# Unusual type conversion - String datafield

**URL:** <https://clarionhub.com/t/unusual-type-conversion-string-datafield/9372>\
**Category:** questions\
**Tags:** compiler, dictionary\
**Created:** [September 16, 2026, 2:49pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/unusual-type-conversion-string-datafield/9372 "2026-09-16T14:49:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mjkuhn](https://clarionhub.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@mjkuhn](https://clarionhub.com/u/mjkuhn)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 2:49pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/unusual-type-conversion-string-datafield/9372/1 "2026-09-16T14:49:15Z")

</div>

Last resort was tying to set it to space. Can’t use any string variable either, same message. Deleted field in dictionary and readded. Cleaned, rebuilt app no luck. The window is a LIST control with Drop 3 for the 3 values listed. Also, I have the SAME data field (configured the same) in another table that is not showing this issue. Can someone shed some light on where to look for this problem?

 ![Conversion1](https://clarionhub-uploads.s3.dualstack.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/original/2X/1/12e2605c32a63f7bbbfe2768da5cf9928e0bb8bb.jpeg)  
 ![Conversion2](https://clarionhub-uploads.s3.dualstack.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/original/2X/6/6f07410da1116adfda7c651a2a77a8c8d0e408cc.jpeg)  
 ![Conversion3](https://clarionhub-uploads.s3.dualstack.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/original/2X/0/05d53618609b15d0476f0b041f949dd174a13cd9.jpeg)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jon\_Waterhouse](https://clarionhub.com/user_avatar/clarionhub.com/jon_waterhouse/32/6436_2.png) [@Jon\_Waterhouse](https://clarionhub.com/u/Jon_Waterhouse)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 2:59pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/unusual-type-conversion-string-datafield/9372/2 "2026-09-16T14:59:15Z")

</div>

Are you sure it is not really objecting to the next line, where it looks like you are assigning a string theory object to a column in the file?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mjkuhn](https://clarionhub.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@mjkuhn](https://clarionhub.com/u/mjkuhn)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 3:09pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/unusual-type-conversion-string-datafield/9372/3 "2026-09-16T15:09:46Z")

</div>

Jezzz. . .New to stringtheory. I need to get the “string” out of datastr. `datastr.GetValue()` works.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CarlBarnes](https://clarionhub.com/user_avatar/clarionhub.com/carlbarnes/32/1859_2.png) [@CarlBarnes](https://clarionhub.com/u/CarlBarnes)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 6:47pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/unusual-type-conversion-string-datafield/9372/4 "2026-09-16T18:47:13Z")

</div>

> [@mjkuhn](#):
>
> New to stringtheory

This may help you

> **[GitHub - CarlTBarnes/StringTheory-Tools: StringTheory tools BigBangTheory, Scratch Theory,...](https://github.com/CarlTBarnes/StringTheory-Tools)**
>
> StringTheory tools BigBangTheory, Scratch Theory, Split Theory and Write Theory to assist in writing, testing and debugging ST code. Similar Bang String class for non-ST.

It’s good to check if .LoadFile failed as seen on [this ST heavy tool](https://github.com/Bruce511/DriverKit/blob/main/ObdExport/ObdExport.clw). I wrote this code, for Bruce failure is not an option.

```clarion
  If ~str.loadfile(incFileName) Then !Carl catch that Load failed and tell user
      WriteOut('Operation aborted. Failed to Load INC File: '& clip(incFileName))
      WriteOut(Str.LastError)
      If str.winErrorCode Then
         WriteOut('Win Error Code: '& str.winErrorCode &': '& str.FormatMessage(str.WinErrorCode))
      End
      WriteOut('Press Enter to continue')
      FreeConsole()
      Return
  End

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mjkuhn](https://clarionhub.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@mjkuhn](https://clarionhub.com/u/mjkuhn)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 8:34pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/unusual-type-conversion-string-datafield/9372/5 "2026-09-16T20:34:59Z")

</div>

Thanks, my initial issue is resolved and code/process is working.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vitesse](https://clarionhub.com/user_avatar/clarionhub.com/vitesse/32/837_2.png) [@vitesse](https://clarionhub.com/u/vitesse)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 12:27pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/unusual-type-conversion-string-datafield/9372/6 "2026-09-17T12:27:34Z")

</div>

I am not really sure what you are trying to do (and you have said that it is now working) but I suspect your line where you have

> splitLine.setValue(datastr.getLine(1))

should be

> splitLine.setValue(datastr.getLine(currentRecord))

**OR**

perhaps you don’t want a loop at all and just want to check the first line

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mjkuhn](https://clarionhub.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@mjkuhn](https://clarionhub.com/u/mjkuhn)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 1:21pm UTC](https://clarionhub.com/t/unusual-type-conversion-string-datafield/9372/7 "2026-09-17T13:21:35Z")

</div>

All working. . .got StringTheory for a delayed project of ripping money transactions from multiple delimited files all with different formats. Read all the properties and methods, once I got passed that initial effort all is fine. Great price for the amount of time this is saving.