[chaley]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Is there any functional difference between

check_yes_no(field('#bool'), '', '', '1')

and

check_yes_no(field('#bool'), 0, 0, 1)

First, you have the first parameter to check_yes_no() wrong. It is the field name, not the field value. Example:

check_yes_no('#bool', '', '', '1')

If you use field('...') then almost certainly check_yes_no() will return what is specified for is_undefined. It might return something else if the value of the field is itself a field name. It is possible that this is what you want because you don't know the field name until execution. For example, this would work:

check_yes_no(strcat('#', 'bool'), '', '', '1')

To answer your question, there is in general no difference between 1 and '1'. The value gets converted back and forth as needed. However, '' and 0 are not the same. The first is the empty string and the second results in the string '0'.

But to make things a bit more confusing the check_yes_no() function checks if the parameter is a 1 (or '1'). Anything else is assumed to be 0. Because of this peculiarity the following three are equivalent:

check_yes_no('#mybool', 0, 0, 1)
check_yes_no('#mybool', '', '', 1)
check_yes_no('#mybool', 'mybad', 'ohno', '1')

You should not depend on peculiarities like this. Do what the manual says: use the numbers 0 and 1.