Currently we have the lineOffset function, a very handy way to know the
number of a line that matches whatever we're searching for in a block of
return-delimited text.
However, like most chunk expressions it's able to do what it does by
evaluating every character in the chunk, both looking for the matching
string and counting CRs as it goes.
Many times when we're using lineOffset it's because what we're after
isnt the line number but the text of that line. And getting that
requires another traversal of the entire chunk to "get line <lineNumber>
of <chunk>".
Given how handy chunk expressions are in LiveCode, I'm wondering if it
might be even handier to see the introduction of a new function,
something that could perhaps be called "lineAtOffset".
Like "lineOffset", "lineAtOffset" would take the same arguments and
operate similarly, but rather than returning the number of the matching
line it would return the text of that line.
Questions for you folks:
1. Is this as useful as I think it might be?
2. Is there a better name for the function?
3. Would consistency with wordOffset, trueWordOffiset, and itemOffset
bog this down to the point where we'd either have to face an
inconsistent world in which only lineAtOffset is supported or wait much
longer for a more complete implementation that would also do the others
(itemAtOffset, etc). Personally, I'd be fine if this were limited to
lines since the other chunk types aren't usually long enough in my own
work to have much impact on performance having to make two calls. But
as I've noted before, sometimes I'm too easily satisfied and others may
have more demanding requirements.
3. Is this worth submitting to the request queue?
--
Richard Gaskin
Fourth World Systems
Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
____________________________________________________________________
ambassa...@fourthworld.com http://www.FourthWorld.com
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