Question

In Delphi it is possible to declare subranges for integer values. For example:

type
  myInt = 2..150

Which restricts values of myInt type to values from 2 to 150. But what if I want to restrict the length of a string?

If I write:

type 
  myString = string [150]

I declare mystring to be 150 bytes long and restrict the length to be from 0, 1, 2, etc. up to 150. But how do I restrict the length to between 2 and 150, for example?
Of course, I can check the length of a string and raise an exception, but does Delphi include some syntax specific to this situation, similar in style to subranges?

This obviously does not work, but I would like something like:

type
  myString = string[2..150] 

If it is not possible, then I can just check length, raise exception, etc.

---

trying this code:

var
 str1, str2, str3: TRestrictedString;
begin
  str1.Create(2, 5, 'pp');
  str2.Create(2, 5, 'aaaa');
  str3.Create(2, 10, str1 + str2);
  writeln (str3.getstring)
end

or:

var
 str1, str2, str3: TRestrictedString;
begin
  str1.Create(2, 5, 'pp');
  str2.Create(2, 5, 'aaaa');
  str3.Create(2, 10);
  str3.SetString(str1 + str2);
  writeln (str3.getstring)
end

or:

var
 str1, str2, str3: TRestrictedString;
begin
  str1.Create(2, 5, 'pp');
  str2.Create(2, 5, 'aaaa');
  str3.Create(2, 10);
  str3 := str1 + str2;
  writeln(str3.GetString);
end

All of these raise an exception. Is possible to solve this? For multiple operations on a string is it necessary to split the function into more parts?
In the constructor, is it better to add a check that minlength < maxlength? If I set minlength > maxlength it raises an exception.

Answer 1

I would do

type
  TRestrictedString = record
  strict private type
    TBounds = record
      MinLength,
      MaxLength: integer;
    end;
  strict private
    FStr: string;
  public
    Bounds: TBounds;
    procedure SetString(const AString: string);
    function GetString: string;
    constructor Create(AMinLength, AMaxLength: integer); overload;
    constructor Create(AMinLength, AMaxLength: integer; const AString: string); overload;
    constructor Create(const AString: string); overload;
    class operator Implicit(S: string): TRestrictedString;
    class operator Implicit(S: TRestrictedString): string;
    class operator Equal(const A, B: TRestrictedString): boolean;
    class operator NotEqual(const A, B: TRestrictedString): boolean;
    class operator Add(const A, B: TRestrictedString): TRestrictedString;
  end;

{ TRestrictedString }


constructor TRestrictedString.Create(AMinLength, AMaxLength: integer);
begin
  Bounds.MinLength := AMinLength;
  Bounds.MaxLength := AMaxLength;
  FStr := '';
end;

constructor TRestrictedString.Create(AMinLength, AMaxLength: integer;
  const AString: string);
begin
  Bounds.MinLength := AMinLength;
  Bounds.MaxLength := AMaxLength;
  SetString(AString);
end;

class operator TRestrictedString.Add(const A,
  B: TRestrictedString): TRestrictedString;
begin
  result.Bounds := A.Bounds;
  result.SetString(A.GetString + B.GetString);
end;

constructor TRestrictedString.Create(const AString: string);
begin
  Bounds.MinLength := 0;
  Bounds.MaxLength := MaxInt;
  FStr := AString;
end;

class operator TRestrictedString.Equal(const A, B: TRestrictedString): boolean;
begin
  result := A.GetString = B.GetString;
end;

function TRestrictedString.GetString: string;
begin
  result := FStr;
end;

class operator TRestrictedString.Implicit(S: TRestrictedString): string;
begin
  result := S.GetString;
end;

class operator TRestrictedString.NotEqual(const A,
  B: TRestrictedString): boolean;
begin
  result := A.GetString <> B.GetString;
end;

class operator TRestrictedString.Implicit(S: string): TRestrictedString;
begin
  result.Create(S);
end;

procedure TRestrictedString.SetString(const AString: string);
begin
  with Bounds do
    if (length(AString) < MinLength) or (length(AString) > MaxLength) then
      raise Exception.Create('Invalid length of string.');
  FStr := AString;
end;

Now you can do very natural things, like

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
  str: TRestrictedString;
begin
  str.Create(5, 10);         // Create a string w/ length 5 to 10 chrs
  str.SetString('Testing!'); // Assign a compatible string
  ShowMessage(str);          // Display the string
end;

You can also do just

str.Create(5, 10, 'Testing!');
ShowMessage(str);

You can add string the usual way:

var
  s1, s2, s3: TRestrictedString;
begin
  s1.Create(2, 10, 'Hi ');
  s2.Create(2, 10, 'there!');
  s3 := s1 + s2;
  ShowMessage(s3);
end;

or even

var
  s1, s3: TRestrictedString;
begin
  s1.Create(2, 10, 'Hi ');
  s3 := s1 + 'there!';
  ShowMessage(s3);

When you add two TRestrictedStrings, or one TRestrictedString and a string, the result will have the same restriction as the first operand. You can try

var
  str: TRestrictedString;
begin
  str.Create(5, 10);
  str.SetString('Testing!');
  str := str + '!!';
  ShowMessage(str);

which will work, but not

var
  str: TRestrictedString;
begin
  str.Create(5, 10);
  str.SetString('Testing!');
  str := str + '!!!';
  ShowMessage(str);

Just beware that assigning a string to a TRestrictedString will also assign the ‘bounds’ of the string, that is, the TRestrictedString will have bounds set to 0 and MaxInt. Thus, no matter how a s: TRestrictedString is restricted, an assignment s := 'some string' will always work.

Update: Chris Rolliston used this answer as inspiration for a very interesting article.