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Does an empty string evaluate to true or false?

  • /attachments/1309215386394300457/1309215386620923987/image.png

    Sean

    20 days ago

    Why does an empty string here evaluate to true? I assumed that this would be false but this evaluates to true.
    image.png

  • Lucas G

    20 days ago

    An empty string is a truthy value because it is not technically null or undefined
  • /attachments/1309215386394300457/1309216828668776542/image.png

    Sean

    20 days ago

    Thanks Lucas. So am I reading this wrong then?
    image.png

  • Lucas G

    20 days ago

    Sort of
  • There's some mixups going on
  • Those are actually JavaScript's falsy values
  • But the And operator takes anything that's not null as true

  • Sean

    20 days ago

    Hmm..

  • Lucas G

    20 days ago

    I've never thought much about it
  • Could be a bug tbh
  • Or rather, it probably technically is since the Boolean node behaves the same way
  • But its description says 0 should be false
  • But it returns true
  • I've always defaulted to null so I've never thought about it 🤔

  • Sean

    20 days ago

    Yeah, which is why it confused me. I tried inserting the Boolean node and that didn't work either. So wanted to check so that I don't have to keep adding an unnecessary condition to force an empty string to be considered as falsy

  • Lucas G

    20 days ago

    I use the Equals/Not Equal nodes
  • If input doesn't equal empty string

  • Sean

    20 days ago

    To your earlier point, am I understanding correctly that you use a Defaults to Null for any empty string so that it's forced to be null (falsy) instead of an empty string (true)?
  • @Sean
    To your earlier point, am I understanding correctly that you use a Defaults to Null for any empty string so that it's forced to be null (falsy) instead of an empty string (true)?

    Lucas G

    20 days ago

    No, an empty string won't use a default to value
  • It would be an empty string
  • @Lucas G
    It would be an empty string

    Sean

    20 days ago

    But it would be truthy, right?

  • Lucas G

    20 days ago

    I think default to is for undefined/null values

  • Lucas G

    20 days ago

    Default to returns whatever is not false. Which I guess is the same logic behind the other ones
  • Null/undefined use the default to value

  • Sean

    20 days ago

    I'm tryin to set a default to a component attribute, so that if I don't provide it in the instance, then it defaults to false. But if I don't provide it, i.e. it's an empty string, then it seems to evaluate to true -- so now I have to explicitly remember to set it.

  • Lucas G

    20 days ago

    Empty string is not being considered a falsy value
  • Potentially a bug
  • I will check with the team actually

  • Sean

    20 days ago

    Thanks Lucas.
  • @Sean
    I'm tryin to set a default to a component attribute, so that if I don't provide it in the instance, then it defaults to false. But if I don't provide it, i.e. it's an empty string, then it seems to evaluate to true -- so now I have to explicitly remember to set it.

    Lucas G

    20 days ago

    If you don't provide a value to an attribute it is undefined, not an empty string
  • Use default to false

  • Sean

    20 days ago

    Ah, okay. Thanks Lucas
  • @Lucas G
    An empty string is a truthy value because it is not technically null or undefined

    Olumise

    19 days ago

    Hi Lucas, I thought an empty string is falsy while an empty array and object is truths

  • Tod

    19 days ago

    Great energy @Olumise! Your continuous contribution to the toddle Community just made you advance to Community Level 2!
  • @Olumise
    Hi Lucas, I thought an empty string is falsy while an empty array and object is truths

    Lucas G

    19 days ago

    Not in toddle
  • I brought it up with the team and it’s been clarified and updated in the docs now
  • Null and undefined resolve to false

  • Lucas G

    19 days ago

    Either way, I recommend setting actual null, false, true values instead of relying on falsy/truthy

  • Erik Beuschau

    19 days ago

    Docs can be found here. We hope to improve the docs further going forward 🤞 https://toddle.dev/docs/show-hide-formula#Basic%20Concept

  • Olumise

    18 days ago

    Thank you for the clarification @Lucas G @Erik Beuschau
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