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Does an empty string evaluate to true or false?

Sean

5 months ago

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

5 months ago

An empty string is a truthy value because it is not technically null or undefined
Sean

5 months ago

Thanks Lucas. So am I reading this wrong then?
Lucas G

5 months 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

5 months ago

Hmm..
Lucas G

5 months 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

5 months 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

5 months ago

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

5 months 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

5 months 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

5 months ago

But it would be truthy, right?
Lucas G

5 months ago

I think default to is for undefined/null values
Lucas G

5 months 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

5 months 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

5 months ago

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

5 months 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

5 months ago

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

5 months ago

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

5 months ago

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

5 months 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

5 months 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

5 months ago

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

5 months 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

5 months ago

Thank you for the clarification @Lucas G @Erik Beuschau

Does an empty string evaluate to true or false?

Sean

Lucas G

Sean

Lucas G

Sean

Lucas G

Sean

Lucas G

Sean

Lucas G

Sean

Lucas G

Lucas G

Sean

Lucas G

Sean

Lucas G

Sean

Olumise

Tod

Lucas G

Lucas G

Erik Beuschau

Olumise