Change a conditional variable

[GuideOTA]

Is this a feature relevant to companion itself, and not a module?

• I believe this to be a feature for companion, not a module

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Describe the feature

Any way to choose what variable will be changed by an action based on the state of another variable. Or even just the ability to write out an expression with a nested variable rather than just having the drop down on variable selection.

trying to give as much detail as possible to make sense: i have a long list of variables formated as
(camera number) "p" (preset number) e.g $(internal:custom_1p17)

and I want a way to choose which of these variables I choose the value of based on which camera and preset is active.

writing the nested variable expression in the dropdown menu makes sense in my head as a way to have the variable I am changing be dynamic to what camera and preset is active

please let me know if i am missing something obvious or if i am not making sence

Usecases

No response

[gtrabanco]

I think but not sure the current uniq way to do this is with a 3rd variable and using triggers

[dnmeid]

Currently the only way to do this is by using one of the APIs. You can set a custom variable value by API. In the according call you have to give the variable name and value and this can be generated by expressions.
I'm doing this for the same use case.

One possible way of enhancing this situation would be to enhance the internal: Custom Variable: Set or Create raw value if not exists action to be able to handle variables. Then you could address a variable given by a name stored in a different variable. In programming we call this a "pointer".

But actually we have a better way of solving your problem that is available today. Don't use tons of user variables that store a tiny information each, but store all the information in one variable. To change and retrieve only one part of the information, you have to use an array or JSON object.
Here is an example with an array:

• make a user variable called e.g. 'presets' and make it persistant.

• initialize the variable not by typing a value by hand but set it with the action internal: Custom Variable: Set with expression and the expression []. Now you have an empty array in your variable.

• write a value, e.g. cam 2 on preset 42, with the same action and the expression

  let arr = $(internal:custom_presets)
  arr[2] = 42
  arr 
  

• you can retrieve the camera number and preset number to store from different variables, e.g.

  let arr = $(internal:custom_presets)
  arr[$(internal:custom_cam)] = $(internal:custom_campreset)
  arr 
  

• if you want to retrieve the value for cam 2 simply use the expression $(internal:custom_presets)[2] or with the camera number read from a different variable $(internal:custom_presets)[$(internal:custom_cam)]

I agree that this is a little complicated and we should provide a better interface to access arrays or objects, but it is doable like that. Read the section about expressions on the Getting Started page.