Dynamic Vex Variable Names?

[Simchron]

Hi there!

Is it possible to dynamically declare variables in a for loop with the index in the variable name?

Current problem:
I want to store primitives with similar normal angles into an array. The maximum number of arrays would be 4 (cardinal directions) but in most cases the normals head in only one direction.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers

[acey195]

its possible with H14 and up

using the http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini16.0/vex/functions/setprimattrib function
along with http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini16.0/vex/functions/sprintf

for example

float angleVal;
string attribName;

for(int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
{
	attribName = sprintf("angleDir_%d", i);
    angleVal = i; //do your math here                 
    setprimattrib(0, attribName, @primnum, angleVal);
}
                    

in H13 and lower, the attributes have to exist before the setprimattrib or setpointattrib etc are used, with H14 and up, it will generate it for you

or you can store them directly as an array attribute, but in some cases it may complain if the sizes of the array are not the same (at least in Python I think)

in vex that would look something like this:

float angleVals[], angleVal;
string attribName;

for(int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
{
    angleVal = i; //do your math here                 
    append(angleVals, angleVal);
}
                     
f[]@outAngles = angleVals;
                    

Edited May 2, 2018 by acey195

[Simchron]

Hi Twan,

thank you very much for taking the time and the detailed explanation.