destroyElement isn't *really* destroyed

[Morelli]

I found out this while testing GUIs. When an element is destroyed with the function destroyElement, the script still recognises it to exist, even though the visual representation of it (whatever it may be), ceases to exist. A sample code illustrating this can be found below.

function test( button, state, sx, sy, x, y, z, elem, gui ) 
    Grid = guiCreateGridList ( 0.5, 0.5, 0.3, 0.2, true ) 
    destroyElement( Grid ) 
    if ( Grid ) then 
        outputChatBox( "Yes") 
    else 
        outputChatBox( "No") 
    end 
end 
  
addCommandHandler( "o", test) 

[norby89]

that's normal, try isElement ( Grid ) and you'll see it returns false

when you destroy an element remember to 'nil' the variable it was associated to

[Stevvo]

Yo, after the destroyElement, add:

 grid = nil 

Problem solved, it seems with destroyElement, only the element itself is destroyed, not the variable the element was in.

[tma]

This is normal in any language - see malloc/free in C. The "value" returned from malloc is a pointer (reference) to the memory block. The same thing happens with MTA elements - variables point to the type data but aren't the type themselves (references).

[darkdreamingdan]

This is normal. Destroying an element doesnt make a pointer to it non-existant. You have to bear in mind you're not destroying the variable. use isElement as norby said.

[Phat Looser]

Or just set the variable to nil, since it should be nil when its pointing nowhere.

Thats the easiest way of doing "it".