Format specifiers

Format specifiers are used to state the desired format when formatting object values. In ERP.net they can be used, for example, as a second parameter for the calculated attribute operator FORMATSTRING or in the formatting string (‘:FormatSpecifier’) when referencing domain attributes in the SENDMAIL action (‘{DomainAttribute:FormatSpecifier}’). There are two main types of format specifiers - standard .Net format specifiers (Numeric, Date - Time,..) and custom format specifiers (Multilanguge string, Custom property).

Standard .Net format specifiers

The standard .Net format specifiers are supported. The list below contains the most frequently used .Net format specifiers. For a complete list and more information, please look at the official .Net documentation site.

Numeric format specifiers

'C', 'c' - abbreviation of Currency. Converts a number to a string that represents a currency amount.
Can be used with a precision specifier that indicates the desired number of digits after the decimal point. The decimal symbol separator and the currency symbol depend on the local regional settings. Returns:
123.4656 ('C') → $123.46
123.4656 ('C3') → $123.466
'D', 'd' -abbreviation of Decimal. Converts a number to a string of decimal digits (0-9), prefixed by a minus sign if the number is negative. Can be used with a precision specifier that indicates the desired number of digits after the decimal point. This format is supported only for integral types. Returns:1234 ('D') → 1234
-1234 ('D6') → -001234
'N', 'n' - abbreviation of Number. Converts a number to a string. Can be used with a precision specifier that indicates the desired number of digits after the decimal point. The decimal symbol separator depends on the local regional settings. Returns
123.4656 (N) → 123.47
123.4656 (N3) → 123.466
'P', 'p' - abbreviation of Percent. Multiplies a number by 100 and converts it to a string that represents a percentage. The precision specifier indicates the desired number of decimal places. The decimal symbol separator depends on the local regional settings. Returns
0.488869 (P) → 48.89%
0.488869 (P3) → 48.887%

Date and time format strings

Standard date and time format specifiers can be used alone (standard date and time format string) or in a combination (custom format string) in order to define the text representation of a date and time value. A standard date and time format string uses a single format specifier to define the text representation of a date and time value. Any date and time format string that contains more than one character, including white space, is interpreted as a custom date and time format string.

Standard date and time format strings:

'D', 'd' - Short date pattern. The returned format depends on the pattern set for Short date in the local regional settings. Returns:
2019-05-10 15:18:39.013 → 10.5.2019
'D' - Long date pattern. The returned format depends on the pattern set for Long date in the local regional settings. Returns:
2019-05-10 15:18:39.013 → 10 May 2019
'f' - Full date/time pattern (short time). The returned format depends on the pattern set for Long date and Short time in the local regional settings. Returns:
2019-05-10 15:18:39.013 → 10 May 2019 5:18
'F' - Full date/time pattern (long time).. The returned format depends on the pattern set for Long date and Short time in the local regional settings. Returns:
2019-05-10 15:18:39.013 → 10 May 2019 5:18:39
'M', 'm' - Month/day pattern. The returned format depends on the current culture set in the local regional settings. Returns:
2019-05-10 15:18:39.013 → May 10
'u' - Universal sortable date/time pattern. Returns:
2019-05-10 15:18:39.013 → 2019-05-10 15:18:39Z
'U' - Universal full date/time pattern. Returns:
2019-05-10 15:18:39.013 → 10 May 2019 5:18:39

Custom format strings:

'd' - The day of the month, from 1 through 31.
'M' - The month, from 1 through 12.
'y' - The year, from 0 to 99.
'h' - The hour, using a 12-hour clock from 1 to 12.
'H' - The hour, using a 24-hour clock from 00 to 23.
'm' - The minute, from 0 through 59.
's' - The second, from 0 through 59.
'f' - The tenths of a second in a date and time value.
'%' - Defines the following character as a custom
'/' - Тhe current's culture date seperator.
'' - The escape character.
'string', 'string' - Literal string delimiter.

Examples:

2019-05-10 15:18:39.013 ('dd MM yyyy hh:mm:ss.fff')→ 10 05 2019 03:18:39.013
2019-05-10 15:18:39.013 ('yyyy MM dd hh:mm:ss.fff')→ 2019 05 10 03:18:39.013
2019-05-10 15:18:39.013 ('dd M yyyy hh:mm:ss.fff')→ 10 5 2019 03:18
2019-05-10 15:18:39.013 ('dd MMM yyyy hh:mm')→ 10 May 2019 03:18
2019-05-10 15:18:39.013 ('dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm')→ 10.05.2019 03:18
2019-05-10 15:18:39.013 ('dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm')→ 10/05/2019 03:18
2019-05-10 15:18:39.013 (dd-MM-yyyy hh:mm)→ 10-05-2019 03:18
2019-05-10 15:18:39.013 ('dd MM yyyy hh:mm 'h'')→ 10 05 2019 03:18 h

Custom format specifiers

There are also custom format specifiers that are created especially for ERP.net. They are different for the different data types and are described below.

Multilanguge string

'C', 'CURRENT' - returns the string of the current value.
'D', 'DUMP' - returns the content of the multilanguage string in the format:
EN= DE=
'T', 'TRANSLITERATED' - returns transliteration to the current language.
format specifiers for a particular language - returns the translation of the specified language. If there is no transliteration set for this language, returns an empty string. Note: The format specifiers for a particular language are supported since EnterpriseOne version 2019.1.
Language format specifiers: -'EN' - English
- 'BG' - Bulgarian
- 'CS' - Czech
- 'FR' - French
- 'DE' - German
- 'EL' - Greek
- 'HU' - Hungarian
- 'IT' - Italian
- 'MK' - Macedonian
- 'PL' - Polish
- 'PT' - Portuguese
- 'RO' - Romanian
- 'RU' - Russian
- 'SR' - Serbian
- 'ES' - Spanish

Custom property

'VD' - abbreviation of Value/Description, returns: :
'V' - abbreviation of Value, returns:
'VDI' - abbreviation of Value/Description/Id, returns: : ()
'D' - abbreviation of Description, returns: