spliting a string on length

El_mariachi

hey again! :P

i am trying to split a string in asp on its length using ASP.

Because access can only take fields upto 255 characters i need to make sure in the unlikely event that its longer that the string will be split in two and stored another field.

"Code -

Dim TheString
Dim SplitArray

TheString="0123456789"

if len(Thestring) > 5 then
SplitArray=Split(TheString,"4") 'Splits on character 4

Response.write(SplitArray(0)

Response.write(SplitArray(1)
else
Response.write(TheString)

End if

i use this to split it on the number 4 but seen as i wont know what the value of the 250th Character when someone is putting it in. how do i make it split on the 250th character? any idea?

Webmonkey

I don't know VB but a C/C++ programmer.

In c++ there is a substring function called substr that takes the number of charactors to splt instead of the actual value. I'm sure there is a similer thing in VB.

Just found this, may help:

MyString = "1234567890"

startPos = 3
charCount = 4

Print Mid$(MyString,startPos,charCount)      ' Prints "3456"

You would have start position as 0 or 1 (God vb sucks if first element is at position 1 - It usually element 0 that is the first in programming languages)

Lemming

Is there a likelihood that users will input more than 250 characters? Or perhaps put another way, is there a need to capture every single bit of user data without constraining what they can input?

If not, why not limit the character input on the asp.net textbox control? The user will take the hint when they can't put any more data into the control and adjust accordingly.

If you want to store data overrun, you can use the .Net String class method 'SubString()' to store data in two seperate strings.

So what you could do is something like:

// C# code, but should be easy to transpose to any other .Net language

int maxSize = 250;
string userInput = TextBoxControl.Text;
string overflow = String.Empty;

if (userInput.Length > maxSize)
{
	overflow = userInput.Substring(maxSize);	// copy from position 250 onwards
	userInput = userInput.Remove(maxSize);			// Remove additional characters from original string
}

Granted that code is off the top of my head so might need some correction (and assuming I've picked up what you're asking for correctly too ... )

But there is one issue with the code. And that is this. What if the overflow text is longer than 250 characters in turn?

El_mariachi

Lemming wrote:

Is there a likelihood that users will input more than 250 characters? Or perhaps put another way, is there a need to capture every single bit of user data without constraining what they can input?

Yea unfortunately i have to capture ever bit of data even if its over 250 Characters in length which is the problem. It mine never happen but the system needs to be able to handle the event.

Lemming

El_mariachi wrote:

Yea unfortunately i have to capture ever bit of data even if its over 250 Characters in length which is the problem. It mine never happen but the system needs to be able to handle the event.

In that case you then need to address the second question ..... what if the overflow is more than 250 characters in length too? Are you permitted indefinite (to use the term) numbers of overflow fields? Only one? etc.

Ginger

Use the Left and Right functions to take a string from the X number of Characters from the start or end

So You can Take the First 250 Chars and then get the get some more etc.. will you be splitting into multiple strings or whats the deal?

You can also use Mid

The Corinthian

El_mariachi wrote:

Yea unfortunately i have to capture ever bit of data even if its over 250 Characters in length which is the problem.

Change the field type from Text to Memo and it'll hold more than 255 Characters.

El_mariachi

The Corinthian wrote:

Change the field type from Text to Memo and it'll hold more than 255 Characters.

Your a Life saver man! thanks!!!!

Lemming

Hang on a sec ... I thought you mentioned the reason for wanting to split the string was to do with Access (as in the crappy wannabe-database manager) restrictions and not the ASP.net controls you were using?

I'm confused now

Oh wait ... TC mentioned field type. I totally misread that.