getting a number out of a text area

[Shawn Riordan]

I have a webassembly function that takes an integer as a parameter.

I get the value out of a textarea and pass it in.  But I get this console error:

Uncaught TypeError: Cannot convert "10" to int

    at Object.toWireType (bdl.js:1) ...

Do I have to force a string variable into an integer variable in javascript somehow?

I thought all variables were typeless.