how to create comma separated value in progress openEdge

Question

newbie question here.

I need to create a list. but my problem is what is the best way to not start with a comma?

eg:

output to /usr2/appsrv/test/Test.txt.
def var dTextList as char.
for each emp no-lock:
  dTextList = dTextList + ", " + emp.Name.
end.
put unformatted dTextList skip.
output close.

then my end result is

, jack, joe, brad

what is the best way to get rid of the leading comma?

thank you

Tim Kuehn · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-02T18:31:00.700

1

Here's one way:

ASSIGN 
   dTextList = dTextList + ", " WHEN dTextList > ""
   dTextList = dTextList + emp.Name 
   .

edited Jun 02 '16 at 18:31

answered Jun 02 '16 at 17:17

Tim Kuehn

3,201
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1

Shouldn't it be when dTextList > ""? The way it shows, it will still start the list with a comma. – bupereira Jun 02 '16 at 17:25
You're quite right - that's what I get for using the SE editor. :) Fixed! – Tim Kuehn Jun 02 '16 at 18:31
1

I do that a lot myself :D – bupereira Jun 02 '16 at 19:00

Tom Bascom · Answer 2 · 2016-06-02T19:02:51.270

1

This does it without any conditional logic:

for each emp no-lock:
  csv = csv + emp.Name + ",".
end.
right-trim( csv, "," ).

or you can do this:

for each emp no-lock:
  csv = substitute( "&1,&2" csv, emp.Name ).
end.
trim( csv, "," ).

Which also has the advantage of playing nicely with unknown values (the ? value...)

TRIM() trims both sides, LEFT-TRIM() only does leading characters and RIGHT-TRIM() gets trailing characters.

edited Jun 02 '16 at 19:02

answered Jun 02 '16 at 17:35

Tom Bascom

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Trim will wipe out too many commas when there is an empty string as a value. – Stefan Drissen Jun 03 '16 at 05:16
"Too many" is in the eye of the beholder. For many purposes that could be a feature. But it is good to be aware of it. – Tom Bascom Jun 03 '16 at 10:35

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 03 '16 at 05:29

My vanilla list:

output to /usr2/appsrv/test/Test.txt.
def var dTextList as char no-undo.
for each emp no-lock:
  dTextList = substitute( "&1, &2", dTextList, emp.Name )
end.
put unformatted substring( dTextList, 3 ) skip.
output close.

substitute prevents unknowns from wiping out list
keep list delimiter checking outside of loop
generally leave the list delimiter prefixed unless the prefix really needs to go as in the case when outputting it

When using delimited lists often you may want to consider a creating a list class to remove this irrelevant noise out of your code so that you can functionally just add an item to a list and export a list without tinkering with these details every time.

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 02 '16 at 17:23

0

I usually do

ASSIGN dTextList = dTextList + (if dTextList = '' then '' else ',') + emp.name.

answered Jun 02 '16 at 17:23

bupereira

1,463
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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 02 '16 at 19:05

0

I come up (well my colleague did) he come up with this:

dTextList = substitute ("&1&3&2", dTextList, emp.Name, min(dTextList,",")).

But it is cool to see various ways to do this. Thank you for all the response

answered Jun 02 '16 at 19:05

BobNoobGuy

1,551
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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 07 '16 at 15:28

0

This results in no leading comma (delimiter) and no fiddling with trim/substring/etc

def var cDelim as char.
def var dTextList as char.
cDelim = ''.
for each emp no-lock:
  dTextList = dTextList + cDelim + emp.Name.
   cDelim = ','.
end.

answered Jun 07 '16 at 15:28

nwahmaet

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how to create comma separated value in progress openEdge

6 Answers6