Hi,

I have used the PHP assistant to try to convert php into aspx (C#) but I am getting this error when I run the code in Visual Studio 2005

'cannot apply indexing with [] to an expression of type object'

These are the lines that cause the problem:

foreach (string name in form_variables.Keys)
{
  ...
  object properties = form_variables[name];
  entry += " 'regexp': " + properties["regexp"] + ",\n";
  entry += " 'error': '" + PHP.StringSupport.AddSlashes(properties["error"]) + "'\n";

....
}

Could someone please shed some light about what I have to do? I have tried to cast the form_variables[name]; to a string object but to no avail - string(form_variables[name]);


Cheers

C

This is the full C# function:

public virtual string build_javascript(PHP.OrderedMap form_variables)
    {
        string js;
        PHP.OrderedMap entries = new PHP.OrderedMap();
        string entry;
        js = "var validationSet = {\n";
        entries = new PHP.OrderedMap();
        foreach (string name in form_variables.Keys)
        {
            object properties = form_variables[name];
            Response.Write(properties.GetType().ToString());
            entry = " '" + name + "': {\n";
            entry += " 'regexp': " + properties["regexp"] + ",\n";
            entry += " 'error': '" + PHP.StringSupport.AddSlashes(properties["error"]) + "'\n";
           entry += " }";
            entries[null] = entry;
        }

        js += PHP.StringSupport.Join(",\n", entries) + "\n";
        js += "}\n";
        return js;
    }

This is the php function:

function build_javascript($form_variables) {
    $js = "var validationSet = {\n";
    $entries = array();
    foreach ($form_variables as $name => $properties) {
      $entry = " '$name': {\n";
      $entry .= " 'regexp': {$properties['regexp']},\n";
      $entry .= " 'error': '".addslashes($properties['error'])."'\n";
      $entry .= " }";
      $entries[] = $entry;
    }
    $js .= join(",\n", $entries) . "\n";
    $js .= "}\n";
    return $js;
  }

PHP is a weakly typed language, so the line $properties['regexp'] is fine, as it doesn't need to know that $properties is an array. However C# wont let you do that on something that is declared as object as it doesn't know if it is an array.

What it Response.Write(properties.GetType().ToString()) outputting?

You need to do something like this:

PHP.OrderedMap properties = (PHP.OrderedMap)form_variables[name];


/- Sam Judson : Wrox Technical Editor -/

Hi samjudson,

Many thanks for your help.

>What it Response.Write(properties.GetType().ToString()) outputting?

I was just trying to output the properties type to see what type it was but it is not part of the code. I just forgot to remove it.

I will try your suggestion right now.

Thanks

C

But what it output might be useful :)

If it outputs anything other than "PHP.OrderedMap" then you will need to change my code above.

/- Sam Judson : Wrox Technical Editor -/

Hi Sam,

I am sorry to take so long to reply but I had to take my wife to hospital for an emergency.

I tried your casting and it worked like a charm. The only problem I had was with the second statement but adding a ToString() resolved it. Please see below:

entry += " 'error': '" + PHP.StringSupport.AddSlashes(properties["error"].ToString()) + "'\n";

This is the output:

var validationSet = {
  'email': {
    'regexp': /^.+?@.+?\..+$/,
    'error': 'This email address is invalid. It should be of the form [email protected].'
  },
  'phone': {
    'regexp': /^[- ()0-9]+$/,
    'error': 'A phone number must be digits only.'
  },
  'country': {
    'regexp': /^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z]$/,
    'error': 'Country codes are two letters only. Examples are US, UK or FR'
  }
}

Again I really appreciate your help.

Cheers

C

Hi Sam,

I am also having problems with the Response.Write() method and would appreciate very much if you could shed some light. Here is the error messege I get when I run the code below to call the build_form() method.

'cannot convert from void to string'

'the best overload method match for System.Web.HttpResponse.Write(string) has some invalid arguments'

Response.Write(build_form(form_variables, errors, new PHP.OrderedMap(Request.Form, false)));

Response.Write(build_form(form_variables, new PHP.OrderedMap(), new PHP.OrderedMap()));

This is an extract of the the build_form method. Please find the full method below:

public virtual void build_form(PHP.OrderedMap form_variables, PHP.OrderedMap errors, PHP.OrderedMap data)
{
......
}

FULL C# VERSION

public virtual void build_form(PHP.OrderedMap form_variables, PHP.OrderedMap errors, PHP.OrderedMap data)
    {
        // Ensure $errors and $data have empty strings for incorrect fields
        object javascript;
        foreach (object name in form_variables.GetKeysOrderedMap(null).Values)
        {

            data[name] = (data[name] != null) ? System.Web.HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(data[name].ToString()) : "";
            if (!(errors[name] != null))
            {
                errors[name] = "";
            }
            else if (PHP.TypeSupport.ToBoolean(errors[name]))
            {
                data[name] = "";// Don't redisplay invalid data
            }
        }


        javascript = build_javascript(form_variables);

                Response.Write(" <script type=\"text/javascript\">\r\n" +
        " " + javascript + "\r\n" +
        " </script>\r\n" +
        " <script type=\"text/javascript\" src=\"genericValidation.js\"></script>\r\n" +
        " <form action=\"\" method=\"post\">\r\n" +
        " <p>\r\n" +
        " <label for=\"email\">Email address</label>\r\n" +
        " <input type=\"text\" name=\"email\" id=\"email\"\r\n" +
        " value=\"" + data["email"] + "\">\r\n" +
        " <span id=\"error_email\" class=\"errormessage\"\r\n" +
        " >" + errors["email"] + "</span>\r\n" +
        " </p>\r\n" +
        " <p>\r\n" +
        " <label for=\"phone\">Phone number</label>\r\n" +
        " <input type=\"text\" name=\"phone\" id=\"phone\"\r\n" +
        " value=\"" + data["phone"] + "\">\r\n" +
        " <span id=\"error_phone\" class=\"errormessage\"\r\n" +
        " >" + errors["phone"] + "</span>\r\n" +
        " </p>\r\n" +
        " <p>\r\n" +
        " <label for=\"country\">Country code</label>\r\n" +
        " <input type=\"text\" name=\"country\" id=\"country\"\r\n" +
        " size=\"2\" maxlength=\"2\" value=\"" + data["country"] + "\">\r\n" +
        " <span id=\"error_country\" class=\"errormessage\"\r\n" +
        " >" + errors["country"] + "</span>\r\n" +
        " </p>\r\n" +
        " <p><input type=\"submit\" value=\"submit\"></p>\r\n" +
        " </form>");


    }


EXTRACT PHP VERSION

function build_form($form_variables, $errors=array(), $data=array()) {
    // Ensure $errors and $data have empty strings for incorrect fields
    foreach (array_keys($form_variables) as $name) {
      $data[$name] = isset($data[$name]) ? htmlspecialchars($data[$name]) : '';
      if (!isset($errors[$name])) {
        $errors[$name] = '';
      } elseif ($errors[$name]) {
        $data[$name] = ''; // Don't redisplay invalid data
      }
    }

    $javascript = build_javascript($form_variables);

    echo <<<EOD
      <script type="text/javascript">
        $javascript
      </script>
      <script type="text/javascript" src="genericValidation.js"></script>
........
........

Cheers

C

Just get rid of the Response.Write's completely. The build_form method doesn't return anything (it is set to return 'void') therefore they have nothing to print out.

Replace:
With:
/- Sam Judson : Wrox Technical Editor -/

Thanks Sam. The buil_form is working now.