Question

I can written an application which converts strings (made of numbers) from 8 – 12 characters in length (see examples below)

• 1404336133
• 4174728823
• 0587035281

Basically I want to convert the strings above into a specific format (stored in a config file) for the time being its as shown below.

<add key="Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Eight" value="#### ####"/>
<add key="Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Nine" value="### ### ###"/>
<add key="Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Ten" value="### #### ###"/>
<add key="Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Eleven" value="#### ### ###"/>
<add key="Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Twelve" value="#### #### ####"/>

I am currently using the following code to format the codes …

public static string FormatCode(string code)
{
    switch (code.Length.ToString())
    {
        case "8":
            string codeFormat = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Eight"];
            code = String.Format("{0:" + codeFormat + "}", Double.Parse(code));
            break;

        case "9":
            codeFormat = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Nine"];
            code = String.Format("{0:" + codeFormat + "}", Double.Parse(code));
            break;

        case "10":
            codeFormat = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Ten"];
            code = String.Format("{0:" + codeFormat + "}", Double.Parse(code));
            break;

        case "11":
            codeFormat = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Eleven"];
            code = String.Format("{0:" + codeFormat + "}", Double.Parse(code));
            break;

        case "12":
            codeFormat = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Twelve"];
            code = String.Format("{0:" + codeFormat + "}", Double.Parse(code));
            break;

        default:
            codeFormat = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Eight"];
            code = String.Format("{0:" + codeFormat + "}", Double.Parse(code));
            break;
    }

    // Finally return the newly formatted code
    return code;
}

However, for the code 0587035281 it displays “58 7035 281” therefore removing the leading zero which I require.

Any ideas how to stop this and also is there anything wrong or suspicious with my code?

Looking forward to your reply

Answer 1

public static string FormatCode(string code)
{
    switch (code.Length.ToString())
    {
        case "8":
            string codeFormat = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Eight"];
            break;

        case "9":
            codeFormat = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Nine"];
            break;

        case "10":
            codeFormat = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Ten"];
            break;

        case "11":
            codeFormat = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Eleven"];
            break;

        case "12":
            codeFormat = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Twelve"];
            break;

        default:
            codeFormat = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Consumer_Code_Format_For_Code_Length_Eight"];
            break;
    }

    char[] result = new char[codeformat.Length];

    int used = 0;
    for(i = 0; i < codeformat.Length; i++)
    {
        if (codeformat[i] == '#')
        {
            result[i] = code[used];
            used++;
        }
        else
            result[i] = codeformat[i];
    }
    // Finally return the newly formatted code
    return new string(result);
}