Re: simple problem with string handling

On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 1:24 PM, DeLong, Eric <EDeLong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hmm, just an observation...

I think the NORMAL pattern of use in the case where
you're concatenating a bunch of [fixed-length] fields together is:

myString += %trim( theSalutation ) + ' ' +
%trim( theFirstName ) + ' ' +
%trim( theLastName );

Even this would have issues if theSalutation was blank... The
correction for that is another %trim, unfortunately...

myString += %trim( %trim( theSalutation ) + ' ' +
%trim( theFirstName ) + ' ' +
%trim( theLastName ) );

We NEVER want to ASSUME that blanks in data fields will be consistent...

Well, to take it a step further, there is also the problem of what
happens if the first name is blank but the salutation is not. Then
you'll have two spaces between "Mr" and "Hamberg".

So if you really want to get it right in RPG, you have use a series of
IFs (checking each component to see if it's empty) or use a loop at
the end with a second string variable to use as a workspace. (The
latter is well-suited to being put in a procedure, especially a
procedure in a service program.)

If you must use RPG, it's totally worth it to set up some reusable
advanced string functions. But if you don't already have these, it
may be easier to just use a language that was designed with
string-handling in mind. Example in Python:

pieces = (theSalutation, theFirstName, theLastName)
myString = ' '.join(' '.join(pieces).split())

Finally, it's worth noting that if you are building strings containing
HTML meant to be read by a browser, then extra spaces are actually
fine anyway (the browser automatically reduces multiple adjacent
spaces to a single space). It's when you want to force extra spaces
where things get tricky (or more annoying)!

John