RE: [css-variables] Empty variable values?

> That does not address the use-case I presented for the proposal, which
> is to allow variables to substitute nothing for themselves, which is
> required for some semantics where the lack of a value is different
> from any value you can provide. (It's also convenient for some other
> cases, like lists of values.)

The use cases seem valid, I've to agree.


> Why is it difficult? The standard way to delete a property in JS
> still works ("style.removeProperty('var-foo')"), and I've added a
> second way using the convenience API ("delete style.var.foo").

What if you want to undeclare a custom property from CSS to make sure the children make use of their fallback instead of inheriting the parent value? This is also a very valuable use case in my mind, maybe more important than the previous one.


In the context of my CSS Reference proposal, I think I've a way to solve both use case in a natural way, with an 'undefined' value that would be the 'initial invalid' value of a custom property (undeclared) :

   * {
       something: get(my-property||fallback);
   }
   .selector {
       // empty but valid token stream
       my-property: /*nothing*/;
   }
   .selector > * {
       // treat the property as undeclared
       my-property: get(undefined);
   }


In this case,

   element.style.myUndefinedProperty would return 'get(undefined)' instead of ''

and 

   element.style.myUndefinedProperty=element.style.myUndefinedProperty
 

would still be a no-op (well, almost). To clear a property without using delete, I guess you can still to

   element.style.myUndefinedProperty=';'

since that would be invalid and therefore will result in the declaration being dropped.


What do you think of that?

Received on Saturday, 9 February 2013 17:25:27 UTC