Expressions

Planimate Expression Language

Originally Planimate referenced data using a dialog. This has been augmented with an underlying textual expression language which enables more straightforward mathematical, boolean and string manipulation.

An INI file default specifies whether references are specified using the text or dialog. You can switch between the two on the fly.

The following operators and types can be used in an expression. They are listed in order of precedence - the higher ones in the list will evaluate before the lower ones (BODMAS rules are followed).

number	Numeric constant
reference	Attribute/cell/row/column/label reference, references data in a model
"string"	Quoted text string
'x'	Single ASCII character
ref.prop	Property of a referenced datum
[]	Index property for tables and lists
function()	Internal expression function
ref.func()	Property function of a referenced datum
!	Logical NOT, !1=0, !123=0, !0=1
/	Arithmetic divide
%	Arithmetic modulus
*	Arithmetic multiply
+	Arithmetic add
-	Arithmetic subtract
<	Logical less than
<=	Logical less than or equal
>	Logical greater than
>=	Logical greater than or equal
==	Logical equal (values follow PL's equality check rules)
!=	Logical not equal
^	Logical exclusive-or 0^0=0, 0^1=1, 1^0=1, 1^1=0
&&	Logical AND
||	Logical OR
&	String concatenate
,	Comma separator for parameters to functions

Brackets () can be used to force order, eg:   (a + b) * c

Functions

As well as the operators above, a number of functions can be used. These can be nested and are particularly useful for complex math and string manipulation.

References

The most useful ability of expressions is the ability to reference multiple pieces of data in a Planimate model. Typically such a reference has a type letter, followed by a period then the datum's name.

Most operations expect numeric data. Some expect entire table rows, tables, columns, label lists or strings. In case where a string is needed, Planimate will automatically translate values to a string, following the format of the container of the value.

Example	Type	Context	comments
i.attribute	Value	Item	Attribute defined for an item class but uniquely settable for each
p.attribute	Value / String	Subsystem	Attribute defined and only visible within a subsystem and the portal/subsystems contained therein.
r.attribute	Value / String	Routine (Change)	Attribute defined within a routine (or subroutine). String attributes are not recursive within subroutines that call themselves but values are.
s.attname	Value / String	System wide	System provided access to properties and settings of the runtime environment
b.name	Value	Global	Enables a labelled constant to be used instead of 0 or 1. 'name' can be FALSE, NO or OFF for 0 and TRUE, YES or ON for 1. This can help make code intent clearer without any impact on performance in looking up a normal attribute or label value.
t.tablename[r][c]	Value / String	Subsystem	References a table cell. 'c' can be a column label for the table.
t.tablename	Table	Subsystem	Reference to an entire table
t.tablename.Row(value)	Table Row	Subsystem	Reference to an entire table row
t.tablename.Column(value)	Table Row	Subsystem	Reference to an entire table column
t.tablename.  MatchedRow(value)	Table Row	Subsystem	Reference to an entire table row determined by search for a 'key' in a 'column'
t.tablename.  MatchedCell(keycol,col,key)	Value / String	Subsystem	Reference to a table cell determined by search for a 'key' in a 'keycol'. The cell is taken from column 'col'.
t.tablename.  MatchedIndex(keycol,key)	Value	Subsystem	The row number determined by search for a 'key' in a 'keycol'
t.tablename.Remap(x,ycol)	Value	Subsystem	Lookup and interpolation of value from 'ycol' based on the row(s) which bound value 'x' in column 1 of the table.
t.tablename.PDF(colindex)	Column	Subsystem	References a column of PDF variables for the distribution generator when it is in PDF mode
t.tablename.CDF(colindex)	Column	Subsystem	References a column of CDF variables for the distribution generator when it is in CDF mode
t.table[r][c].Block	Cell	Subsystem	Converts a cell reference at [r][c] so it can be used to specify the top left cell in a block operation. This operation is due for review and replacement.
t.table[r][c].Property	Value	Subsystem	Converts a cell reference at [r][c] so it references the cell colour property data which enables the cells background and foreground colours to be individually set.
t.Dynamic(usename)	Table	Subsystem	Enables a table to be referenced by name dynamically. 'usename' is interpreted as a string to name the table. Note that matched references cannot be used with this kind of table reference.
t.tablename.RowCount	Value	Subsystem	References the number of rows in the table
t.tablename.ColumnCount	Value	Subsystem	References the number of columns in the table
s.item	Entire item	Item	References an entire item. Normally items are implicit and do not need to be referenced for an interaction but this is provided for special item properties.
s.item.Carried(index,name)	Value	Item	References an attribue 'name' on an item being carried by the current item. 'index' specifies which item, it can be a number like 1 for the first item, s.ItemsCarried uses the system attribute to get the last item picked up or i.CARRYINDEX enables use of a modeller created attribute which must be named CARRYINDEX to determine which carried item the reference will refer to.
(reference).objectproperty	Value	Object	Interprets the value of 'reference' as an object index and returns object property 'objectproperty' for that object, eg: p.fromportal.ObjectXPosition would retrieve the co-ordinate for the portal object referenced by a portal attribute 'fromportal'.

Notes:

Attribute/table/list names must be quoted if they contain spaces or characters apart from letters, numbers and underscore. Future versions will remove support for names with characters needing quotes.

l.labellistname["label text"]
l.labellistname[whichlabel]

where whichlabel is an expression giving a number from 1 to the number of labels in the list.

eg:
l._boolean["True"] - yields 1
l._boolean[2] - also yields 1 because "True" is the second member in this list

Expressions are "parsed" when OK is clicked so any syntax errors will be picked up during editing. However attribute names, table columns and label lookups are currently not determined until runtime. Future versions will see this optimised.