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Common questions (JavaScript)

How to output the content of a variable?

To output the content of a variable you should use either no punctuation mark at all (for variable only) or dollar/brackets inside backticks `${}`.

const myVariable = 462;
// variable-only output
output.text(myVariable); /* (1)! */

// prettier output formatting
output.text(`the content of my variable is ${myVariable}`); /* (2)! */

// Simple/Double quotes won't work as they are used to encapsulate strings
output.text("myVariable"); /* (3)! */
output.text('myVariable'); /* (4)! */

  1. Returns 462

  2. Returns the content of my variable is 462

  3. Returns myVariable

  4. Returns myVariable

The display of complex elements (tables, arrays of rows) is sometimes difficult to read

Do not hesitate to use console.log and to check your browser console. Otherwise, you could try to use this function (or to create your own) at the beginning of your scripts:

function jsonPrettyFormat(json, indent=0) {
    const indenterChar = " "; /* (1)! */
    if (json instanceof Array) {
        output.text(indenterChar.repeat(indent) + "[");
        indent += 1;
        json.forEach((elem)=>jsonPrettyFormat(elem, indent));
        indent -= 1;
        output.text(indenterChar.repeat(indent) + "]");
    }
    else {
        if (!(typeof(json)=="object")) {
            output.text(indenterChar.repeat(indent) + json);
        } else {
            output.text(indenterChar.repeat(indent) + "{");
            indent += 1;
            for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(json)) {
                if (!(typeof(value)=="object")) {
                    output.text(indenterChar.repeat(indent) + key + ": " + value)
                } else {
                    output.text(indenterChar.repeat(indent) + key + ": ");
                    indent += 1;
                    jsonPrettyFormat(value, indent);
                }
            }
            indent -= 1;
            output.text(indenterChar.repeat(indent) + "}");
        }
    }
}
  1. Please note that the indent character is not a classic space character as the output window of SeaTable's script editor actually trims indent spaces.

Just call it on an object to see the result

let rows = base.getRows('Daily expenses', 'Default View');
jsonPrettyFormat(rows);