There is no "run time" as it is a description, not an executable program,
so I don't understand what you mean.

You can set a global constant and use it in all functions and modules
defined in the same file. If you prefix it with $ then it will also be seen
by all functions and modules called from the file it is defined in.

If you are passing a lot of variables around perhaps it is better to put
them in a list and just pass that. For example when I define something like
a parametric box I put the properties in a list and pass it to all
functions and modules that draw the box.

See
https://github.com/nophead/NopSCADlib/blob/master/printed/printed_box.scad
for an example.

On Sat, 8 May 2021 at 16:48, lar3ry lar3ry@sasktel.net wrote:

Alternatively, you can create a module that contains a function that
returns your six values.  For example, put:

function mySixValues() = [ 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 ];

...in a file called myGlobalValues.scad

Then, in each module that needs those value, put:

//*******************************
use <myGlobalValues.scad>;

myValues = mySixValues();

echo( myValues );

On Sat, May 8, 2021 at 11:09 AM nop head nop.head@gmail.com wrote:

OK. I really didn't think it could be done, but thought I'd ask anyway.

So I decided to pass the variables as a list, and that's acceptable.

However, I have a problem, related to the whole "variables aren't" thing.
When I test for a valid formula, I can detect whether or not it's valid, but
I can't figure out how to pass it out of the for, so I can check for it in
the assert(), and use it in the call to calc(formula,given);

Is there some way I can store the true or false externally to the for loop,
so I can fetch it later?
Or is there perhaps some way I can break out of the for loop if I find a
match?

valid_formula = ([13,23,43,15,25,45,16,26,46,31,32,
34,51,52,54,61,62,64,71,72,74]);

triangle (20,30,0,50,0,0); //generates formula 64

module triangle(A,B,C,a,b,c) {
given = [A,B,C,a,b,c];
angflag = ((A>0 ? 4 :0) + (B>0 ? 2 :0) + (C>0 ? 1 :0)) * 10;
sideflag = ((a>0 ? 4 :0) + (b>0 ? 2 :0) + (c>0 ? 1 :0));
formula = angflag+sideflag;
for (f = [0:20]) {
if (formula == valid_formula[f]) {
echo ("formula: ", formula, " is valid");
}
}
// assert(valid==true, "Invalid input. Must have 2 angles and 1 side, two
sides and 1 angle, or three angles and 1 side");

echo (given);
// Note that in we only need to solve for side b and side c because once we
have those, we can simply close the path
// calc(formula,given);
}

nophead wrote

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Hmmm... and how would I go about saving the values in a separate file?

LenStruttmann wrote

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You just want to know if formula is in the list valid_formula?  Why not use
search?

Something like search([formula], valid_formula)[0] != [].  Might double
check syntax, or use BOSL2 in_list() instead to avoid idiotic search()
syntax.

If you really wanted to do it your way (or if the conditional was something
else):

match = [for(f=valid_formula) if (f==formula) f];
assert(match != []);

lar3ry wrote

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adrianv wrote

Ahh. Never have used search. That will do it, but...

That sounds even better.
Thanks Adrian!

oops. forgot to send this.

As you might surmise by my code snippet, I am trying to make an OpenSCAD
library that will solve triangle's sides and angles, given three pieces of
data. One angle and two sides, or two angles and one side.

I ended up using BOSL2 to error check before passing the given data to a
formula. Not knowing anything about trig, I am using the triangle calculator
at http://cossincalc.com/

After putting in values of C=50, b=30, and c=60, I got a triangle annotated
with angles and sides.

Scrolling down a bit to the Formulae section, and looking at the formula
used to calculate B, I run into my first trouble.

What the heck does the '-1' in that formula mean?

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If you mean sin to the -1 it means arcsine, which is asin() in openscad.
I.e. the inverse of sin.

On Sun, 9 May 2021 at 05:11, lar3ry lar3ry@sasktel.net wrote:

Thanks! Got another problem with a formula. Here's a snippet

if (formula==43) {
	A=given[0]; // 30
	b=given[4]; // 25
	c=given[5]; // 40
	a =sqr(b^2 + c^2 - 2 * b * cos(A));
	echo ("line 56 ",A,B,C,a,b,c);

and the result of the echo is:
ECHO: "line 56 ", 30, 0, 0, 4.75981e+6, 25, 40

The answer should be 22.20 according to the http://cossincalc.com site.

nophead wrote

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Thanks! Got another problem with a formula. Here's a snippet

    if (formula==43) {
            A=given[0]; // 30
            b=given[4]; // 25
            c=given[5]; // 40
            a =sqr(b^2 + c^2 - 2 * b * c * cos(A));
            echo ("line 56 ",A,B,C,a,b,c);

and the result of the echo is:
ECHO: "line 56 ", 30, 0, 0, 242999, 25, 40

The answer should be 22.20 according to the http://cossincalc.com site.

nophead wrote
If you mean sin to the -1 it means arcsine, which is asin() in openscad.
I.e. the inverse of sin.

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