Problem with Update method

[bilon]

I have simple script changing single property of elements attribute and subsequently iterating through elements attributes to display the new value. But the old value is displayed. Here is the script:

Sub Main
   Dim tab AS EA.Element
   Dim col AS EA.Attribute
   For Each tab In Repository.GetTreeSelectedElements
      For Each col In tab.Attributes
         If col.Name = "TABLE_NAME" Then
            Select Case col.Type 
               Case "varchar"
               col.Type = "char"
               col.Update
               Session.Output "1: " & col.Name & " " &  col.Type
               '1: TABLE_NAME char
            Case Else   
            End Select
         End If      
      Next
      'tab.Attributes.Refresh
      For Each col In tab.Attributes
         If col.Name = "TABLE_NAME" Then
            Session.Output "2: " & col.Name & " " &  col.Type
            '2: TABLE_NAME varchar
         End If
      Next
   Next
End Sub

The new value is correctly saved to model, so why it is not displayed in the script?

[qwerty]

You need a Refresh of the collection in between the 2 loops.

q.

[bilon]

As you can see, Refresh is already there. But commented, because it doesn't help.

[Uffe]

I think you need to
    tab.Refresh()
as well.

Notes: Refreshes the element features in the Project Browser.

Usually called after adding or deleting attributes or methods, when the user interface is required to be updated as well.

/U

[qwerty]

I might be wrong, but the refresh.line seems to be commented out.

q.

[Uffe]

Yes, but he's refreshing the Collection, not the Element. According to the API documentation, you need to refresh the element after adding attributes.

/U

[qwerty]

I shouldn't lean in too much without testing, but refresh is to update a collection. He's changing elements of a collection and you need to tell EA to get the updates since it's using a cache of the old values. Since the refresh is commented in his code, this must be the culprit.

q.

[bilon]

The reason why tab.Attributes.Refresh is commented, is, that tested it but it didn't work, so I commented it. Even tab.Refresh doesn't work!

[qwerty]

Well, I just ran your script and it worked with NO issues.

q.

[Uffe]

I shouldn't lean in too much without testing, but refresh is to update a collection.

I know, but it's implemented by other classes as well, and the user guide (as quoted in my first post) explicitly states that you need to Refresh() the Element itself after adding attributes.

Well, I just ran your script and it worked with NO issues.

.... and that's the end of this argument.

/U

[bilon]

What do you mean with "worked with no issues"? Does it mean, that the output looked like this:
1: TABLE_NAME char
2: TABLE_NAME char

[qwerty]

Lucky you, it was still in my output window:

1: TABLE_NAME char   
2: TABLE_NAME varchar   
1: TABLE_NAME char   
2: TABLE_NAME varchar   

(output from 2 runs).

q.

[bilon]

In this case, it isn't definitely without issues. The issue is, that after setting datatype to "char" in step 1, it is displayed as "varchar" in step 2. They should be same.

[qwerty]

Ah, now I see. Unfortunately you reply here in long distances so I'm out each time. I see that the 2nd loop shows the non-updated values. But EA is doing the change (this is why I posted that it works correctly) since afterwards the types ARE changed. So the question is: why does the 2nd loop show the wrong values. Hmm. Tricky indeed.

q.

[qwerty]

Replacing the 2nd loop like this

Code: [Select]

     dim tab1 as EA.Element
     set tab1 = Repository.GetElementByID(tab.ElementID)
     For Each col In tab1.Attributes
         If col.Name = "TABLE_NAME" Then
            Session.Output "2: " & col.Name & " " &  col.Type
            '2: TABLE_NAME varchar
         End If
      Next
fixed the issue. Honestly, I never ever used a collection more than once. This Refresh-thingy is just fishy in my opinion. And obviously it's broken too. Feel free to send a bug report.

q.

P.S. Probably the Refresh has only an effect if you added or removed elements from it. In any case it's broken.