ToolsDic module

Helpers for Scripting.Dictionary objects: reading and writing the name=value&name=value text of web forms, setting a value two levels deep, merging one dictionary into another, and copying one. A dictionary is passed as a Scripting.Dictionary parameter, so a program that names the type in its own code references the Microsoft Scripting Runtime.

Dim Form As New Scripting.Dictionary
Debug.Print ToolsDic.FromWwwFormUrlencoded("name=Ann&city=Oslo&empty=&x= y ", Form)
Debug.Print Form("name") & "|" & Form("city") & "|" & Form("empty") & "|" & Form("x")
' Output:
' True
' Ann|Oslo||y

Functions
See Also

Functions

DeepCopy

Copies a dictionary.

Syntax: ToolsDic.DeepCopy ( srcDic ) As Scripting.Dictionary

srcDic: required A Scripting.Dictionary. It is not changed.

Returns a new dictionary with the same keys and values. Only the first level is copied: where a value is an object, such as a dictionary or a collection, the copy holds the same object, not a copy of it. The source says that a recursive copy is still to be written. The copy has the default comparison mode, whatever the mode of the source.

Dim A As New Scripting.Dictionary
Dim C As Scripting.Dictionary

Set A("child") = New Scripting.Dictionary
A("child")("n") = 1

Set C = ToolsDic.DeepCopy(A)
C("child")("n") = 2
Debug.Print A("child")("n")
' Output:
' 2

FromWwwFormUrlencoded

Reads the pairs of a name=value&name=value text into a dictionary.

Syntax: ToolsDic.FromWwwFormUrlencoded ( Content , Dic ) As Boolean

Content: required A String, the text. It is split at each &, and each piece is split at its first =.
Dic: required A Scripting.Dictionary that receives the pairs. A name that it already holds gets the new value, and the other entries stay.

The name and the value of each pair lose the spaces at their ends. A pair with an empty name is skipped. A pair with no = gets an empty value. A value that holds an = is cut at it: in a=b=c the value is b. The text is not percent-decoded, so %20 and + stay as written, and a value that holds & cannot be expressed. The function always returns True. The source says that values that are arrays are still to be handled.

OverWrite

Copies values from one dictionary into another.

Syntax: ToolsDic.OverWrite ( DistDic , srcDic [ , OnlyKey ] )

DistDic: required A Scripting.Dictionary, the one that receives the values.
srcDic: required A Scripting.Dictionary, the one that supplies them. It is not changed.
OnlyKey: optional A Boolean, True by default. When it is True, only the keys that DistDic already has are written, so the structure of DistDic stays as it is. When it is False, every key of srcDic is written, and the missing ones are added.

Where a value of srcDic is an object, the method calls itself for that key with the two objects, so the nested dictionary of DistDic is updated in place and not replaced. A value that is not an object is assigned.

Note

With OnlyKey set to False, a nested dictionary of srcDic whose key DistDic does not have makes the recursive call receive an empty value for the missing key, where it needs a dictionary. The call raises error 424, Object required, and DistDic keeps the key that was looked up, with the value Empty.

Dim A As New Scripting.Dictionary
Dim B As New Scripting.Dictionary
Dim Inner As Scripting.Dictionary

Set A("n") = New Scripting.Dictionary
A("n")("x") = 1
A("n")("y") = 2
Set Inner = A("n")
Set B("n") = New Scripting.Dictionary
B("n")("y") = 20
B("n")("z") = 30
ToolsDic.OverWrite A, B
Debug.Print Inner("y") & " " & Inner.Exists("z")

Set B("m") = New Scripting.Dictionary
On Error Resume Next
ToolsDic.OverWrite A, B, False
Debug.Print Err.Number
Debug.Print A.Exists("m") & " " & IsEmpty(A("m"))
' Output:
' 20 False
' 424
' True True

Dim A As New Scripting.Dictionary
Dim B As New Scripting.Dictionary
A("x") = 1
A("y") = 2
B("y") = 20
B("z") = 30

ToolsDic.OverWrite A, B
Debug.Print A("x") & " " & A("y") & " " & A.Exists("z")

ToolsDic.OverWrite A, B, False
Debug.Print A("z")
' Output:
' 1 20 False
' 30

ToWwwFormUrlencoded

Writes a dictionary as a name=value&name=value text.

Syntax: ToolsDic.ToWwwFormUrlencoded ( Dic ) As String

Dic: required A Scripting.Dictionary of names and simple values.

The function is meant to build the text in a JavaScript array made with ToolsJScript.NewArr, and to turn the array into text with & in place of the commas. The values would not be percent-encoded, and a comma in a name or in a value would become &.

Warning

In version 1.0.0.5 the function never returns a text. It adds the entries a with the value 1 and bbb with the value 2 to Dic, and then fails with error 91, Object variable or With block variable not set, because ToolsJScript.NewArr cannot create its array. The two entries stay in the dictionary. A second call with the same dictionary fails earlier, with error 457, because the keys a and bbb are already there.

Dim Form As New Scripting.Dictionary
Form("name") = "Ann"

On Error Resume Next
Debug.Print ToolsDic.ToWwwFormUrlencoded(Form)
Debug.Print Err.Number
Err.Clear
Debug.Print Form.Count

Debug.Print ToolsDic.ToWwwFormUrlencoded(Form)
Debug.Print Err.Number
' Output:
' 91
' 3
' 457

TowLevelDicAssign

Sets a value in a dictionary that is held in a dictionary.

Syntax: ToolsDic.TowLevelDicAssign ( Dic , Lv1Name , Lv2Name , Value )

Dic: required A Scripting.Dictionary whose values are dictionaries.
Lv1Name: required A String, the key in Dic of the inner dictionary. The inner dictionary is created if Dic has no such key.
Lv2Name: required A String, the key in the inner dictionary.
Value: required A Variant, the value to store under Lv2Name.

The name has Tow for Two. If the inner dictionary exists, the value replaces the value of Lv2Name, or adds it. If it does not, a new dictionary is made, it receives the value, and Dic receives the new dictionary.

Dim D As New Scripting.Dictionary
ToolsDic.TowLevelDicAssign D, "a", "x", 1
ToolsDic.TowLevelDicAssign D, "a", "y", 2
Debug.Print D("a")("x") + D("a")("y")
Debug.Print D("a").Count
' Output:
' 3
' 2