$.stack is not a string

[K.Daube]

ESTK and FDK documentation and even typeof claims that $.stack is a string. If it is printed with $.writeline it behaves as such and creates multiple lines.
I want to build a function which can be called in any routine and will then indicate the calling level by indentation and the name of the function.
For that puprose I wanted to split the 'string' into an array, the length of which indicating the nesting level of the function in question.
But it turns out that $.stack can not be handled as a string:

function ZTrace () {
// $.stack is not a string - what is it?
var level, aStack = [], s1Stack, s2Stack;
  s1Stack = toHex($.stack);
  $.writeln (s1Stack);                    // see what it looks like     
  s2Stack = $.stack.toString();           // sStack behaves as stack
  aStack = s2Stack.split (hex2a("829a")); // does not split
  level = aStack.length;                  // always 1
  $.writeln (aStack[0]);                  // always full stack
  $.writeln (aStack[1]);                  // undefined
} // --- end ZTrace
function toHex(str) {
    var hex = '';
    for(var i=0;i<str.length;i++) {
        hex += ''+str.charCodeAt(i).toString(16);
    }
    return hex;
}
function hex2a(hexx) {
// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3745666/how-to-convert-from-hex-to-ascii-in-javascript
// hex2a('32343630'); // returns '2460'
    var hex = hexx.toString();//force conversion
    var str = '';
    for (var i = 0; i < hex.length; i += 2)
        str += String.fromCharCode(parseInt(hex.substr(i, 2), 16));
    return str;
}

For example, in a nested function calling ZTrace () will create a stack like this

[ZTrace-test.jsx]
Level_0()
Level_1()
Level_2()
Level_3()
ZTrace()

But the line 05 creates (here both in hex and interpreted):

5b5a54726163652e6a73785da4c6576656c5f302829a4c6576656c5f312829a4c6576656c5f322829a4c6576656c5f332829a5a54726163652829a
[ Z T r a c e . j s x ] ¤ Æ W f u Å ó ??????L e v e l _ 1 ( ) ¤ Æ W f V Å ó ??????L e v e l _ 3 ( ) ¥ ¥ G ????6 R ????

Now, of what type is $.stack?

[Wiedenmaier · Accepted solution]

Hi Klaus,

$.stack is a string

$.writeln(typeof($.stack)) prints "string"

This

aStack = s2Stack.split ("\n");

does exactly, what I expected. I get an Array of lines, and the following lines of code deliver the expected results.

  level = aStack.length;             

  $.writeln (aStack[0]);                 

  $.writeln (aStack[1]);               

Last item in Array is an empty string, so level is aStack.length - 1 and perhaps -1 for the Name of the script file.

Not sure why you are doing this hex stuff. I think this is not necessary.

In your case hex2a allways delivers an empty string, and this is why aStack.length is always 1.

hope this helps

Markus

[Wiedenmaier]

BTW:

str += String.fromCharCode(hex.substr(i, 2)); 

always delivers two not visible characters for "829a" assuming these two characters are not defined as charater within Unicode (here I was wrong as I said string is empty)

hex2a("647E")

works and delivers "d~" as there are characters defined

and

hex2a("0a")

delivers the linefeed and Splitting works

var del = hex2a("0a");

Stack = s2Stack.split (del);

but this is equal to

Stack = s2Stack.split ("\n");

[K.Daube]

Thanks Markus,

The hex business 'was necessary' because initially I did not split with "\n", but with "\\n" - which obviously is wrong... Analysing what is really in the string lead me to this erraneous deviation.

The ZTrace function now is this:

function ZTrace () { //==== Indicate calling sequence =============================================
// Returns  -
// Called by if (settings.IsDebug) {ZTrace ();}
var indent, name, level, aStack = [], sStack,  
    dots = ".......................................................................................";
  sStack = $.stack.toString();
  aStack = sStack.split ("\n");
  level = aStack.length - 3;
  if (level > 0) {name = aStack[level]};
  indent = dots.substring(0, level*2);
//Console (indent + name);
  $.writeln (indent + name);
} // --- end ZTrace

[Wiedenmaier]

Hi Klaus,

glad you got this job done.

Here is a list of relevant escape sequences:

Code	Outputs	Hex Code
\'	single quote	0x27
\"	double Quote	0x22
\\	backslash	0x5C
\r	Carriage Return	0x0d
\n	Line feed	0x0a
\t	Horizontal Tabulator	0x09

For more Information visit: https://www.w3schools.com/js/js_strings.asp

double backslash means a realworld backslash, so you split statement searched for the real world string "\n" and not for the character "Linfeed (0x0a)".

Hope this helps anybody

Markus