Conditional (Ternary) Operator (?:)

[Viidhya Kishore]

Hi,
Can anybody explain me the foll lines :
display = display?display !row.style.display?"none" row.style.display == "inline"?"none":"inline"));
row.style.display = display;
img.src = display == "inline"?"'images/minus.gif'":"'images/plus.gif'";

Thanks,
Shriya

[edit - disbaled smiles]
[ July 15, 2008: Message edited by: Eric Pascarello ]

[Eric Pascarello]

break it up into if else

<blockquote>code:

---

<pre name="code" class="core">

if(display){}
else if( !row.style.display ){ display = "none" }
else if( row.style.display == "inline"){ display = "none" }
else display = "inline";

</pre>

---

</blockquote>

Does that make sense?

All it is doing is checking to see if a row is visible or not and flips it to the opposite value.

Eric

[Viidhya Kishore]

Thanks Eric.
It was very helpful.

Y cant they just write simple if statements

[Eric Pascarello]

I prefer

<blockquote>code:

---

<pre name="code" class="core">
var foo = variable1 || variable2;
</pre>

---

</blockquote>



Eric

[Bear Bibeault]

Originally posted by Shriya Kishore:
Y cant they just write simple if statements

Please use real words when posting to the forums. Abbreviations such as "y" in place of "why" only serve to make your posts more difficult to read and less likely to generate useful responses.

Please read this for more information.

thanks,
bear
JavaRanch sheriff

[Bear Bibeault]

Originally posted by Shriya Kishore:
Y cant they just write simple if statements

The ternary operator can be very useful and terse when making a simple decision in an expression. It can also be confusing when used as shown in your example. A judicious mix of if statements and the ternary operator can be used to achieve code that is as brief as possible, while still being readable and clear.

A good dose of thoughtful code formatting can also go a long way to enhancing the clarity of the code.