User Guide

42 Chapter 2: Director Scripting Essentials
Checking items in lists
You can determine the characteristics of a list and the number of items the list contains by
using the following methods.
• To display the contents of a list, use the put() or trace() functions, passing the variable that
contains the list as a parameter.
• To determine the number of items in a list, use the count() method (Lingo only) or the
count property.
• To determine a list’s type, use the ilk() method.
• To determine the maximum value in a list, use the max() method.
• To determine the minimum value in a list, use the min() function.
• To determine the position of a specific property, use the findPos, findPosNear, or
getOne command.
The following statements use
count() and count to display the number of items in a list.
-- Lingo syntax
workerList = ["Bruno", "Heather", "Carlos"] -- define a linear list
trace(workerList.count()) -- displays 3
trace(workerList.count) -- displays 3
// JavaScript syntax
var workerList = list("Bruno", "Heather", "Carlos"); // define a linear list
trace(workerList.count); // displays 3
The following statements use ilk() to determine a list’s type.
-- Lingo syntax
x = ["1", "2", "3"]
trace(x.ilk()) // returns #list
// JavaScript syntax
var x = list("1", "2", "3");
trace(x.ilk()) // returns #list
The following statements use max() and min() to determine the maximum and minimum values
in a list.
-- Lingo syntax
workerList = ["Bruno", "Heather", "Carlos"] -- define a linear list
trace(workerList.max()) -- displays "Heather"
trace(workerList.min()) -- displays "Bruno"
// JavaScript syntax
var workerList = list("Bruno", "Heather", "Carlos"); // define a linear list
trace(workerList.max()); // displays Heather
trace(workerList.min()); // displays Bruno
The following statements use findPos to get the index position of a specified property in a
property list.
-- Lingo syntax
-- define a property list
foodList = [#breakfast:"Waffles", #lunch:"Tofu Burger"]
trace(foodList.findPos(#lunch)) -- displays 2
// JavaScript syntax
// define a property list
var foodList = propList("breakfast", "Waffles", "lunch", "Tofu Burger");
trace(foodList.findPos("breakfast")); // displays 1