Question

So, I have successfully grabbed a value out of an XML document and set it into a separate class called “AddCommas.” The trace functions have shown me that it sets properly.

For more details, my objective is to take the language indicator (“fr” for french or “en” for english), set it inside the appropriate class and into a variable I will use. Now, I am using this variable to be used in an if statement; which will help me format a number properly (commas, decimals, spaces) per the clients request.

However, my problem is when I try to get the value to use it. It always comes back as Null. I have placed traces all over my program trying to pinpoint when this happens, but I cannot find it. Here’s the code…

The pull from the XML file and into the set (this works fine, but I am adding it for your benefit in case I missed something)

 public var commaHold = new AddCommas();
    localLanguage = xmlObj.localLanguage;
    trace("localLanguage + " + localLanguage);
    commaHold.setLanguage(localLanguage); // Set Language
   //More code follows...

This is the set function istelf…

public function setLanguage(localLanguage:String){
langHold = localLanguage;
trace("Set Language =  " + langHold); //This always shows a successful set
}

Now am I wrong in thinking that in AS3, once langHold in my AddCommas class has been set I should be able to use it without calling a get within the function I am using the If Statement in, right? Such as this?

var language = langHold;
if (language == "en"){
trace("Language is = " + language); // More code follows afterwards and as of now, this shows NULL

Now, I have attempted plenty of Get functions to add the language variable in the call itself to this function and it’s always the same. Am I missing some fundamentals here?

Thank you very much for your time.

Answer 1

If you expect a string comparison you need to use quotes, unless en is a String variable since langHold is a String, like:

if (language == "en"){

Consider modifying the set function to use the as3 keyword like:

private var _language:String;

public function set language(value:String):void {
     _language = value;
     //do other stuff here if necessary, put a breakpoint on the line above
}

public function get language():String{
     return _language;
     //put a breakpoint on the line above
}

You should be able to see when any instance of your class has the property changed. The only other issue I can think of is it is not the same instance of the class and therefore doesn’t share the property value you set earlier. In the debugger you can check the “hashCode” or “address” it shows for this to see if it changes when it hits the breakpoints.

Here’s a sample Singleton structure in AS3 (this all goes in one file):

package com.shaunhusain.singletonExample
{

    public class SingletonExample
    {
        private static var instance:SingletonExample;

        public static function getIntance():SingletonExample
        {
            if( instance == null ) instance = new SingletonExample( new SingletonEnforcer() );
            return instance;
        }

        /**
         * 
         * @param se Blocks creation of new managers instead use static method getInstance
         */
        public function SingletonExample(se:SingletonEnforcer)
        {
        }
    }
}

internal class SingletonEnforcer {public function SingletonEnforcer(){}}

using this single shared instance from any other class would look something like this:

private var singletonInstance:SingletonExample = SingletonExample.getInstance();