Can I return a resource from a string?

I need help converting a string into a resource, basically. For example:

active_icon = WatchUi.loadResource(Rez.Drawables.Red_Active);

I have various colors. So if I can somehow change the Red into Pink or other colors it would be great.

I know in other programming languages I can use brackets to process a string that I can then use in

a variable name. I can't remember what it is called to look it up.

Is there a way I can use: Rez.Drawables[:Red_Active] or something?

Thanks.

FlowState over 2 years ago

You can't convert a string directly to a symbol, because symbols are identifiers which are resolved at compile-time, not run-time.

But you can use a string (or enum, integer, etc) to look up a symbol in a dictionary, array, switch statement, series of if statements, etc.

e.g.

    enum {
        APP_COLOR_RED = 0,
        APP_COLOR_GREEN = 1,
        APP_COLOR_BLUE = 2
    }

    // color = APP_COLOR_*
    function getDrawable(color) {
        // an array lookup by index isn't the safest way to do things,
        // but it's one of the most memory-efficient.
        // of course if you need to look up symbols based on more than
        // one criteria (like color and state), you will need
        // something more complicated than this
        var colorSymbolTable = [
            :Red,
            :Green,
            :Blue
        ];
        var colorSymbol = colorSymbolTable[color];
        return WatchUi.loadResource(Rez.Drawables[colorSymbol]);
    }

MunKy over 2 years ago in reply to FlowState

Ok, thanks.