String- (Built-in Functions)

Bin - Converts a hexadecimal string into an array of bytes.

Expression Syntax: Bin(hex)

Examples:

Bin("00010203")

returns binary data of length 4 bytes with values 0, 1, 2, 3.

Find - Finds the position in a string (in bytes, not characters) of a substring within a string.

Expression Syntax: Find(string, searchstring)

string: The string, or property value representing a string, to search.

searchstring: The substring, or property value representing a string, to search for.

Returns

The position in the string of the first occurrence of the searchstring, starting at 0. -1 will be returned if searchstring is not found.

Example:

Find("aaa", "a") - will return 0

Find("The Cat", "Cat") - will return 4

Find("The Cat", "The") - will return 0

Find("The Cat", "Dog") - will return -1

FindW - Finds the position of a substring within a string or -1 if not found.

Expression Syntax: FindW(string, searchstring)

string: The string, or property value representing a string, to search.

searchstring: The substring, or property value representing a string, to search for.

Returns

The position in the string of the first occurrence of the searchstring, starting at 0. -1 will be returned if searchstring is not found.

Example:

FindW("aaa", "a") - will return 0

FindW("The Cat", "Cat") - will return 4

FindW("The Cat", "The") - will return 0

FindW("The Cat", "Dog") - will return -1

FormatDate - Formats a date number as a string using the MFC COleDateTime format specification.

Expression Syntax: FormatDate(date, format)

date: a date or a property representing a date

format: A C printf format specification, see Allowable formats.

Examples:

FormatDate(date(),"%d %B %Y")

would return day month year, i.e. 23 April 2014.

FormatDate(date(),"%x: %X")'

would return an automatic date and time for the current locale in the format; 23/04/2014: 10:30:38

Allowable formats:

The format parameter in the expression syntax can contain a combination of the following codes:

%a ‑ Abbreviated weekday name

%A ‑ Full weekday name

%b ‑ Abbreviated month name

%B ‑ Full month name

%c ‑ Date and time representation appropriate for locale

%d ‑ Day of month as decimal number (01 to 31

%H ‑ Hour in 24-hour format (00 to 23)

%I ‑ Hour in 12-hour format (01 to 12)

%j ‑ Day of year as decimal number (001 to 366)

%m ‑ Month as decimal number (01 to 12)

%M ‑ Minute as decimal number (00 to 59)

%p ‑ Current locale's A.M./P.M. indicator for 12-hour clock

%S ‑ Second as decimal number (00 to 59)

%U ‑ Week of year as decimal number, with Sunday as first day of week (00 to 51)

%w ‑ Weekday as decimal number (0 to 6; Sunday is 0)

%W ‑ Week of year as decimal number, with Monday as first day of week (00 to 51)

%x ‑ Date representation for current locale

%X ‑ Time representation for current locale

%y ‑ Year without century, as decimal number (00 to 99)

%Y ‑ Year with century, as decimal number

%z ‑ %Z ‑ Time-zone name or abbreviation; no characters if time zone is unknown

%% ‑ Percent sign

Example format combinations:

%d:%m:%y would return Day of the month: Month number: Year without century (as a decimal), i.e. 23:04:14.

%H:%M:%S would show Hour (24h-hour format): minute as decimal: second as decimal, i.e. 10:26:36.

Note: Date and time codes can be used in a print template. See the section commencing with the topic About Print Templates for details of print templates.

FormatFlt - Returns a floating point number as a string.

Expression Syntax: FormatFlt(float, format)

float: A floating point number or a property representing a floating point number.

format: A C printf format specification, see Allowable formats.

Example:

FormatFlt(2.3456789, "%10.3f")

Allowable formats:

The format string must have the following general form:

%[flags][width][.precision]type

Where the fields are as follows:

flags - can contain these characters: -+ #0

width - is an optional number

precision - is another optional number

type - is one of the following characters:

e - Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent), lowercase, example 3.9265e+2

E - Scientific notation (mantissa/exponent), uppercase, example 3.9265e+2

f - Decimal floating point, lowercase, example 392.65

g - Use the shortest representation: %e or %f, example 392.65

G - Use the shortest representation: %E or %F, example 392.65

An example format would be %10.3f

FormatInt - Returns an integer as a string.

Expression Syntax: FormatInt(integer, format)

integer: An integer or a property representing an integer.

format: A C printf format specification, see Allowable formats.

Example:

FormatInt(89,"%10.3x") 
this will return a Hex value of 059

Allowable formats:

The format string must have the following general form:

%[flags][width][.precision]type

Where the fields are as follows:

flags - can contain these characters: -+ #0

width - is an optional number

precision - is another optional number

type - is one of these characters: cdiouxX

c - Character, example a (if 97 is entered in the integer field)

d - or i Signed decimal integer, example 392

o - Unsigned octal, example 610

u - Unsigned decimal integer, example 7235

x - Unsigned hexadecimal integer, example 7fa

X - Unsigned hexadecimal integer (uppercase), example 7FA

An example format would be %05d

FormatStr - Formats a string.

Expression Syntax: FormatStr(string, format)

string: A string, or a property representing a string.

format: A C printf format specification, see Allowable formats.

Example:

FormatStr("This is a string","%10.16s")

this will return "This is a string".

Allowable formats:

The format string must have the following general form:

%[flags][width][.precision]type

Where the fields are as follows:

flags - can contain these characters: -+ #0

width - is an optional number

precision - is another optional number

type - must be the character s (string of characters)

An example format would be %10.10s

Hex - Returns the hexadecimal representation of an array of bytes.

Expression Syntax: Hex(binary)

binary: The binary representation of an item.

Example:

Hex(WKB())

returns a value in the format “000000000140000000000000004010000000000000”

Left - Gets a number of characters from the left of a string using a byte count.

Expression Syntax: Left(string, bytes)

string: A string, or a property representing a string.

bytes: The number of bytes to return.

Example:

Left("Cadcorp",3)
returns Cad

LeftW - Gets a number of characters from the left of a string using a character count.

Expression Syntax: LeftW(string, bytes)

string: A string, or a property representing a string.

bytes: The number of characters to return.

Example:

LeftW("Cadcorp",3)

returns Cad

Len - Gets the length of a string, in bytes.

Expression Syntax: Len(string)

string: A string, or a property representing a string.

Example:

Len("Cadcorp software")

returns 16

Len(name$)

returns the length of name$

LenW - Gets the length of a string, in characters.

Expression Syntax: LenW(string)

string: A string, or a property representing a string.

Examples:

LenW("Cadcorp software")

returns 16

LenW(name$)

returns the length of name$

Local - Gets the "local" representation of a number as a string.

Expression Syntax: Local(string)

string: A string, or a property representing a string.

Example:

Local(1.000)

returns 1

LocaleMapString - Maps an input character string to another using a specified transformation or generates a sort key for the input string.

See: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd318702%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

SIS Desktop only supports:

LCMAP_HIRAGANA
LCMAP_KATAKANA
LCMAP_HALFWIDTH
LCMAP_FULLWIDTH

Expression Syntax: LocaleMapString

Example:

LocaleMapString("ja-JP",LMS_Katakana|LMS_FullWidth,"しんぶん")

returns シンブン

Lower - Convert a string to lowercase characters.

Expression Syntax: Lower(string)

string: A string, or a property representing a string.

Example:

Lower("CADCORP")

returns cadcorp

Lpad - Pad characters to the left of a string, or trim a string, to achieve a specified number of characters.

Expression Syntax: Lpad(string,number,character)

string: A string or a property representing a string.

number: The number of characters to pad or trim to.

character: The characters to use to pad the string.

Examples:

Lpad("This is some sample text",10,"x")

returns the first 10 characters, i.e. This is so. In this case the final x parameter has no effect. If the text in the first parameter was less than 10 characters, for example My Text, then x would pad the string to a total of 10 characters, i.e. xxxMy Text.

Lpad(text$,15,"-/")

returns the first 15 characters of text$ or text$ plus -/ padding to make a total of 15 characters, i.e. -/-/Sample Text.

LpadW - Pad characters to the left of a string, or trim a string, to achieve a specified number of characters.

Expression Syntax: LpadW(string,number,character)

string: A string, or a property representing a string.

number: The number of characters to pad or trim to.

character: The characters to use to pad the string.

Examples:

LpadW("This is some sample text",10,"x")

returns the first 10 characters, i.e. This is so. In this case the final x parameter has no effect. If the text in the first parameter was less than 10 characters, for example My Text, then x would pad the string to a total of 10 characters, i.e. xxxMy Text.

LpadW(text$,15,"-/")

returns the first 15 characters of text$ or text$ plus -/ padding to make a total of 15 characters, i.e. -/-/Sample Text.

Ltrim - Trim spaces from the start of a string.

Expression Syntax: Ltrim(string)

string: A string, or a property representing a string.

Examples:

Ltrim(" Cadcorp    ")

returns Cadcorp

Ltrim(name$)

returns name$ with no leading spaces

Mid - Gets a number of characters from the middle of a string using a byte count.

Expression Syntax: Mid(string, start, bytes)

string: A string, or a property representing a string.

start: The position of the first byte to extract, the first character of the string being 1.

bytes: The number of bytes to extract. A negative number will return the characters from the start position to the end of the string.

Examples:

Mid("abcdefghij",1,3)

returns abc

Mid("abcdefghij",4,3)

returns def

Mid("abcdefghij",7,-1)

returns ghij

MidW - Gets a number of characters from the middle of a string using a character count.

Expression Syntax: MidW(string, start, characters)

string

A string, or a property representing a string.

start

The position of the first byte to extract, the first character of the string being 1.

characters

The number of characters to extract.

A negative number will cause the characters from the start position to the end of the string to be returned.

Examples:

MidW("abcdefghij",1,3)

returns abc

MidW("abcdefghij",4,3)

returns def

MidW("abcdefghij",7,-1)

returns ghij

Replace - Replaces a character or string with another character or string.

Expression Syntax: Replace(string,searchstring,replacestring)

string

The string, or property value representing a string, to search.

searchstring

The string, or property value representing a string, to search for and be replaced.

replacestring

The string, or property value representing a string, to replace the searchstring.

Example:

Replace(Name$, "St.", "Saint")

Searches the Name$ property for instances of "St." and replaces these with "Saint", i.e. "St. James Hospital" and "St. Johns Hospital", would become "Saint James Hospital" and "Saint Johns Hospital".

ReverseFind - Finds the position in a string searching in a backward direction, (in bytes, not characters) of a substring within a string.

Expression Syntax: ReverseFind(string, searchstring)

string

The string, or property value representing a string, to search.

searchstring

The substring, or property value representing a string, to search for.

Example:

Left(Name$, ReverseFind(Name$," "))

Strip the names from the last part of the full name (after the last space). As an example the Name$ property may contain hospital names, i.e. "St. James Hospital", "St. Johns Hospital", "St Helens Paediatric Hospital", etc. This example would strip the word after the first space searching from the right, therefore returning "St. James", "St. Johns" and "St. Helens Paediatric".

ReverseFindW - Finds the position in a string, searching in a backward direction, (in bytes, not characters) of a substring within a string.

Expression Syntax: ReverseFind(string, searchstring)

string

The string, or property value representing a string, to search.

searchstring

The substring, or property value representing a string, to search for.

Example:

Left(Name$, ReverseFindW(Name$," "))

Strip the names from the last part of the full name (after the last space). As an example the Name$ property may contain hospital names, i.e. "St. James Hospital", "St. Johns Hospital", "St Helens Paediatric Hospital", etc. This example would strip the word after the first space searching from the right, therefore returning "St. James", "St. Johns" and "St. Helens Paediatric".

Right - Gets a number of characters from the right of a string using a byte count.

Expression Syntax: Right(string, bytes)

string

A string, or a property representing a string.

bytes

The number of bytes to return.

Example:

Right("abcdefghij",3)

returns hij

RightW - Gets a number of characters from the right of a string using a character count.

Expression Syntax: RightW(string, bytes)

string

A string, or a property representing a string.

bytes

The number of characters to return.

Example:

RightW("abcdefghij",3)

returns hij

Rpad - Pad characters to the right of a string, or trim a string, to achieve a specified number of characters.

Expression Syntax: Rpad(string,number,character)

string

A string, or a property representing a string.

number

The number of characters to pad or trim to.

character

The characters to use to pad the string.

Examples:

Rpad("This is some sample text",10,"x")

returns the first 10 characters, i.e. This is so. In this case the final x parameter has no effect. If the text in the first parameter was less than 10 characters, for example My Text, then x would pad the end of the string to a total of 10 characters, i.e. My Textxxx.

Rpad(text$,15,"-/")

returns the first 15 characters of text$ or text$ plus -/ padding to make a total of 15 characters, i.e. Sample Text-/-/.

RpadW - Pad characters to the right of a string, or trim a string, to achieve a specified number of characters.

Expression Syntax: RpadW(string,number,character)

string

A string, or a property representing a string.

number

The number of characters to pad or trim to.

character

The characters to use to pad the string.

Examples:

RpadW("This is some sample text",10,"x")

returns the first 10 characters, i.e. This is so. In this case the final x parameter has no effect. If the text in the first parameter was less than 10 characters, for example My Text, then x would pad the end of the string to a total of 10 characters, i.e. My Textxxx.

RpadW(text$,15,"-/")

returns the first 15 characters of text$ or text$ plus -/ padding to make a total of 15 characters, i.e. Sample Text-/-/.

Rtrim - Trim spaces from the end of a string.

Expression Syntax: Rtrim(string)

string

A string, or a property representing a string to trim.

Examples:

Rtrim(" Cadcorp ")

returns Cadcorp with end spaces removed.

Rtrim(name$)

returns name$ with end spaces removed.

Sentence - Changes a string to 'sentence case', i.e. makes the first letter uppercase and the other letters lowercase.

Expression Syntax: Sentence(string, fullstop)

string

A string to convert to 'sentence case', or a property representing a string.

fullstop

Should a full stop be added to the end of the string if one is not there? 0 will return the sentence without a full stop, -1 will return the sentence with a full stop.

Examples:

Sentence("the quick brown fox",0)

returns The quick brown fox

Sentence("the quick brown fox",-1)

returns The quick brown fox.

Str - Gets the string representation of a number.

Expression Syntax: Str(number)

number

A number to be returned as a string.

Examples:

Str(1000)

returns 1000 as string.

Str(2^4)

returns 16 as a string.

Title - Changes a string to 'title case', i.e. makes the first letter of each word uppercase.

Expression Syntax: Title(string)

string

A string to convert to 'title case', or a property representing a string.

Example:

Title("computer aided development limited")

returns Computer Aided Development Limited

Toggle - Toggles the case of each character in a string, i.e. makes lowercase characters uppercase and vice-versa.

Expression Syntax: Toggle(string)

string

A string to toggle the case, or a property representing a string.

Example:

Toggle("Cadcorp")

will toggle the case to become cADCORP.

Upper - Convert a string to uppercase characters.

Expression Syntax: Upper(string)

string

A string, or a property representing a string.

Example:

Upper("cadcorp")

returns CADCORP

Val - Gets the numerical value of a string.

Expression Syntax: Val(string)

string

A string, or a property representing a string.

Example:

Val("0.1e6")

returns 100000

VarType - Gets the type of a property.

Expression Syntax: VarType(property)

property

The property whose value is to be returned.

Examples of returns:

Integer = 3
FP = 5
date = 7
String = 8
Boolean = 11

XmlAttributeEscape - Converts a string to one that is suitable for use as an XML Attribute,

This is achieved by 'escaping' invalid characters, eg converting ‘&’ to '&'

Expression Syntax: XmlAttributeEscape(string)

string

The string to be used as XML attribute

Examples of returns:

(Will be added)

XmlTextEscape - Converts a string to one that is suitable for use as an XML Text

This is achieved by 'escaping' invalid characters, eg converting ‘<’ to '<lt;'

Expression Syntax: XmlTextEscape(string)

string

The string to be used as XML attribute

Examples of returns:

(Will be added)

XmlUnescape - Converts an XML Attribute or Text string to a normal string

This is achieved by 'unescaping' invalid characters ( eg converting '&’ to ‘&’)

Expression Syntax: XmlUnescape(string)

string

The XML string to be converted into a normal string

Examples of returns:

(Will be added)

String - (Built-in Functions)