Instanceof for Numerics

This will work for the numeric (Number, Long, Float, Double) types. It will work for String types if the conversion works, but it will break if the conversion fails because String.toFloat() returns null in this case and you are overwriting the only reference to the String data with that null. It will also not work for Boolean because Boolean.toFloat() does not exist; you'd get a symbol not found error and an app crash.

I think you want something more like this..

/**
 * Convert an object to a single precision floating point representation
 *
 * @param obj [Number, Long, Float, Double, Boolean, String] The value to convert
 * @return [Float] The resulting value, or null if the conversion failed
 */
function asFloat(obj) {
    if (obj has :toFloat) {
        return obj.toFloat();
    }
    else if (obj instanceof Lang.Boolean) {
        return obj ? 1.0 : 0.0;
    }
    else if (obj instanceof Lang.Char) {
        return obj.toNumber() * 1.0;
    }

    return null;
}

I'm not exactly sure why you'd need or want this, but it should do what you are looking for.

Travis.ConnectIQ - I tested your code and just FYI - the "char" processing fails. For example. a character of "1" when converted toNumber() results in 49, it's ASCII value, not the integer 1. Any easy solution to that? I assume maybe grab the ASCII value, assure it falls between 48 and 57, and then subtract 48 from the value... resulting in 0 thru 9?

if (ARR[i] has :toFloat) { val = ARR[i].toFloat(); }
else if (ARR[i] instanceof Lang.Boolean) { val = ARR[i] ? 1.0 : 0.0; }
else if (ARR[i] instanceof Lang.Char && ARR[i].toNumber() > 47 && ARR[i].toNumber() < 58) { val = ARR[i].toNumber() - 48; }
else { val = null; }

Here is what this does for me... I can process an array of a variety of values. Depending on the flag, I'll either stop at the first NULL or process the entire array, skipping NULLs and invalid numerics. Thanks again!! I get that the value of this might be questionable - since the array sent to math stats functions should be properly prepared with only valid values :-)

Try

return obj.toString().toNumber() * 1.0;

great idea! why convert to number and then multiply by a float? why not just convert toFloat()

DaveBrillhart said:

the "char" processing fails

Yeah, I should probably have considered that. I wouldn't check the value as that assumes ASCII. Though it is pretty certain, it isn't required. I think jim_m_58's solution is what I'd do (assuming you need to handle Character).