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Format

Formats are used in resources. When you connect to external data, these data records are converted to a valid format in Blueriq Encore. If the default conversion does not convert the imported data to the format you want, you can specify a custom conversion format.

There are three different types of format conversions:

1. Number conversion

A number format pattern can be divided into four parts.

Syntax:

{options}format;negative-spec;positive-spec
  • options - Valid option: {locale=localeLocale specifies a combination of language and country. The option set is optional and must be surrounded with { } when used. It represents a key value mechanism with ',' as separator sign. The set {a=b,q=e} represents a situation in which a is set to b and q is set to e. A locale in the option set will override the one that is used as default in the project.

  • format - The format pattern consists of a decimal part and a fractional part, separated by a '.' if a fractional part is required. Note that the locale setting determines whether the fractional separator is a ',' or a '.'.

    • The decimal part specifies grouping, the minimum and the maximum number of digits.

    • The fractional part begins after the decimal separator. If there is no decimal separator, there is no fractional part. The fractional part specifies the minimum and maximum of fraction digits.

  • negative-spec - This pattern specifies the parsing of negative numbers, '#' represents the specified format pattern. For example, ”(#);0.0” specifies that a negative number is prefixed with '(' and postfixed with ')'.

  • positive-spec - This pattern specifies the parsing of positive numbers, '#' represents the specified format pattern. For example, “0.0;+#” specifies that a positive number is prefixed with '+'.

Commonly used are en-US, en-GB, nl-NL, nl-BE, fr-FR. The list of language codes can be found here. A list of country codes can be found here.


Examples:

FormatDescription
#0This format parses positive integers and will not use or accept fractional digits. Negative numbers will not parse.
#0.00This format parses positive numbers with two fractional digits. The decimal separator is determined by the default locale in the project. Examples for locale en-US: “0.00”, “12469333.88”; for locale nl-NL: “0,00”, “78555555,33”.
000.00This format parses “000.00” to “000.99”. “0.00” will not parse. The decimal separator is determined by the default locale in the project.
#,##0.00This format parses positive numbers with thousand separator. The decimal separator is determined by the default locale in the project. Examples for locale en-US: “1,000,000.33”, “30.44”; for locale nl-NL: “1.000.000,33”, “30,44”.
#0.00;-#This format parses negative numbers with leading '-' and positive numbers without leading '+'. A fraction of two digits is mandatory. The decimal separator is determined by the default locale of the project.
#0.00;-#;+#This format parses negative numbers with leading '-' and positive numbers with leading '+'. A fraction of two digits is mandatory. The decimal separator is determined by the default locale of the project.
{locale=nl-NL}000.00;-#;+#This format parses ”-999,99” up to ”+999,99”. The decimal separator is ',' in the locale NL-nl. Leading '-' and '+' are required.

2. Date conversion

This format parses dates that use numbers to indicate months. Times cannot be parsed.

Syntax:

date-format
  • date-format - The following characters can be used to make up the format string:

    • yyyy - represents the four digit year

    • MM - represents the month in one or two digits

    • dd - represents the day of the month in one or two digits

    • '-', '/', ' ' - can be used to separate the date components

Examples:

  • “yyyyMMdd” parses “20100305” as March 5, 2010.

  • “dd MM yyyy” parses “31 01 2012” as January 31, 2012.

  • “dd-MM-yyyy” parses “09-10-1990” as October 9, 1990.

  • “MM/dd/yyyy” parses “09/10/1990” as September 10, 1990.

3. Boolean conversion

This format parses string representations into booleans. A boolean pattern can be divided into two parts.

Syntax:

true-spec;false-spec
  • true-spec - A true-spec is a comma separated list of values representing TRUE.

  • false-spec - A false-spec is a comma separated list of values representing FALSE.

Examples:

  • “true;false” will convert a boolean value TRUE to value 'true' and a boolean value FALSE to value 'false'. The complete syntax is: TEXT(TRUE,"yes;no").

  • “true,yes,ok,oui,si,1;false,no,cancel,non,no,0” will create a boolean value TRUE for values 'true', 'yes', 'ok', 'oui', 'si' and '1' and a boolean value FALSE for values 'false', 'no', 'cancel', 'non', 'no' and '0'.

Note that true-spec and false-spec can not have the same value, as the values should still be convertible in a later stadium. The following expression TEXT(TRUE,"1;1") is invalid.


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