mar 2009
Posts: 76
Location: Dublin, IE
PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 12:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Drugwash wrote:
Code:
MsgBox, % "The window " (ErrorLevel ? "does not exist" : "exists") ".`nErrorLevel: " ErrorLevel

Wink
I didn't know that you could interject the if statement inside the message box text.

Thanks for the tip.
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TLM



Joined: 21 Aug 2006
Posts: 2926
Location: The Shell
PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 1:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ternary threads are always welcome Very Happy

Heres a really good one

http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29752

I dont understand why there is not more (a dedicated page) on this in the chm included with AHK??
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icefreez



Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 169
PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 2:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ohh this is great I knew about a few of these shortening techniques through various code I had learned but I defiantly learned more from this thread Very Happy
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TLM



Joined: 21 Aug 2006
Posts: 2926
Location: The Shell
PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 3:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
So this is where this process makes me feel lie a big dummy.

Trying to get Tooltip to show multiple characters equivalent to

Code:
Send, {s 3} ;Type 3 s's

but in a tooltip now..
Code:
ToolTip, sss ; Dont want to have to type Char#'s

and shortened to something like..
Code:
ToolTip % Send . "{s 3}"
Laughing
This is where the brain explosions start :hihi:..

Any ideas of how to get this working??
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HotKeyIt



Joined: 18 Jun 2008
Posts: 4652
Location: AHK Forum
PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 4:08 pm    Post subject: Re: Techniques for Shortening Code Reply with quote
Voltron43 wrote:
BOOLEAN
    Instead of having to check if boolean values equal 0 or 1, you can just drop the "= 1" in the if statment and check if the boolean is not blank or zero.
Code:
; Original code
WinWait, Untitled - Notepad, , 1
If ErrorLevel = 1   ; i.e. it's not blank or zero.
    MsgBox, The window does not exist.`nErrorLevel: %ErrorLevel%
Else
    MsgBox, The window exists.`nErrorLevel: %ErrorLevel%

; Shortened code
WinWait, Untitled - Notepad, , 1
If ErrorLevel   ; i.e. it's not blank or zero.
    MsgBox, The window does not exist.`nErrorLevel: %ErrorLevel%
Else
    MsgBox, The window exists.`nErrorLevel: %ErrorLevel%


You should note it is not allways good to use it like this.
And often you notice it much later when your code get more complex.
Code:

DetectHiddenText,Off
DetectHiddenWindows,Off

MsgBox Function: `nResult:`tDetectHiddenWindows %A_DetectHiddenWindows%`n`tDetectHiddenText %A_DetectHiddenText%

Function("A1 B1")
MsgBox Function: Function("A1 B1")`nResult:`tDetectHiddenWindows %A_DetectHiddenWindows%`n`tDetectHiddenText %A_DetectHiddenText%

Function("A0 B0")
MsgBox Function: Function("A0 B0")`nResult:`tDetectHiddenWindows %A_DetectHiddenWindows%`n`tDetectHiddenText %A_DetectHiddenText%

AnotherFunction("A0 B0")
MsgBox Function: AnoterFunction("A0 B0")`nResult:`tDetectHiddenWindows %A_DetectHiddenWindows%`n`tDetectHiddenText %A_DetectHiddenText%


Function(parameter){
   ;A= DetectHiddenText , B= DetectHiddenWindows
   If (parameter){
      Loop,Parse,parameter,%A_Space%
         If (option:= SubStr(A_LoopField,1,1))
            %option%:= SubStr(A_LoopField,2)
   }
   If A
      DetectHiddenText % a ? "ON" : "Off"
   If B
      DetectHiddenWindows % b ? "ON" : "Off"
}
AnotherFunction(parameter){
   ;A= DetectHiddenText , B= DetectHiddenWindows
   If (parameter){
      Loop,Parse,parameter,%A_Space%
         If (option:= SubStr(A_LoopField,1,1))
            %option%:= SubStr(A_LoopField,2)
   }
   If (A!="")
      DetectHiddenText % a ? "ON" : "Off"
   If (B!="")
      DetectHiddenWindows % b ? "ON" : "Off"
}

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erictheturtle



Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Posts: 101
Location: California
PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 8:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
More like Techniques for Obfuscating Code amirite? ;D

Seriously though, playing around with syntax, and trying to find the most compact way of writing this is certainly good fun. But don't forget, it's easy to write code that only you have to understand, but it is significantly harder to write code that others will understand.

Please, when you write your code, think of the children-- er, other programmers.

;)
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