Use updateValue< long > instead of update_value_int in quantal_stp_synapse

[stinebuu]

This PR fixes #2049

[jougs]

:-)

[jougs]

One question: Does updateValue< long >also have the property this code will take either an int or a double and convert it to an int that the removed function had according to it's Doxygen comment?

[stinebuu]

@jougs Good point. An error is now thrown if we provide a double. It is quite easy to fix by adding a check in the function of getValue< long >, should I do that?

nest-simulator/sli/tokenutils.cc

Lines 41 to 50 in 66269a2

	getValue< long >( const Token& t )
	{
	const IntegerDatum* id = dynamic_cast< const IntegerDatum* >( t.datum() );
	if ( id == NULL )
	{ // We have to create a Datum object to get the name...
	IntegerDatum const d;
	throw TypeMismatch( d.gettypename().toString(), t.datum()->gettypename().toString() );
	}
	return id->get();
	}

[jougs]

I think it would be good if that functionality were there. Otherwise we might again run into trouble when setting data from NEST Desktop, see #2009 and #2024.

[clinssen]

I don't understand why this automatic cast is necessary; it could even be dangerous due to loss of precision. The underlying data type in class quantal_stp_synapse is an int. The cast, if it should happen at all, should be on the Python side, and NEST should error out when passed a float/double.

The only actual danger is mixing an int and a long here.

[jougs]

Argh! You're right, @clinssen. I was thinking the wrong way around all the time. This function updates a C++ variable of type long from a dictionary and that should of course throw an error if the datum in the dictionary is of type double. Sorry for confusing you, @stinebuu, I think you have to revert your recent commits aaf2fdd and 13055f1 😿

[stinebuu]

I will convert back to 0434725 😉