Refresh an Atrribute widget in another menu

[PLUCKYHD]

Hey guys got an attibute widget that is part of a theme referenced in my menu. The attirbute widget looks like this.

Name[=If(Name==null,false,Name)]

It all works fine and well on initial load but I can't for the life of me get the variable changed in a refresh or refresharea call.

Any ideas?

[tmiranda]

I can never get attributes to change as a result of a refresh or refresharea either. I usually make sure the attribute is updated in the widget chain someplace rather than rely on haviing it re-initialized. Hopefully somebody else will come up with a better answer.

[jaminben]

Have you tried a RefreshAreaForVariable()...... can't remember if that does it or not now tho.

[GKusnick]

Refresh just redraws the screen; it doesn't reload the menu. Only blue UI widgets are subject to refresh.

An Attribute's initialization expression get evaluated just once, when the menu is loaded. This is really no different in principle than a member variable in a Java class, which gets initialized just once, when the class is instantiated. If you want to change its value after that, you must execute an assignment statement. That's how variables work.

RefreshAreaForVariable has nothing to do with this. That's for refreshing one instance of a repeating element such as a table cell, where the instances might all have the same widget name, but can be distinguished by different attribute values.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Refresh just redraws the screen; it doesn't reload the menu. Only blue UI widgets are subject to refresh.

An Attribute's initialization expression get evaluated just once, when the menu is loaded. This is really no different in principle than a member variable in a Java class, which gets initialized just once, when the class is instantiated. If you want to change its value after that, you must execute an assignment statement. That's how variables work.

RefreshAreaForVariable has nothing to do with this. That's for refreshing one instance of a repeating element such as a table cell, where the instances might all have the same widget name, but can be distinguished by different attribute values.

Yeah that is what I thought Going to have to figure out another way

[JREkiwi]

Not sure if it will help, but a long time ago I had a similar problem and Opus pointed me at using a BeforeMenuLoad hook, StaticContexts and reloading the menu to get the menu to refresh and not use a cached version. His example is here and that method is still used in the default STV for setting number of rows and columns in views.

John

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

Not sure if it will help, but a long time ago I had a similar problem and Opus pointed me at using a BeforeMenuLoad hook, StaticContexts and reloading the menu to get the menu to refresh and not use a cached version. His example is here and that method is still used in the default STV for setting number of rows and columns in views.

Actually, I don't think there is any menu where I do that any more -- I used to do it because you couldn't dynamically change the number of rows & columns for tables, so I had to reload a menu to do so; but tables can be dynamically changed now.

The attribute in the first post just looks like it is set to remember its cached previous value, or false if there is no previous value. Unless there is some reason you can't do so in this case, I would consider just setting it in the UI chain. If it is too complex for a UI chain, set it before calling refresh or even use a LayoutStarted hook, among other possibilities.

- Andy

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Actually, I don't think there is any menu where I do that any more -- I used to do it because you couldn't dynamically change the number of rows & columns for tables, so I had to reload a menu to do so; but tables can be dynamically changed now.

The attribute in the first post just looks like it is set to remember its cached previous value, or false if there is no previous value. Unless there is some reason you can't do so in this case, I would consider just setting it in the UI chain. If it is too complex for a UI chain, set it before calling refresh or even use a LayoutStarted hook, among other possibilities.

- Andy

Unfortunately this is the attribute widget for a table FreeformCellSize. My understanding it has to be an attribute directly below the table widget. I never thought off adding a static context before reloading the menu that should do it.