Operators as Variables

Scott Roth 13 September 2018

Code snippet, HL7, Object Data Model, ObjectScript, Ensemble

We have the need to write a function that can loop through say a field in an OBX segment within HL7 and compare it to a string passed. Is it possible to have the user enter the Operator ( >,<,=,<>) as a variable inside Cache object script? Does anyone have any examples they can share?

Thanks

Scott Roth

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Answers

Answer by Eduard Lebedyuk 14 September 2018

I'd try to avoid giving user an ability to enter arbitrary code.

1. Offer user a list of predefined operations ( >,<,=,<> or Equals,More, Not Equals,...)

2. Get input from user.

3. Check that input is actually one option on a list and not something else.

4. Perform the check using IF, for example.

ClassMethod main(a As %Integer, b As %Integer, operation As %String(VALUELIST="Equals,Not Equals") = "Equals") As %Boolean
{
  set operationList = $lb("Equals", "Not Equals")
  throw:'$lf(operationList, operation) ##class(%Exception.General).%New("<INVALID OPERATION>")
 
  if operation = "Equals" {
    set result = (a = b)
  } elseif operation = "Not Equals" {
    set result = (a '= b)
  } else {
    throw ##class(%Exception.General).%New("<INVALID OPERATION>")
  }
 
  quit result
}

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Accepted answer

Answer by Neerav Adam Verma 13 September 2018

Are you not using the Transformations?

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Comment by Scott Roth 13 September 2018

This is not in a translation. We want to write a function to loop through a repeating segment and compare it to a string value within a Routing Rule. I've done this before as a lookup against a table but not compare strings before.

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Comment by CARLOS COSTA 13 September 2018

could you use the function called xecute ?

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Comment by Scott Roth 13 September 2018

I am not familiar with that function.

This is how I am looking up a repeatable segment against a lookup table.

ClassMethod GroupIDExists(pHL7Msg As EnsLib.HL7.Message, pSegment As %String, pField As %String, pLookupTable As %String) As %Boolean
{
            #dim tSeg as EnsLib.HL7.Segment

            set tSegCount = pHL7Msg.SegCountGet()
            set i = 1
            Set tFound = 0
            //get new values
            set tval=""
            while ((i <= tSegCount) && (tval="")) {

                        set tSeg = pHL7Msg.GetSegmentAt(i)
                        if (tSeg.Name = pSegment) {
                                    set tID = tSeg.GetValueAt(pField)
                                    set tval= ..Lookup(pLookupTable, tID)

                        }
                        set i = i + 1
            }
            if (tval '= "")
            {
                        Q 1
            }
            quit 0
}

Not sure how you would do that with XECUTE

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Comment by Marc Mundt 13 September 2018

Here's an example of what Carlos is suggesting with XECUTE:

ClassMethod CompareValues(val1, val2, operator) as %Boolean {
    set testStatement="set testResult=(val1 "_operator_" val2)"
    XECUTE testStatement
    quit testResult
}

[edited code to fix a typo]

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Comment by Stephen Wilson 14 September 2018

Same idea within a shell session. I often like to evaluate expressions to check they work as expected before writing any significant code.

set val1 = 10
set val2 = 11
set operator = "<"

// No need for extra double-quotes in logical expression
set testStatement="set testResult=(val1_operator_val2)"
xecute testStatement
zwrite testResult

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Answer by Robert Cemper 17 September 2018

eXecute command is sensible to variable scoping
in addition control of allowed operates is required.
this small method gives you an easy to maintain code.

ClassMethod Operate(var1 = "", op As %String = "",var2 = "") As %Boolean { goto $case(op ,"<":lt ,">":gt ,"=":eq ,"<>":ne ,:fail ) fail quit 0 lt quit var1 < var2 gt quit var1 > var2 eq quit var1 = var2 ne quit (var1 '= var2) }

and you are free to use any naming of your operator you allow ( & , $ , @, GOOFY, DAISY, DUFFY, DONALD, .. )

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