Emptying DB keys

[Jayhawk]

I'm trying to remove (partial) data from my saved variables. Say I have the following structure:

[topLevelKey] = {
    [subLevelKey01] = {
        value = foo
    }
    [subLevelKey02] = {
        value = foofoo
    }
    [subLevelKey02] = {
        value = foofoofoo
    }
}

And I want to remove the whole subLevelKey02 entry, so it ends up looking like:

[topLevelKey] = {
    [subLevelKey01] = {
        value = foo
    }
    [subLevelKey02] = {
        value = foofoofoo
    }
}

How do I do this?
I tried setting

self.db.profile.topLevelKey[subLevelKey02] = nil

But then it ends up like:

[topLevelKey] = {
    [subLevelKey01] = {
        value = foo
    }
    [subLevelKey02] = { }
    [subLevelKey02] = {
        value = foofoofoo
    }
}

Which doesn't quite cut the mustard.

Help?

[sarf]

Do it like this:

self.db.profile.topLevelKey.subLevelKey02 = nil

The reason it does not work is that using [] means "use the key value of the parameter specified inside the []s" so if you do the following:

a = {} a.b = 15; a.c = 2; a["d"] = a.b + a.c;

a.d will be 17 - and you can address it as a.d or a["d"] - it does not matter which.

Essentially, only use [] when you iterate through a table with an index key. Examples:

for k, v in pairs(defaults) do if ( settings[k] == nil ) then settings[k] = v; end
for i = 1, 40, 1 do raidUnitIds[i] = "raid"..i; end

Sarf

[Jayhawk]

Ok... I get the theory, but I realise I still mis something.

My problem is that the keys are dynamic. I'm trying to do the following. My addon saves skill data per character. I want to be able to remove that data for a specific character, chosen from a list.

So.
TopLevelKey is the dataitem that keeps track of the skills.
SubLevelKey is a charactername ("realmName|toonName")

Currently I create a little pop out menu listing all characters (other than the current) in the same realm. Each dewdrop entry call a function

    'func', function() self:PurgeCharacterData(realmName..'|'..toonName) end

This function should do the purging. I've rewritten it similar to what you suggest but I got a feeling this won't work.

function SkillsPlusFu:PurgeCharacterData(toonSaveKey)
    self.db.profile.toonSave.toonSaveKey = nil
    self.db.profile.skillSave.toonSaveKey = nil
    self:Update()
end

I guess the error messages (invalida array index) on the second line and a zero effect on the savedvariable file even if I comment out that line are dead giveaways as to it not working.

[wmrojer]

table.remove(self.db.profile.topLevelKey,subLevelKey02)

[Jayhawk]

I tried that, but that expects a numeric index in the table, rather than a string key.

[Tekkub]

AceDB provides per-char profiles, you don't need to manage it yourself....

self.db.char.whatever = "Whatever"

[Jayhawk]

Hi Tekkub,
I'm not sure that's what I'm after.

The addon I wrote (SkillsPlus) makes it possible to view the skills of your other toons (so I can't put them in the db.char, and saves some data per character, (which I guess should go in the db.char. )

Anyroad, the point here being, that if you delete a character, the skills database still shows the skills for that toon. I'd like to purge that information, which seems a lot harder than I expected. I hope that made sense?

[sarf]

Change your fuction to this:

function SkillsPlusFu:PurgeCharacterData(toonSaveKey)
    self.db.profile.toonSave[toonSaveKey] = nil
    self.db.profile.skillSave[toonSaveKey] = nil
    self:Update()
end

You almost had it - there was just a minor confusion about tables - and believe me, I've been thrown for a spin in that department myself in Lua.

Essentially, table[] should mainly be used for dynamic keys (and keys with whitespace in it) and table. should ONLY be used with static keys. While you can do static access using [], you really shouldn't unless you have to (whitespace etc).

Sarf

[Jayhawk]

Hi sarf
Thanks for the help. I actually tried that initially, but it didn't seem to work. I now found out something's wrong with the definition of the calling menu.