Empty Strings and Zero

[Mugs321]

Hey all,
I have a simple function which submits a form when a radio-button is clicked:

function submitAccessForm(frmAction, frmActionID){
    if ((frmActionID+'') != ''){
        document.getElementById('frmAction').value = frmAction;
        document.getElementById('frmActionID').value = frmActionID;
        document.getElementById('step3form').submit();
    }
}
 

You'll notice I used (+'') to type-cast the frmActionID var to a string. The original looked like this:

if (frmActionID != ''){
 

In the original statement, when frmActionID was zero (int zero, not string), the 'if' stmt returned false. Any number other than zero returned true. Does JS view zero (0) as an empty string?

[gits]

:) yes ... it does since it uses implicit typecasts here to compare different types ... have a look at the following examples:

var val = ('' == 0); // val is true
 
var val = ('    ' == 0); // val is true
 
// but:
 
var val = ('' === 0); // val is false
 

the === operator checks for identical types of the values ... so use it in cases where this should be checked too.

kind regards

[Mugs321]

thx for the reply... but I'm still trying to come to terms with this conundrum.

Consider the following:

alert(0+'xx')
 

By the 'empty string' logic, shouldn't the alert display 'xx' instead of the '0xx' it actually returns? Even (0+'') returns 0. If the string = '0' (has a length=1) how can it be considered empty?

I will accept "It's like that... and that's the way it is..." ;)

[mrhoo]

0 is the number 0.
'0' is the string containing the character 0.

When you coerce a number with + and a string, 0 becomes '0'.
0+''= '0';
0+'1'=' 01'

[gits]

thx for the reply... but I'm still trying to come to terms with this conundrum.

Consider the following:

alert(0+'xx')
 

By the 'empty string' logic, shouldn't the alert display 'xx' instead of the '0xx' it actually returns? Even (0+'') returns 0. If the string = '0' (has a length=1) how can it be considered empty?

I will accept "It's like that... and that's the way it is..." ;)

nope ... its really consistent ... when using the + operator to add a number type and a string it converts the number to string and concats them ... and when you do:

'' == '0'
 

you'll get a false :) since you would compare two strings and js don't need to try a typecast.

kind regards

ps: so its a small design-problem with javascript that you don't need to declare the types of a variable but of course there are types and the type is relevant for any operation you do with variables ... so you have to know what types you use and how they will behave during the operation ...