Is there a printf/sprintf-like package for formatting text for Squeak?
If not, how do Squeakers go about formatting currency amounts or left justifying text within a field?
On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 10:44 AM, Sorensen sorens@surfy.net wrote:
Is there a printf/sprintf-like package for formatting text for Squeak?
If not, how do Squeakers go about formatting currency amounts or left justifying text within a field?
My initial reaction was "that's obvious; there are methods in the String class", but when I looked I realised that this isn't actually as trivial as that.
For printf-like functionality, class String has a "formatting" category with undocumented methods. The excellent "Squeak by Example" book has some examples (http://scg.unibe.ch/SBE/SBE.pdf, page 208) but the functionality is very limited compared with printf.
See also SequenceableCollection>>copyReplaceAll:with:
For formatting currency, I notice there's a Locale class with Locale>>primCurrencySymbol, but I can't find any more advanced methods for actually formatting a currency, and I can't find any currency classes for any Smalltalk dialect on Google (!), apart from an LcMonetary class for GNU Smalltalk.
For left-justifying text, I'm a bit surprised that you'd want to do this. Typically, you'd make the text left or right justified in whatever GUI element that value ends up in, rather than padding it with spaces.
Anyway; some code examples for actually doing the above:
Formatting a currency (specifically in my Locale) with two decimal places:
" I assume that you're using ScaledDecimals for the currency; you generally shouldn't use Floats for currency. " c := ScaledDecimal newFromNumber: 123.45 scale: 2. " It's good practise to use a stream for formatting strings manually " stream := WriteStream on: (String new: 30). c >= 0 ifTrue: [ stream nextPut: $- ]. stream nextPutAll: Locale current primCurrencySymbol. " Generally, prim methods should be private... " c printOn: stream. " Bug: also prints out 's2'. " result := stream contents.
I would also add a new method to ScaledDecimal to print out its value without appending an 's2'. In fact, I'd probably make a subclass of Number or ScaledDecimal called "Currency" and release it as a reusable package.
Left-justifying text with padding:
padding := String new: 40. padding replaceAll: (Character value: 0) with: $ .
s := 'format me'. result := padding copy replaceFrom: 1 to: s size with: s.
Gulik.
Seaside 2.9alpha2 (builder.seaside.st) has a sophisticated framework to build formatting objects. On of the tests for example look like this, but there is much more that you can do:
testSwissCurrency | printer | printer := WASequentialPrinter new , 'CHF ' , WASignPrinter new , (WANumberPrinter new separator: $'; precision: 2; accuracy: 0.05; yourself). self assert: (printer print: 12.34) = 'CHF 12.35'. self assert: (printer print: -12.39) = 'CHF -12.40'
Cheers, Lukas
On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 11:44 PM, Michael van der Gulik mikevdg@gmail.com wrote:
On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 10:44 AM, Sorensen sorens@surfy.net wrote:
Is there a printf/sprintf-like package for formatting text for Squeak?
If not, how do Squeakers go about formatting currency amounts or left justifying text within a field?
My initial reaction was "that's obvious; there are methods in the String class", but when I looked I realised that this isn't actually as trivial as that.
For printf-like functionality, class String has a "formatting" category with undocumented methods. The excellent "Squeak by Example" book has some examples (http://scg.unibe.ch/SBE/SBE.pdf, page 208) but the functionality is very limited compared with printf.
See also SequenceableCollection>>copyReplaceAll:with:
For formatting currency, I notice there's a Locale class with Locale>>primCurrencySymbol, but I can't find any more advanced methods for actually formatting a currency, and I can't find any currency classes for any Smalltalk dialect on Google (!), apart from an LcMonetary class for GNU Smalltalk.
For left-justifying text, I'm a bit surprised that you'd want to do this. Typically, you'd make the text left or right justified in whatever GUI element that value ends up in, rather than padding it with spaces.
Anyway; some code examples for actually doing the above:
Formatting a currency (specifically in my Locale) with two decimal places:
" I assume that you're using ScaledDecimals for the currency; you generally shouldn't use Floats for currency. " c := ScaledDecimal newFromNumber: 123.45 scale: 2. " It's good practise to use a stream for formatting strings manually " stream := WriteStream on: (String new: 30). c >= 0 ifTrue: [ stream nextPut: $- ]. stream nextPutAll: Locale current primCurrencySymbol. " Generally, prim methods should be private... " c printOn: stream. " Bug: also prints out 's2'. " result := stream contents.
I would also add a new method to ScaledDecimal to print out its value without appending an 's2'. In fact, I'd probably make a subclass of Number or ScaledDecimal called "Currency" and release it as a reusable package.
Left-justifying text with padding:
padding := String new: 40. padding replaceAll: (Character value: 0) with: $ .
s := 'format me'. result := padding copy replaceFrom: 1 to: s size with: s.
Gulik.
-- http://people.squeakfoundation.org/person/mikevdg http://gulik.pbwiki.com/
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Hi Lukas,
Lukas Renggli wrote:
testSwissCurrency | printer | printer := WASequentialPrinter new , 'CHF ' , WASignPrinter new , (WANumberPrinter new separator: $'; precision: 2; accuracy: 0.05; yourself).
self assert: (printer print: 12.34) = 'CHF 12.35'. self assert: (printer print: -12.39) = 'CHF -12.40'
Are there any plans to develop this into a more compact form?
For example (ugly, sorry!): 'CHF {f+-,.05}' % #(12.34).
I'm always disappointed with Squeak's string formatting/generation facilities and if Seaside has this framework, maybe it is a good base for compact string format language?
Thanks, Zulq.
On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 11:44 AM, Michael van der Gulik mikevdg@gmail.comwrote:
c := ScaledDecimal newFromNumber: 123.45 scale: 2.
A better version (which I just discovered):
c := 123.45s2.
Gulik.
I'd be leary of basing Currency off of ScaledDecimal, especially if there is to be much manipulation of it (such as multiplication or division). The reason is that ScaledDecimal keeps the representation of their numbers as fractions under the covers - which can results in some odd (and incorrect) results.
There is another package (not part of standard Squeak) that could be more suitable as a basis for Currency: FixedDecimal, located at http://www.squeaksource.com/FixedDecimal . The code isn't very pretty (sorry about that), but it does work for currency. That is the reason it was originally written - when I started noticing the results of simple mamipulation of my money amounts where wrong.
-Chris
On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 11:28:29AM -0800, Chris Cunningham wrote:
I'd be leary of basing Currency off of ScaledDecimal, especially if there is to be much manipulation of it (such as multiplication or division). The reason is that ScaledDecimal keeps the representation of their numbers as fractions under the covers - which can results in some odd (and incorrect) results.
ScaledDecimal is also probably going to be removed from squeak soon, as it has licensing issues.
On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 02:37:27PM -0500, Matthew Fulmer wrote:
On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 11:28:29AM -0800, Chris Cunningham wrote:
I'd be leary of basing Currency off of ScaledDecimal, especially if there is to be much manipulation of it (such as multiplication or division). The reason is that ScaledDecimal keeps the representation of their numbers as fractions under the covers - which can results in some odd (and incorrect) results.
ScaledDecimal is also probably going to be removed from squeak soon, as it has licensing issues.
Arrgh! I started using ScaledDecimal for representing time magnitudes in TimeZoneDatabase http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/1076 quite some time ago, and it works very well and is quite efficient. Are the licensing issues resolvable? Can I help?
Dave
At Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:34:08 -0500, David T. Lewis wrote:
On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 02:37:27PM -0500, Matthew Fulmer wrote:
On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 11:28:29AM -0800, Chris Cunningham wrote:
I'd be leary of basing Currency off of ScaledDecimal, especially if there is to be much manipulation of it (such as multiplication or division). The reason is that ScaledDecimal keeps the representation of their numbers as fractions under the covers - which can results in some odd (and incorrect) results.
ScaledDecimal is also probably going to be removed from squeak soon, as it has licensing issues.
Arrgh! I started using ScaledDecimal for representing time magnitudes in TimeZoneDatabase http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/1076 quite some time ago, and it works very well and is quite efficient. Are the licensing issues resolvable? Can I help?
1. Try to find Richard A. Harmon. I for example looked up the name in Skype and send text chat to all of them, but didn't get any response. If you know other ways, please try.
2. Write a new package.
-- Yoshiki
At Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:11:33 -0800, Yoshiki Ohshima wrote:
At Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:34:08 -0500, David T. Lewis wrote:
On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 02:37:27PM -0500, Matthew Fulmer wrote:
On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 11:28:29AM -0800, Chris Cunningham wrote:
I'd be leary of basing Currency off of ScaledDecimal, especially if there is to be much manipulation of it (such as multiplication or division). The reason is that ScaledDecimal keeps the representation of their numbers as fractions under the covers - which can results in some odd (and incorrect) results.
ScaledDecimal is also probably going to be removed from squeak soon, as it has licensing issues.
Arrgh! I started using ScaledDecimal for representing time magnitudes in TimeZoneDatabase http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/1076 quite some time ago, and it works very well and is quite efficient. Are the licensing issues resolvable? Can I help?
Try to find Richard A. Harmon. I for example looked up the name in Skype and send text chat to all of them, but didn't get any response. If you know other ways, please try.
Write a new package.
And also:
3. Port somebody else code.
4. Apparently, Mark Schwenk once released his code. (http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/1999-June/021113.html) If we can get his code, we see how well it works and possibly put it in instead.
-- Yoshiki
On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 12:11:33PM -0800, Yoshiki Ohshima wrote:
At Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:34:08 -0500, David T. Lewis wrote:
Arrgh! I started using ScaledDecimal for representing time magnitudes in TimeZoneDatabase http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/1076 quite some time ago, and it works very well and is quite efficient. Are the licensing issues resolvable? Can I help?
Try to find Richard A. Harmon. I for example looked up the name in Skype and send text chat to all of them, but didn't get any response. If you know other ways, please try.
Write a new package.
Hi Yoshiki,
I'll see if I can contact Richard A Harmon, and I'll let you know if I have any success.
Thanks, Dave
There's a Printf module on squeaksource that works fine.
What a great find. Thank you.
Steven Greenberg wrote:
There's a Printf module on squeaksource that works fine.
http://www.squeaksource.com/Printf.html
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Thanks everybody for your replies. I'll look at SBE and Seaside 2.9 as well for further examples.
For left-justifying text, I'm a bit surprised that you'd want to do this. Typically, you'd make the text left or right justified in whatever GUI element that value ends up in, rather than padding it with spaces.
You're right. I'd like to do more than simply left-justify:
"%6.2f" 34.56 "space-padded right justified" "%-6.2f" 34.56 "space-padded left justified" "%02d" 05 "zero padded left justified"
etc
Your examples though gave me a good place to start.
Many thanks
Sorensen wrote:
Is there a printf/sprintf-like package for formatting text for Squeak?
If not, how do Squeakers go about formatting currency amounts or left justifying text within a field?
There are also some interesting examples of string formatting in the DateAndTime class used for printing hours minutes and seconds onto a stream. That's where I picked up how Squeak does it (painful I might add).
printf (or Java's String.format) are nice. Python has some nice ideas here too. Maybe some Smalltalk guru could shed some light on the one true way to do this?
David
On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 7:15 PM, Sorensen sorens@surfy.net wrote:
Thanks everybody for your replies. I'll look at SBE and Seaside 2.9 as well for further examples.
For left-justifying text, I'm a bit surprised that you'd want to do this. Typically, you'd make the text left or right justified in whatever GUI element that value ends up in, rather than padding it with spaces.
You're right. I'd like to do more than simply left-justify:
"%6.2f" 34.56 "space-padded right justified" "%-6.2f" 34.56 "space-padded left justified" "%02d" 05 "zero padded left justified"
etc
Your examples though gave me a good place to start.
Many thanks
Sorensen wrote:
Is there a printf/sprintf-like package for formatting text for Squeak?
If not, how do Squeakers go about formatting currency amounts or left justifying text within a field?
-- View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/Number-formatting-printf-sprintf-for-Squeak--tp2204588... Sent from the Squeak - Beginners mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
Beginners mailing list Beginners@lists.squeakfoundation.org http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/beginners
Hello David, You can start reading about supporting the geometric segmentation algorithm (i.e. indentation alphabets) for structuring text documents. Cheers.
Hernán
2009/2/17 David Finlayson david.p.finlayson@gmail.com:
There are also some interesting examples of string formatting in the DateAndTime class used for printing hours minutes and seconds onto a stream. That's where I picked up how Squeak does it (painful I might add).
printf (or Java's String.format) are nice. Python has some nice ideas here too. Maybe some Smalltalk guru could shed some light on the one true way to do this?
David
On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 7:15 PM, Sorensen sorens@surfy.net wrote:
Thanks everybody for your replies. I'll look at SBE and Seaside 2.9 as well for further examples.
For left-justifying text, I'm a bit surprised that you'd want to do this. Typically, you'd make the text left or right justified in whatever GUI element that value ends up in, rather than padding it with spaces.
You're right. I'd like to do more than simply left-justify:
"%6.2f" 34.56 "space-padded right justified" "%-6.2f" 34.56 "space-padded left justified" "%02d" 05 "zero padded left justified"
etc
Your examples though gave me a good place to start.
Many thanks
Sorensen wrote:
Is there a printf/sprintf-like package for formatting text for Squeak?
If not, how do Squeakers go about formatting currency amounts or left justifying text within a field?
-- View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/Number-formatting-printf-sprintf-for-Squeak--tp2204588... Sent from the Squeak - Beginners mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
Beginners mailing list Beginners@lists.squeakfoundation.org http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/beginners
-- David Finlayson, Ph.D. Operational Geologist
U.S. Geological Survey Pacific Science Center 400 Natural Bridges Drive Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
Office: 831-427-4757 Lab: 831-427-4462 Fax: 831-427-4748 E-mail: dfinlayson@usgs.gov _______________________________________________ Beginners mailing list Beginners@lists.squeakfoundation.org http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/beginners
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Chris Cunningham -
David Finlayson -
David T. Lewis -
Hernán Morales Durand -
Lukas Renggli -
Matthew Fulmer -
Michael van der Gulik -
Sorensen -
Steven Greenberg -
Yoshiki Ohshima -
Zulq Alam