Drive a switch with a detail

[bolegna]

Hello ODF,

Thanks for all the help, this is a great site for looking up things but i have to dip my toe in and ask a simple question:

I'm having trouble with an expression inside a switch node, i want to change the switch from one input to another based on detail I've created from a filename

I'm a complete novice when it comes to expressions, would someone steer me right here?

Thanks in advance!

[ikoon]

Hi Rodger, I am not sure if you can compare two strings in the expression. Even if you try it without the details, "M"=="M" errors.

We have this function to compare strings:
https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/expressions/strcmp.html

Try something like this:

if(strcmp(details(     ),"M"),1,0)

 

[underscoreus]

Another way you could do it which is the way I usually deal with it when I use expressions like this in a switch node is that I just use vex to make sure that the attribute I am looking up is a number and then just look up the number attribute with the switch.

So essentially just put a wrangle down where you do the whole

if(s@gender == "M")
{

          i@switch_num = 0;

}
else if(s@gender == "F")

{

          i@switch_num = 1;

}

And then in your switch just do:

detail("/path/to/node", "switch_num", 0)

 

[bolegna]

Amazingly simple - that's exactly what i was looking for @underscoreus! Thank you very much : )