[RESOLVED] Storing values into a double type

lerro

I have this situation, a user enters numbers sequentially , then whenever the user types a given number, it gets stored in a variable as the input value and then appended to the variable that is a double. For instance, if a user wants to enter the number 98

The user will type
9
8

When 9 is typed, it's stored inside the variable "input"
and then input appends it's value to the variable "number"
"input" is then set to Null

When 8 is typed it's stored inside the variable "input"
and then input appends it's value to the variable "number"
"input" is then set to Null

Then I can output "number", it will show as "98"

The problem comes up when I try to input a period "." and then have numbers follow that period

Say for instance i want to input 98.23

How would i get the period to be appended to the double variable "number" and for subsequent numbers to follow the period?

Or is there a more efficient way of storing user input and having it appended to the variable?

Note that this is necessary since the user does not enter the number in one go, but will type one digit at a time and also indicate when a period should be applied and any further number typed after that should follow the period.

dagon

odd set up. I can't see any reason that a number or a period is treated differently php being loosely typed ,can you post he relevant code.

lerro

Take it that you have buttons for a calculator, the user clicks a button at a time and the button clicked has its value stored in the variable "input"

Then you have a function that takes that input and stores it inside another variable, so that input can be set to blank/null, ready for teh next character that the user clicks

Function setNumber()
{

    storedNumber = storedNumber & input;
    output = storedNumber;
    input = Null;
}

Now, once the user clicks one button at a time, how would you append a period into the variable "storedNumber" ?

Also, how would this apply if you wanted it strictly typed and not loosely typed, so that the variable could not take any non-numeral characters but would hold a double?

johanafm

lerro;10989799 wrote:
Take it that you have buttons for a calculator, the user clicks a button at a time and the button clicked has its value stored in the variable "input"

Are you certain this isn't allready handled by the environment? For example, there is PHP code on the server handling this form post, but as I type, there is nothing reaching that script. The browser does however let me type several characters into this textarea element.

lerro;10989799 wrote:
so that input can be set to blank/null, ready for teh next character that the user clicks

And I'd be highly annoyed if the textarea I'm typing into right now would never contain more than one character at the time.

lerro;10989799 wrote:

Function setNumber()
{

    storedNumber = storedNumber & input;
    output = storedNumber;
    input = Null;
}

And there are several issues with this as well. First off, it doesn't appear to be PHP code. If it is PHP code, those constants has to be defined somewhere, and it's common practice to keep constants in upper case letters, and also, you can't assign data to a constant.

If they are supposed to be variables, other than needing a $ as starting character of the identifier, they will still have to be defined somewhere. storedNumber might of course be defined as static $storedNumber in the function. $input on the other hand should definitely NOT be a global, but be a function paramter.
Also note that $storedNumber & $input will not do what you are talking about earlier in your post. & is the binary and operator. For example, 3 & 1 = 1, 3 & 2 = 2, 3 & 0 = 0 and 3 & 3 = 3.

lerro;10989799 wrote:
Now, once the user clicks one button at a time, how would you append a period into the variable "storedNumber" ?

$stuff .= $input;

lerro;10989799 wrote:
Also, how would this apply if you wanted it strictly typed and not loosely typed

PHP is loosely typed so you'd have to switch to a language which isn't such as Java or C++.

lerro;10989799 wrote:
, so that the variable could not take any non-numeral characters but would hold a double?

That can still be dealt with, but just because you restrict input doesn't mean you make PHP strictly typed.

if (is_numeric($input)) || $input == '.')

lerro

Thanks for the pointers