[Mapbender-dev] Element Vars and types of variables

[Marc Jansen]

Hi list,

is it true that all element variables are considered to be of type 
string? Wouldn't it be nice if we could have some different types of 
element vars (at least for javascript variables )?

IMHO this would require an additional database column and an update of 
the existing vars. As for backwards compatibility the default type could 
be 'string', I guess.

I'd suggest haveing at least these types:

    * string     
    * integer   
    * float       
    * array     
    * object
    * boolean

consider boolean setting for modules, they should be interpretebable as 
booleans, or consider having more variable that are variants of equal 
properties (tabs module). I found my self fuddling with stuff like this:

element_var = "opt1,opt2,foo,bar,baz";
element_var_as_array = element_var.split(','); 

another_var_which_represents_a_boolean = 'true';
another_var_as_boolean = ( 
another_var_which_represents_a_boolean.toLowerCase() == 'true' ) ? true 
: false;

This is in my opinion error prone, time consuming (performance) and not 
elegant. Or am I missing something in the concept of element vars?

What do you think?