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TSTool / Command / If

Overview

The If command evaluates a conditional and if true will result in the commands between If and matching EndIf commands being executed. A matching Name parameter for the If and EndIf commands defines a block of commands. Currently, there is no “else if” or “else” syntax and nested If commands must be used to evaluate complex conditions.

The If command can evaluate the following:

  • simple conditional statement, as described in the next section
  • file exists or does not exist
  • object exists or does not exist (by checking for the object ID)
  • table exists or does not exist (by checking for the table ID)
  • time series exists or does not exist (by checking for the alias and TSID)

All nested If commands must evaluate to true to execute the commands within the deepest level of nesting. Some commands, including SelectTimeSeries and CopyTable set a property that can be used for checks, for example to see if the number of rows in a table or time series in a list is non-zero. It is helpful to use the Message command to print a message to the log file and help control whether a warning or failure status should occur as the result of the If. The SetProperty command can also be used to set a property to indicate the result of evaluating an If block.

Future enhancements to the If command may include:

  • Test whether a time series value is non-missing.
  • Compare time series properties with other properties and values.

See also the Break and Continue commands, which can be used within an If block to control logic in a For loop.

Conditional Syntax

The syntax for a conditional statement is restricted to a simple comparison:

Value1 operator Value2

The values can be integers, floating point numbers, boolean values (true/false), strings, or processor properties specified with ${Property} that evaluate to primitive types. The operator is one of the following (more functionality will be added in the future). For Booleans, False is less than True. For strings, A is less than Z, etc.

  • <
  • <=
  • >
  • >=
  • == (use this to test equality – do not use a single equal sign)
  • !=
  • contains (only for string comparison)
  • !contains (only for string comparison)

Command Editor

The command is available in the following TSTool menu:

  • Commands / General - Running and Properties

The following dialog is used to edit the command and illustrates the command syntax for a condition check.

If command editor for conditions test

If Command Editor for Conditions Test (see also the full-size image)

The following illustrates checking for file existence.

If command editor for file existence check

If Command Editor for Check for File Existence (see also the full-size image)

The following illustrates checking for object existence.

If command editor for object existence check

If Command Editor for Check for Object Existence (see also the full-size image)

The following illustrates checking for a property to make sure it is defined and not empty. This is useful for detecting logic and data problems.

If command editor for Property Defined check

If Command Editor for Check for Whether a Property is Not Defined or is Empty (see also the full-size image)

The following illustrates checking for table existence.

If command editor for table existence check

If Command Editor for Check for Table Existence (see also the full-size image)

The following illustrates how to detect if a time series exists. This is useful for executing only blocks of commands that operate on the time series (and avoiding those steps and related warning/failure messages when the time series does not exist).

If command editor for time series existence check

If Command Editor for Check for Time Series Existance (see also the full-size image)

Command Syntax

The command syntax is as follows:

If(Parameter="Value",...)

Command Parameters

Parameter                      Description Default                 
Name
required		 The name of the If command, which will be matched with the name of an EndIf command to indicate the block of commands in the if condition. None - must be specified.
Condition
required		 The conditional statement to evaluate. Condition and/or TSExists and/or PropertyIsNotDefinedOrIsEmpty must be specified.
CompareAsStrings If True, the comparison will be done as strings even if the values could be treated as numbers or Booleans. False
FileExists Causes the command to evaluate to True if the specified file exists. Can specify using ${Property}. Condition and/or one or more other checks must be specified.
FileDoesNotExist Causes the command to evaluate to True if the specified file does not exist. Can specify using ${Property}. Condition and/or one or more other checks must be specified.
ObjectExists Causes the command to evaluate to True if the specified object exists, based on checking the object IDs. Can specify using ${Property}. Condition and/or one or more other checks must be specified.
ObjectDoesNotExist Causes the command to evaluate to True if the specified object does not exist, based on checking the object IDs. Can specify using ${Property}. Condition and/or one or more other checks must be specified.
PropertyIsNotDefinedOrIsEmpty Causes the command to evaluate to True if the specified parameter (a property name) is not defined or has a value of null, NaN (floating point numbers), or is an empty string. Condition and/or one or more other checks must be specified.
TableExists Causes the command to evaluate to True if the specified table exists, based on checking the table IDs. Can specify using ${Property}. Condition and/or one or more other checks must be specified.
TableDoesNotExist Causes the command to evaluate to True if the specified table does not exist, based on checking the table IDs. Can specify using ${Property}. Condition and/or one or more other checks must be specified.
TSExists Causes the command to evaluate to True if the specified time series exists. Specify a TSID or alias to match. Can specify using ${Property}. Condition and/or one or more other checks must be specified.
TSDoesNotExist Causes the command to evaluate to True if the specified time series does exist. Specify a TSID or alias to match. Can specify using ${Property}. Condition and/or one or more other checks must be specified.

Examples

See the automated tests.

Example to Check Number Against Property

# Some previous command will have set an error count
If(Name="ExampleIf",Condition="${ErrorCount} > 1")
  Message(Message="Have ${ErrorCount} errors.  Stopping.")
  Exit()
EndIf(Name="ExampleIf")

Example to Check that a Sample Size is Sufficient

The following example illustrates combinations of If and Message commands (indentation indicates line continuation). In these examples processor properties are used to provide condition values.

# Test evaluating an integer condition where integer is supplied by property
StartLog(LogFile="Results/Test_If_IntegerProperty_LT_IntegerProperty.TSTool.log")
SetProperty(PropertyName="SampleSizeRequired",PropertyType=Integer,PropertyValue="10")
SetProperty(PropertyName="SampleSize",PropertyType=Integer,PropertyValue="5")
If(Name="SampleSizeCheck",Condition="${SampleSize} < ${SampleSizeRequired}")
Message(Message="Sample size (${SampleSize}) is less than required ${SampleSizeRequired}",CommandStatus=WARNING)
EndIf(Name="SampleSizeCheck")
If(Name="SampleSizeCheck2",Condition="${SampleSize} > ${SampleSizeRequired}")
Message(Message="Sample size (${SampleSize}) is >= than required ${SampleSizeRequired}",CommandStatus=WARNING)
EndIf(Name="SampleSizeCheck2")
If(Name="SampleSizeCheck3Outer",Condition="${SampleSize} < ${SampleSizeRequired}")
If(Name="SampleSizeCheck3InnerTrue",Condition="${SampleSize} == 5")
Message(Message="Sample size (${SampleSize}) is == 5",CommandStatus=WARNING)
EndIf(Name="SampleSizeCheck3InnerTrue")
If(Name="SampleSizeCheck3InnerFalse",Condition="${SampleSize} != 6")
Message(Message="Sample size (${SampleSize}) is not == 6",CommandStatus=WARNING)
EndIf(Name="SampleSizeCheck3InnerFalse")
EndIf(Name="SampleSizeCheck3Outer")

Troubleshooting

See the main TSTool Troubleshooting documentation.

See Also