xpages: cannot compute view column using getColumnValue() - xpages

Question

In the code below, I am trying to compute the last column using a value that is coming from another column in the view.
I can't figure out why this isn't working, returning the default value all the time:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xp:view xmlns:xp="http://www.ibm.com/xsp/core">
<xp:viewPanel rows="30" id="viewPanel1" var="varWI">
<xp:this.facets>
<xp:pager partialRefresh="true" layout="Previous Group Next" xp:key="headerPager" id="pager1">
</xp:pager>
</xp:this.facets>
<xp:this.data>
<xp:dominoView var="view1" viewName="WorkItem">
<xp:this.categoryFilter><![CDATA[#{javascript:"F832F30FA6C4686E85257F0E0008E964"}]]></xp:this.categoryFilter>
</xp:dominoView>
</xp:this.data>
<xp:viewColumn columnName="wi_Date" id="viewColumn6" displayAs="link" showCheckbox="true">
<xp:this.converter>
<xp:convertDateTime type="date"></xp:convertDateTime>
</xp:this.converter>
<xp:viewColumnHeader value="Creation Date" id="viewColumnHeader6" style="font-weight:bold">
</xp:viewColumnHeader>
</xp:viewColumn>
<xp:viewColumn id="wi_Intervention1" columnName="wi_Intervention">
<xp:viewColumnHeader id="viewColumnHeader9" style="font-weight:bold" value="Intervention">
</xp:viewColumnHeader>
</xp:viewColumn>
<xp:viewColumn id="wi_Category1" columnName="wi_Category">
<xp:viewColumnHeader id="viewColumnHeader10" style="font-weight:bold" value="Category">
</xp:viewColumnHeader>
</xp:viewColumn>
<xp:viewColumn id="viewColumn1">
<xp:this.facets>
<xp:viewColumnHeader xp:key="header"
id="viewColumnHeader1">
</xp:viewColumnHeader>
</xp:this.facets>
<xp:this.value><![CDATA[#{javascript:var s:string = varWI.getColumnValue('wi_Category');
if(s.equals("CATEGORY_DISCOUNT")) {
return "99. Discount"
} else if(s.equals("CATEGORY_INCOMPATIBILITY")) {
return "88. Incompatibility"
} else {
return "--. " + s.toLowerCase();
}}]]></xp:this.value>
</xp:viewColumn>
</xp:viewPanel>
</xp:view>
This part:
var s:string = varWI.getColumnValue('wi_Category');
if(s.equals("CATEGORY_DISCOUNT")) {
return "99. Discount"
} else if(s.equals("CATEGORY_INCOMPATIBILITY")) {
return "88. Incompatibility"
} else {
return "--. " + s.toLowerCase();
}
always return the value in lower case. The column values are text, and the field in the form as well.
Example: if the column value is "CATEGORY_DISCOUNT" what the column displays is "--. category_discount".
It seems it knows the column value, as it puts it in lower case, but it won't see it as equals to the value I check for in the "if" statement.
Quite confused....

Answer 1

Try s=="CATEGORY_DISCOUNT". You're casting it to an SSJS string, not a java.lang.String. .equals() may not work for SSJS strings.

Answer 2

Fellow coders, the problem had nothing to do with the code, but with the values saved in the document.
Turns out the drop down used to enter values has a formula that goes like this:
FrenchValue + " | " + Alias
Of course, on the web, the extra space is actually saved with the alias. So I had an extra space at the beginning of each value I was looking for...
I have been caught by that once or twice, and now my colleague also learned a valuable lesson!!!
Standard code started working like a charm once the extra space was removed from the view column that was used in the drop down of the form that filled the field in the view column.
Final column code was similar to this:
var s:string = viewEntry.getColumnValue('Intervention');
s = s.trim();
var col = sessionScope.lang=="en" ? 3 : 2;
#DbLookup(#DbName(), "VWL022", s, col);