The scripting dictionaries
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New to version 8.1 of Kiwi Syslog Daemon, the Dictionaries collection allows for the creation of (named) dictionaries that store data key and item pairs. The data stored in these dictionaries is persistant, in that it exists for the lifetime of the application. Dictionaries have essentially the same scope as the VarGlobal variables in the Fields namespace.

A named Dictionary is the equivalent of a PERL associative array. Items, which can be any form of data, are stored in the array. Each item is associated with a unique key. The key is used to retrieve an individual item and is usually a integer or a string, but can be anything except an array.

All dictionary methods and properties are accessible through the "dictionaries" namespace.

Built in functions of the "Dictionaries" object


StoreItem(dicName As String, dicKey As String, dicItem As Variant)

The StoreItem method stores a key, item pair to a named dictionary.

dicName   Required. The name of the dictionary. If dicName does not exist, it will be created.
dicKey      Required. The key associated with the item being stored. If dicKey does not exist, it will be created.
dicItem   Required. The item associated with the key being stored.
 
eg.    Call Dictionaries.StoreItem("MyDictionary", "MyKeyName", "MyItemValue")



The .AddItem() and .UpdateItem() methods have been supplanted as of version 8.1.4 of Kiwi Syslog Daemon, by the .StoreItem() method. However, to ensure backwards compatibility the usage of .AddItem() and .UpdateItem() will continue to be supported.

AddItem(dicName As String, dicKey As String, dicItem As Variant)

The AddItem method adds a key, item pair to a named dictionary. An error will occur if the key dicKey already exists in the dictionary dicName.

dicName   Required. The name of the dictionary. If dicName does not exist, it will be created.
dicKey   Required. The key associated with the item being added.
dicItem   Required. The item associated with the key being added.

eg.    Call Dictionaries.AddItem("MyDictionary", "MyKeyName", "MyItemValue")



UpdateItem(dicName As String, dicKey As String, dicItem As Variant)

The UpdateItem method updates the item associated with key dicKey to the value in dicItem. Only the dictionary dicName is affected. An error will occur if dictionary dicName does not exist, or if key dicKey does not exist.

dicName   Required. The name of the dictionary.
dicKey   Required. The key associated with the item being updated.
dicItem   Required. The new item to be updated.

eg.    Call Dictionaries.UpdateItem("MyDictionary", "MyKeyName", "MyNewItemValue")



RemoveItem(dicName As String, dicKey As String)

The RemoveItem method removes a key, item pair from the dictionary dicName. An error will occur if dictionary dicName does not exist, or if key dicKey does not exist.

dicName   Required. The name of the dictionary.
dicKey      Required. The key associated with the item being removed.

eg.    Call Dictionaries.RemoveItem("MyDictionary", "MyKeyName")



RemoveAll(dicName As String)

The RemoveAll method removes all key, item pairs from the dictionary dicName. An error will occur if dictionary dicName does not exist.

dicName   Required. The name of the dictionary.

eg.    Call Dictionaries.RemoveAll("MyDictionary")



Delete(dicName As String)

The Delete method deletes the entire dictionary dicName. An error will occur if dictionary dicName does not exist.

dicName   Required. The name of the dictionary being deleted.

eg.    Call Dictionaries.RemoveItem("MyDictionary", "MyKeyName")



DeleteAll()

The DeleteAll method deletes all dictionaries.

eg.    Call Dictionaries.DeleteAll()



GetItemCount(dicName As String) As Long

The GetItemCount property returns the number of items in the dictionary dicName. An error will occur if dictionary dicName does not exist.

dicName   Required. The name of the dictionary.

eg.    ItemCount = Dictionaries.GetItemCount("MyDictionary")



GetItem(dicName As String, dicKey As String) As Variant

The GetItem property returns an item for a specified key dicKey in dictionary dicName. An error will occur if dictionary dicName does not exist, or if key dicKey does not exist.

dicName   Required. The name of the dictionary.
dicKey      Required. The key associated with the item being fetched.

eg.    MyItem = Dictionaries.GetItem("MyDictionary", "MyKeyName")



ItemExists(dicName As String, dicKey As String) As Boolean

The ItemExists property returns True if the specified key dicKey exists in the dictionary dicName. An error will occur if dictionary dicName does not exist.

dicName   Required. The name of the dictionary.
dicKey      Required. The key associated with the item being fetched.

eg.   If Dictionaries.ItemExists("MyDictionary", "MyKeyName") Then
      ...
   End If



GetKeys(dicName As String) As Variant

The GetKeys property returns an array containing all the keys in the dictionary dicName. An error will occur if dictionary dicName does not exist.

dicName   Required. The name of the dictionary.

eg.    MyKeyArray = Dictionaries.GetKeys("MyDictionary")
   For i = 0 to UBound(MyKeyArray)
      ThisKey = MyKeyArray(i)
      ...
   Next



GetItems(dicName As String) As Variant

The GetItems property returns an array containing all the items in the dictionary dicName. An error will occur if dictionary dicName does not exist.

dicName   Required. The name of the dictionary.

eg.    MyItemArray = Dictionaries.GetItems("MyDictionary")
   For i = 0 to UBound(MyItemArray)
      ThisItem = MyItemArray(i)
      ...
   Next



Error Reference:

Function Name
Error Description
GetName()
Script Error executing .GetName() - Dictionary does not exist
Delete()
Script Error executing .Delete() - Dictionary [x] does not exist
AddItem()
Script Error executing .AddItem() - Dictionary Key [x] already exists in dictionary [y]
UpdateItem()
Script Error executing .UpdateItem() - Dictionary Key [x] does not exist in dictionary [y]

Script Error executing .UpdateItem() - Dictionary [x] does not exist
RemoveItem()
Script Error executing .RemoveItem() - Dictionary Key [x] does not exist in dictionary [y]

Script Error executing .RemoveItem() - Dictionary [x] does not exist
RemoveAllItems()
Script Error executing .RemoveAllItems() - Dictionary [x] does not exist
GetItemCount()
Script Error executing .GetItemCount() - Dictionary [x] does not exist
GetItems()
Script Error executing .GetItems() - Dictionary [x] does not exist
GetKeys()
Script Error executing .GetKeys() - Dictionary [x] does not exist
GetItem()
Script Error executing .GetItem() - Dictionary Key [x] does not exist in dictionary [y]

Script Error executing .GetItem() - Dictionary [x] does not exist
ItemExists()
Script Error executing .ItemExists() - Dictionary [x] does not exist