"bernadou" wrote:

> Ok, this is yet again one of those things that is driving me crazy.  How do I
> use a formatting expression to format a number?  Here's what I'm trying, but,
> it isn't working.
>
> Text='<%# Eval("fldPhone", "(###)-###-####") %>'
>
> What I'm trying to see happen is the value "3335551212" output as
> "(333)-555-1212".  The code above outputs "(###)-###-####".  I'm obviously
> way off here, but, I can't seem to track down a straightforward article on
> how to do this.  Any help would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks
> Bernie

"Phillip Williams" wrote:

> Hi Bernie,
>
> The syntax you tried is correct for numbers, but if your fldPhone is of type
> string you would get the outcome that you got instead of the one you
> expected.  So to solve it, either convert it to a number before applying this
> format string or use a regular expression. 
>
> For example in this line of code I remove any character that might prevent
> the field from becoming a number, then convert it to a number then convert it
> back again to a string using the format string that you already knew:
>
> <asp:TextBox ID="lblPhone" runat="server" Text='<%#
>                 Convert.ToInt64(Eval("fldPhone").ToString().Replace(" ",
> "").Replace(".", "").Replace("-", "").Replace("(", "").Replace(")",
> "")).ToString("000-000-0000")
>                  %>'></asp:TextBox>
>
> In the following line I did the same string cleaning process but then used a
> regular expression to achieve the same format:
>
> <asp:Label ID="lblPhone" runat="server"
> Text='<%#FormatPhone(Eval("fldPhone").ToString()) %>'></asp:Label>
>
> The FormatPhone function is defined as this:
>
> protected  string FormatPhone(string strPhone)
>     {
>         strPhone =  Convert.ToInt64( strPhone.Replace ("
> ","").Replace(".","").Replace("-","").Replace ("(","").Replace
> (")","")).ToString ("0000000000");
>         string ret= Regex.Replace(strPhone,
> @"(?<AreaCode>\d{3})(?<seg1>\d{3})(?<seg2>\d{4})",
> "(${AreaCode})-${seg1}-${seg2}");
>         return ret;
>     }
>
> To understand the regular expression syntax you might review this demo on my
> website in which I explained the usage of named groups in regular expressions
> http://www.webswapp.com/CodeSamples/aspnet20/RegExp_NamedGroups.aspx
> --
> HTH,
> Phillip Williams
> http://www.societopia.net
> http://www.webswapp.com
>
>
> "bernadou" wrote:
>
> > Ok, this is yet again one of those things that is driving me crazy.  How do I
> > use a formatting expression to format a number?  Here's what I'm trying, but,
> > it isn't working.
> >
> > Text='<%# Eval("fldPhone", "(###)-###-####") %>'
> >
> > What I'm trying to see happen is the value "3335551212" output as
> > "(333)-555-1212".  The code above outputs "(###)-###-####".  I'm obviously
> > way off here, but, I can't seem to track down a straightforward article on
> > how to do this.  Any help would be appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks
> > Bernie