Limit of characters in string

Question

I have the textbox that takes some string. This string could be very long. I want to limit displayed text (for example to 10 characters) and attach 3 dots like:

if text box takes value "To be, or not to be, that is the question:" it display only "To be, or..."

Or

if text box takes value "To be" it display "To be"

            Html.DevExpress().TextBox(
                    tbsettings =>
                    {
                        tbsettings.Name = "tbNameEdit";;
                        tbsettings.Width = 400;
                        tbsettings.Properties.DisplayFormatString=???
                    }).Bind(DataBinder.Eval(product, "ReportName")).GetHtml();

A TextBox is used to input data from the user. If you want to display data, then you should use a Label, which has this functionality built-in. What do you want to happen with the rest of the input when you truncate it? What if the user wants to edit the text? — John Willemse, May 15 '13 at 10:51
User is not allow to input test, text box just display it "What do you want to happen with the rest of the input when you truncate it" remove it — Yo-ho-ho, May 15 '13 at 10:57

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered May 15 '13 at 10:58

You should use a Label control to display the data. Set AutoSize to false and AutoEllipsis to true. There are good reasons why a TextBox does not have this functionality, among which:

where are you going to store the truncated data?
if the user selects the text to edit or even copy, how do you handle that?

If you counter-argument is that the TextBox is read-only, then that is only more reason to re-think the control you are using for this.

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 15 '13 at 10:49

Try this:

string displayValue = !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(textBox.Text) && textBox.Text.Length > 10
    ? textBox.Text.Left(10) + "..."
    : textBox.Text;

In an extension method:

public static string Ellipsis(this string str, int TotalWidth, string Ellipsis = "...")     
{
    string output = "";

    if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(str) && str.Length > TotalWidth)
    {
        output = output.Left(TotalWidth) + Ellipsis;
    }

    return output;
}

Using it would be:

string displayValue = textBox.Text.Ellipsis(10);

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered May 15 '13 at 11:21

2

If you need to use a regex, you can do this:

Regex.Replace(input, "(?<=^.{10}).*", "...");

This replaces any text after the tenth character with three dots.

The (?<=expr) is a lookbehind. It means that expr must be matched (but not consumed) in order for the rest of the match to be successful. If there are fewer than ten characters in the input, no replacement is performed.

Here is a demo on ideone.

answered May 15 '13 at 11:21

Sergey Kalinichenko

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10x That what I've searched – Yo-ho-ho May 15 '13 at 11:54

CodeCaster · Answer 4 · 2013-05-15T10:57:04.483

1

Something like this?

static void SetTextWithLimit(this TextBox textBox, string text, int limit)
{
    if (text.Length > limit)
    {
        text = text.SubString(0, limit) + "...";
    }
    textBox.Text = text;
}

Show what you have tried and where you are stuck.

edited May 15 '13 at 10:57

answered May 15 '13 at 10:48

CodeCaster

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CodeCaster, `SubString(limit)` shouldn't be `SubString(0, limit)` ? Because when we write `SubString(limit)` is takes after all string the limit's position. – Soner Gönül May 15 '13 at 10:53

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered May 15 '13 at 10:49

1

string textToDisplay = (inputText.Length <= 10) 
          ? inputText
          : inputText.Substring(0, 10) + "...";

answered May 15 '13 at 10:49

Roy Dictus

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered May 15 '13 at 10:49

0

You don't need to use regex

string s = "To be, or not to be, that is the question:";
s = s.Length > 10 ? s.Remove(10, s.Length - 10) + "..." : s;

answered May 15 '13 at 10:49

LukeHennerley

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I have to. function that transfer the data to the text box is hidden from me, and I have no access to it, so I can't use any server side methods – Yo-ho-ho May 15 '13 at 11:03
@Yo-ho-ho if you have access to the `Regex` library within `c#`, then you have access to basic string manipulation methods – LukeHennerley May 15 '13 at 11:59

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered May 15 '13 at 10:49

string maxStringLength = 10;
string displayStr = "A very very long string that you want to shorten";
if (displayStr.Length >= maxStringLength) {
    displayStr = displayStr.Substring(0, maxStringLength) + " ...";
}

//displayStr = "A very very long str ..."

Limit of characters in string

7 Answers7