quick help with a calculation

[G Gabriel]

Re: quick help with a calculation

ignore1= S (user entered so it can be anything)
ignore2= QX (also user entered)

input (scan_serial) -> S1234XQ = 1234
S1234=1234
1234=1234
1234QX=1234

12SQX34=12SQX34

OK.. we are getting close..
The first 3 examples make sense..the last one doesn't..doesn't conform with the others.
Shouldn't it be:
12SQX34=1234

[hov333]

Re: quick help with a calculation

hey gabe, yes we're getting close. I put the last one there to show that it should not change since the beginning and end of the input do not have the ignore "key characters". Yes it does contain the same characters but the ignore is supposed to ignore only the begging and end of the string.

The only way the last example would change is:
if say we used this instead for ignore1: 12S

Then the output would be QX34

Here's another: say if Ignore1 =2S the result should still say 12SQ34 d because that first digit (1) is missing, so only strings beginning with 2S would be affected.

Does it make any sense?

[G Gabriel]

Re: quick help with a calculation

This should do you:

FUNCTION ignore AS C (Text AS C, ignore_left AS C, ignore_right AS C )
	text=alltrim(text)
	xL=len(ignore_left)
	XR=len(ignore_Right)
	M1=if(left(text,XL)=ignore_left,xL+1,1)
	M2=if(right(text,XR)=ignore_Right,len(text)-M1-XR+1,100)
	ignore=substr(alltrim(text),M1,M2)	
END FUNCTION

dim ignore1 as c="S"
dim ignore2 as c="QX"
dim scan_serial as c="12SQX34"
?ignore(scan_serial,ignore1,ignore2)
= "12SQX34"

ignore="S"
ignore2="XQ"
scan_serial="S1234XQ "
?ignore(scan_serial,ignore1,ignore2)
= "1234"

scan_serial="S1234"
?ignore(scan_serial,ignore1,ignore2)
= "1234"

[Ray in Capetown]

Re: quick help with a calculation

So explained conditionally
if any of the characters in ignore1 are found in the same number of positions at the beginning of scanned, they will be removed and
if any of the characters in ignore2 are found in the same number of positions at the end of scanned, they too will be removed

This matches all of your examples including the very last.

Is this watertight?
what if coincidentally one of the exclude characters is intended as part of the scan ?

Sorry Gabe I didnt see your entry - at first look seems the same as

[hov333]

Re: quick help with a calculation

hey guys goodmorning. Ray, Yes you're right. The last example is to show that if the characters are in the string but NOT in the begging or end as noted, the string will not be affected.
The point is that Ignore1 & 2 are usually left blank (meaning nothing to be removed from the scan, will be entered AS IS) but sometimes we scan parts that have 1 or 2 (or more) leading characters that I don't want to be scanning. I'd like to ignore those letters by stating what they are via Ignore1 (for leading) or Ignore 2 (for trailing). Does this make sense? It would be very easy to rather control the input than do it in A5 but the scanners are not very sophisticated.

Gabe I'll give your post a shot as well and let you know how I make out.

Thanks!

[Stan Mathews]

Re: quick help with a calculation

Did you try my sample?

[hov333]

Re: quick help with a calculation

Hey stan,

Just gave it a shot. Yes it looks like thats the one!

if(left(Var->scan_serial,len(var->ignore1))=var->ignore1,"",left(Var->scan_serial,len(var->ignore1)))+substr(Var->scan_serial,len(var->ignore1)+1,len(Var->scan_serial)-(len(var->ignore1)+len(var->ignore2)))+if(right(Var->scan_serial,len(var->ignore2))=var->ignore2,"",right(Var->scan_serial,len(var->ignore2)))

holy moly! all that just for this feature huh, I would have never gotten this without your help.

Thanks for all the help everyone I really appreciate you sticking with me on this one!