# Stupid to\_clr\_string **URL:** \ **Category:** IronRuby\ **Created:** [August 15, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/stupid-to-clr-string/145977 "2008-08-15T18:27:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sean\_CSHess](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Sean\_CSHess](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_CSHess)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/stupid-to-clr-string/145977/1 "2008-08-15T18:27:38Z")
Ok, I keep running into this over and over. Whenever Silverlight passes a string to javascript, it comes out as some unreadable object. You have to call to\_clr\_string to get it working. This is ok… You can monkey patch some of the javascript library code to fix it, but with HtmlPage.window.invoke, for example, it’s not easy to do because it sends a variable number of arguments. Is this being fixed? Or is this something we’re going to have to deal with for a while? Thanks ~sean ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_CSHess](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Sean\_CSHess](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_CSHess)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/stupid-to-clr-string/145977/2 "2008-08-15T18:41:06Z")
Ah, makes sense. I’m totally unfamiliar with the way IronRuby is implemented. Is it possible to switch it to a clr string any time it calls any framework code? (like the invoke function I’m using). ~sean ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_CSHess](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Sean\_CSHess](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_CSHess)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/stupid-to-clr-string/145977/3 "2008-08-15T18:35:50Z")
This isn’t a Silverlight issue but an IronRuby one. A Ruby string simply isn’t the same as a CLR string - the Ruby string is mutable while the CLR string is not. We need to come up with a cohesive plan for dealing with the difference before we can “fix” anything. From: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)] On Behalf Of Sean C. Hess Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 9:25 AM To: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid Subject: [Ironruby-core] Stupid to\_clr\_string Ok, I keep running into this over and over. Whenever Silverlight passes a string to javascript, it comes out as some unreadable object. You have to call to\_clr\_string to get it working. This is ok… You can monkey patch some of the javascript library code to fix it, but with HtmlPage.window.invoke, for example, it’s not easy to do because it sends a variable number of arguments. Is this being fixed? Or is this something we’re going to have to deal with for a while? Thanks ~sean ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_CSHess](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Sean\_CSHess](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_CSHess)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/stupid-to-clr-string/145977/4 "2008-08-15T18:46:57Z")
The binder could automatically create a conversion - in effect, calling to\_clr\_string for you automatically. But it might be a little strange for the binder to do that automatically in one direction and not the other - which is why I said that there needs to be a plan before we make any changes. From: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)] On Behalf Of Sean C. Hess Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 9:39 AM To: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid Subject: Re: [Ironruby-core] Stupid to\_clr\_string Ah, makes sense. I’m totally unfamiliar with the way IronRuby is implemented. Is it possible to switch it to a clr string any time it calls any framework code? (like the invoke function I’m using). ~sean On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 10:33 AM, Curt H. \ wrote: This isn’t a Silverlight issue but an IronRuby one. A Ruby string simply isn’t the same as a CLR string - the Ruby string is mutable while the CLR string is not. We need to come up with a cohesive plan for dealing with the difference before we can “fix” anything. From: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) [[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)] On Behalf Of Sean C. Hess Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 9:25 AM To: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) Subject: [Ironruby-core] Stupid to\_clr\_string Ok, I keep running into this over and over. Whenever Silverlight passes a string to javascript, it comes out as some unreadable object. You have to call to\_clr\_string to get it working. This is ok… You can monkey patch some of the javascript library code to fix it, but with HtmlPage.window.invoke, for example, it’s not easy to do because it sends a variable number of arguments. Is this being fixed? Or is this something we’re going to have to deal with for a while? Thanks ~sean ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_CSHess](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Sean\_CSHess](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_CSHess)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/stupid-to-clr-string/145977/5 "2008-08-15T18:48:43Z")
…oh, if the CLR interface we’re calling is typed to System.Object instead of System.String, then we probably can’t do any kind of automatic conversion. From: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)] On Behalf Of Sean C. Hess Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 9:39 AM To: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid Subject: Re: [Ironruby-core] Stupid to\_clr\_string Ah, makes sense. I’m totally unfamiliar with the way IronRuby is implemented. Is it possible to switch it to a clr string any time it calls any framework code? (like the invoke function I’m using). ~sean On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 10:33 AM, Curt H. \ wrote: This isn’t a Silverlight issue but an IronRuby one. A Ruby string simply isn’t the same as a CLR string - the Ruby string is mutable while the CLR string is not. We need to come up with a cohesive plan for dealing with the difference before we can “fix” anything. From: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) [[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)] On Behalf Of Sean C. Hess Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 9:25 AM To: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) Subject: [Ironruby-core] Stupid to\_clr\_string Ok, I keep running into this over and over. Whenever Silverlight passes a string to javascript, it comes out as some unreadable object. You have to call to\_clr\_string to get it working. This is ok… You can monkey patch some of the javascript library code to fix it, but with HtmlPage.window.invoke, for example, it’s not easy to do because it sends a variable number of arguments. Is this being fixed? Or is this something we’re going to have to deal with for a while? Thanks ~sean ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_CSHess](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Sean\_CSHess](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_CSHess)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/stupid-to-clr-string/145977/6 "2008-08-15T18:50:28Z")
Makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_CSHess](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Sean\_CSHess](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_CSHess)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/stupid-to-clr-string/145977/7 "2008-08-15T23:09:24Z")
You can monkey-patch the Silverlight classes you’re using to do the to\_clr\_string for you. For example HtmlDocument#GetElementById requires you pass it a ClrString, which can be annoying from IronRuby. So, you can make it take a Ruby string or symbol like this: module System::Windows::Browser class HtmlDocument alias\_method orig\_get\_element\_by\_id, get\_element\_by\_id def get\_element\_by\_id(id) orig\_get\_element\_by\_id(id.to\_s.to\_clr\_string) end end end # usage include System::Windows:Browser element = HtmlPage.document.get\_element\_by\_id(:foo) From: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)] On Behalf Of Sean C. Hess Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 9:48 AM To: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid Subject: Re: [Ironruby-core] Stupid to\_clr\_string Makes sense. On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 10:44 AM, Curt H. \ wrote: The binder could automatically create a conversion - in effect, calling to\_clr\_string for you automatically. But it might be a little strange for the binder to do that automatically in one direction and not the other - which is why I said that there needs to be a plan before we make any changes. From: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) [[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)] On Behalf Of Sean C. Hess Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 9:39 AM To: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) Subject: Re: [Ironruby-core] Stupid to\_clr\_string Ah, makes sense. I’m totally unfamiliar with the way IronRuby is implemented. Is it possible to switch it to a clr string any time it calls any framework code? (like the invoke function I’m using). ~sean On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 10:33 AM, Curt H. \ wrote: This isn’t a Silverlight issue but an IronRuby one. A Ruby string simply isn’t the same as a CLR string - the Ruby string is mutable while the CLR string is not. We need to come up with a cohesive plan for dealing with the difference before we can “fix” anything. From: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) [[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)] On Behalf Of Sean C. Hess Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 9:25 AM To: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) Subject: [Ironruby-core] Stupid to\_clr\_string Ok, I keep running into this over and over. Whenever Silverlight passes a string to javascript, it comes out as some unreadable object. You have to call to\_clr\_string to get it working. This is ok… You can monkey patch some of the javascript library code to fix it, but with HtmlPage.window.invoke, for example, it’s not easy to do because it sends a variable number of arguments. Is this being fixed? Or is this something we’re going to have to deal with for a while? Thanks ~sean * * * Ironruby-core mailing list removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) [http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/ironruby-core](http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/ironruby-core)