How can I get the range of a binding in Office.JS? - excel

There used to be binding.range or binding.getRange(), but both do not function for a binding, and nothing similar is documented on https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/javascript/api/office/office.binding. There is only the possibility to get the data of the according cell. Did this function go away and is it coming back or what is the issue here? I need it for an Excel AddIn.

Well, the following code from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/javascript/api/excel/excel.binding?view=excel-js-preview#getRange__ should work:
var binding = ctx.workbook.bindings.getItemAt(0);
var range = binding.getRange();
range.load('cellCount');
return ctx.sync().then(function() {
console.log(range.cellCount);
});
But in my case, with a different code snippet (got the binding on another way), getRange() did not work, so there might be differences of how you got hands on the binding. But at least it should be possible. (I am not examining this further as I found a way not needing this functionality for my use case, cf. How do I use Office.JS to add invisible information to a cell in Excel?)

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NSFetchedResultsController + UICollectionViewDiffableDataSource + CoreData - How to diff on the entire object?

I'm trying to use some of the new diffing classes built into iOS 13 along with Core Data. The problem I am running into is that controllerdidChangeContentWith doesn't work as expected. It passes me a snapshot reference, which is a reference to a
NSDiffableDataSourceSnapshot<Section, NSManagedObjectID>
meaning I get a list of sections/Object ID's that have changed.
This part works wonderfully. But the problem comes when you get to the diffing in the collection view. In the WWDC video they happily call
dataSource.apply(snapshot, animatingDifferences: true)
and everything works magically, but that is not the case in the actual API.
In my initial attempt, I tried this:
resolvedSnapshot.appendItems(snapshot.itemIdentifiersInSection(withIdentifier: section).map {
controller.managedObjectContext.object(with: $0 as! NSManagedObjectID) as! Activity
}, toSection: .all)
And this works for populating the cells, but if data is changed on a cell (IE. the cell title) the specific cell is never reloaded. I took a look at the snapshot and it appears the issue is simply that I have references to these activity objects, so they are both getting updated simultaneously (Meaning the activity in the old snapshot is equivalent to the one in the new snapshot, so the hashes are equal.)
My current solution is using a struct that contains all my Activity class variables, but that disconnects it from CoreData. So my data source became:
var dataSource: UICollectionViewDiffableDataSource<Section, ActivityStruct>
That way the snapshot actually gets two different values, because it has two different objects to compare. This works, but it seems far from elegant, is this how we were meant to use this? Or is it just in a broken state right now? The WWDC video seems to imply it shouldn't require all this extra boilerplate.
I ran into the same issue and I think I figured out what works:
There are two classes: UICollectionViewDiffableDataSource and UICollectionViewDiffableDataSourceReference
From what I can tell, when you use the first, you're taking ownership as the "Source of Truth" so you create an object that acts as the data source. When you use the second (the data source reference), you defer the "Source of Truth" to another data source (in this case, CoreData).
You would instantiate a ...DataSourceReference essentially the same way as a ...DataSource:
dataSourceReference = UICollectionViewDiffableDataSourceReference(collectionView: collectionView, cellProvider: { (collectionView, indexPath, object) -> UICollectionViewCell? in
let identifier = <#cell identifier#>
let cell = collectionView.dequeueReusableCell(withReuseIdentifier: identifier, for: indexPath)
<#cell configuration#>
return cell
})
And then later when you implement the NSFetchedResultsControllerDelegate, you can use the following method:
func controller(_ controller: NSFetchedResultsController<NSFetchRequestResult>, didChangeContentWith snapshot: NSDiffableDataSourceSnapshotReference)
{
dataSourceReference.applySnapshot(snapshot, animatingDifferences: true)
}
I watched the WWDC video as well and didn't see this referenced. Had to make a few mistakes to get here. I hope it works for you!

structAppend vs Duplicate

I am familiar with things like
if ( isDefined( 'URL' ) ) structAppend( request.context, URL );
if ( isDefined( 'Form' ) ) structAppend( request.context, Form );
Which is how FW/1 builds rc. I recently got handed some code that does this
_inputs = duplicate(url);
structAppend(_inputs, form);
What is duplicate() doing here? How is that different from structAppend()?
I wonder if the original developer had come across issues when using the StructCopy() method and carried that over into their code for the StructAppend() method? I know that the StructCopy() method will copy nested structures by reference which can bite you. That is an example of when I use the Duplicate() method (to make a completely new copy of a structure).
I don't think that StructAppend() works that way though. Perhaps they wrote that code in an overabundance of caution. Obviously, this is just a guess.
The StructCopy() method is documented to copy by reference.
Copies a structure. Copies top-level keys, values, and arrays in the structure by value; copies nested structures by reference.
Where as the StructAppend() method makes no mention of it.

Excel add-in with logging class: How to react to VBA state loss?

The setup
I'm developing and maintaining an Excel add-in that comes with its own tab of controls within Excel's Ribbon UI. I've come across the problem of state loss before (meaning loss of all variables with global scope, static variables, etc, which of course includes my reference to the RibbonUI). With regards to the ribbon reference I've "solved" the problem by including a "Reset Ribbon" button that restores the reference from a persistently stored pointer and then invalidates the ribbon. Although certainly not the most elegant, this part works just fine.
However, after the introduction of a logging class, the state loss issue haunts me once again. The logger is instantiated in ThisWorkbook's module:
Private Sub Workbook_Open()
Set LogToFile = SingletonFactory.getToFileLogger
End Sub
and is then put to work, for example, as follows:
Private Sub buttonReloadObjects_onAction(ByVal control As IRibbonControl)
LogToFile.trace "Event firing: buttonReloadObjects_onAction"
' more stuff happening...
invalidateRibbon ' restores ribbon object and invalidates it
End Sub
The logger is instantiated when the add-in is loaded so that I have the freedom to log whatever I want within the confines of my add-in's code. It has several logging levels like trace/debug/error/... and a couple of other methods. Usually it works just fine - until the state loss hits (usually caused by an unrelated error, followed by clicking "End").
State loss
At this point the VBA environment forgets about the very existence of my LogToFile object and nothing works any more, because every click on the ribbon controls will trigger a runtime error 91: Object variable or with block variable not set pointing to whatever line is the first to contain a reference to LogToFile.
A solution?
Now, short of doing crazy workarounds like placing
if not isObject(LogToFile) then
Set LogToFile = SingletonFactory.getToFileLogger
end if
LogToFile.trace "Message"
before any occurrence of LogToFile, the only real "solution" I was able to come up with is to wrap all my logger calls in functions (residing in a standard module) and call these functions any time I want to send something to the log. This way I could catch the missing object reference right before the object is needed and I avoid calling methods of uninstantiated objects.
However, after having everything neatly encapsulated in class modules, it strikes me as odd, maybe even wrong(?), going down this route.
So, is there a "proper" solution to the problem of a lost logger instance? Or is my suggested approach already as proper as it can get?
Note: This problem is of course not specific to logging classes. It affects all global variables, most notably my ApplicationEventClass. The issue just happens to be the most glaring with the logger due to its frequent usage around all entry points to the code.
You only need one function that either returns the original variable or resets it. If you call that function LogToFile you don't need to change any of the other code other than removing the Workbook_Open code which is then superfluous. So:
Function LogToFile() As WhateverVariableType
Static temp as WhateverVariableType
If temp is Nothing then Set temp = SingletonFactory.getToFileLogger
Set LogToFile = temp
End Function
This way you will also still benefit from Intellisense when writing the code.
Note: you may not actually need the temp variable - it depends on whether there are settings that you want persisted. If there are, you may want to reset them in the function too.

Passing a String by Reference in Metro/C++?

I'm working on a C++ Metro style app and have to pass a string by reference (somehow). At first, I passed the String^ which doesn't work because strings are immutable how I have found out.
What would be a proper way to pass a string by reference?
Edit: OK, it seems that it's not that easy since the answers and comments suggest to use return values. But as far as I think this is not applicable in my situation: In this Metro app I have two pages and a string should be "shared" across those two pages.
So in the main page I do this in a click event:
this->Frame->Navigate(newPage, this->TestString);
In the OnNavigatedTo event of the second page I convert the second parameter to a String^ and change it. Then I use this->Frame->GoBack() to navigate back to the first page. There I'd like to have access to the changed string. Unfortunately, GoBack() doesn't allow to pass any parameters as far as I know.
You can use a tracking reference:
void ModifyTheParameter(String^% value) {
value = gcnew String("Blah");
}
That would modify the original variable you passed in as parameter (see MSDN for more info and examples). It would then be used just as any other method taking a String^ parameter.
But if possible, avoid using tracking references as parameters. I'd recommend just returning a String^ and assigning that to the original variable.
Yet another possibility: You could just create some kind of View-agnostic DataModel that contains your String (and possibly other data that you work with). You could then pass that DataModel to your method. Since the DataModel variable isn't changed (just a property of it), you wouldn't need to pass a reference to it.
See below an example of a function f which takes as a parameter a reference to a std::string.
std::string someString;
void f(std::string& s);
f(someString);

Remove Single Metaclass Method

I've been starting to learn Groovy and am currently looking at the metaclass functionality. I have seen the examples of adding a new method, and removing all methods, but nothing about removing a single method. For example:
String.metaClass.foo = {delegate.toUpperCase()}
String.metaClass.bar = {delegate.toLowerCase()}
with the obvious side-effects. Now I have seen that you can say
String.metaClass = null
To remove all of the methods. I would expect one could say something along the lines of
String.metaClass.foo = null
to remove String.foo(), but have String.bar() remain, however this statement does not seem to have any effect. Is there a way to say method foo() should no longer be defined, without effecting bar() or any other added methods?
If you search this webpage for "remove method" it says that you should be able to remove a method using the exact syntax you've proposed above. But I tested it, and you're right, it doesn't seem to work.
A workaround is to assign a closure that throws MissingMethodException, which is what happens by default when you call a method that doesn't exist, e.g.
// Add method
String.metaClass.foo = {delegate.toUpperCase()}
// Remove method
def removeMethod = {throw new MissingMethodException()}
String.metaClass.foo = removeMethod
Admittedly, this is not the most pleasing solution.
As a followup, I posted a bug report here:
https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-4189
And the documentation has been changed now
See the bug report for the reason this was never implemented
Don's answer is the best way around this

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