[Issue 128533] New: The BASIC function Str inserts a space before negative numbers

[bu...@apache.org]

https://bz.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=128533

          Issue ID: 128533
        Issue Type: DEFECT
           Summary: The BASIC function Str inserts a space before negative
                    numbers
           Product: App Dev
           Version: 3.3.0 or older (OOo)
          Hardware: PC
                OS: Windows, all
            Status: CONFIRMED
          Severity: Minor
          Priority: P5 (lowest)
         Component: scripting
          Assignee: issues@openoffice.apache.org
          Reporter: czeslaw.wolanski@gmail.com
  Target Milestone: ---

AOO Help on the Str function:

 "The Str function converts a numeric variable,
  or the result of a calculation into a string.
  Negative numbers are preceded by a minus sign.
  Positive numbers are preceded by a space
  (instead of the plus sign)."

So for a value of 1 and -1 the Str function shall return,
respectively, ' 1' and '-1' (single quotes here are not part
of the returned strings). Nonetheless the following code

sub test_Str
  MsgBox "'" & Str(1) & "'" & Chr(13) &_
         "'" & Str(-1) & "'"
end sub

displays:

' 1'
' -1'

Only with    Option VBASupport 1
or           CompatibilityMode(True)
one gets the _expected_ value, i.e. ' 1' and '-1'


And one more inaccuracy - AOO Help on the Format function:

Syntax:
Format (Number [, Format As String])

Format: String that specifies the format code for the number.
        If Format is omitted, the Format function works
        like the Str function.


Thus Format(Number) should yield the same result as Str(Number)
The following code:

sub test_Format

  MsgBox "'" & Format(1) & "'" & Chr(13) &_
         "'" & Format(-1) & "'"

end sub


shows:

'1'
'-1'

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[Issue 128533] The BASIC function Str inserts a space before negative numbers

[bu...@apache.org]

https://bz.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=128533

damjan@apache.org changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Latest|---                         |4.2.0-dev
    Confirmation in|                            |
           Hardware|PC                          |All
                 CC|                            |damjan@apache.org
                 OS|Windows, all                |All

--- Comment #1 from damjan@apache.org ---
Our StarBasic implementation is in main/basic. In there, built-in functions
like Str() are declared with the form RTLFUNC(Str), and be found with:

$ grep RTLFUNC\(Str * -R

which gives, among others:

runtime/methods.cxx:RTLFUNC(Str)

where we see what it does:

---snip---
   1573 RTLFUNC(Str)
   1574 {
   1575     (void)pBasic;
   1576     (void)bWrite;
   1577 
   1578     if ( rPar.Count() < 2 )
   1579         StarBASIC::Error( SbERR_BAD_ARGUMENT );
   1580     else
   1581     {
   1582         String aStr;
   1583         SbxVariableRef pArg = rPar.Get( 1 );
   1584         pArg->Format( aStr );
   1585 
   1586         // Numbers start with a space
   1587         if( pArg->IsNumericRTL() )
   1588         {
   1589             // Kommas durch Punkte ersetzen, damit es symmetrisch zu
Val ist!
   1590             aStr.SearchAndReplace( ',', '.' );
   1591 
   1592             SbiInstance* pInst = pINST;
   1593             bool bCompatibility = ( pInst && pInst->IsCompatibility()
);
   1594             if( bCompatibility )
   1595             {
   1596                 xub_StrLen nLen = aStr.Len();
   1597 
   1598                 const sal_Unicode* pBuf = aStr.GetBuffer();
   1599 
   1600                 bool bNeg = ( pBuf[0] == '-' );
   1601                 sal_uInt16 iZeroSearch = 0;
   1602                 if( bNeg )
   1603                     iZeroSearch++;
   1604 
   1605                 sal_uInt16 iNext = iZeroSearch + 1;
   1606                 if( pBuf[iZeroSearch] == '0' && nLen > iNext &&
pBuf[iNext] == '.' )
   1607                 {
   1608                     aStr.Erase( iZeroSearch, 1 );
   1609                     pBuf = aStr.GetBuffer();
   1610                 }
   1611                 if( !bNeg )
   1612                     aStr.Insert( ' ', 0 );
   1613             }
   1614             else
   1615                 aStr.Insert( ' ', 0 );
   1616         }
   1617         rPar.Get(0)->PutString( aStr );
   1618     }
   1619 }
---snip---

Put a breakpoint on SbRtl_Str (which is what RTLFUNC(Str) mangles the name to),
and debugging, line 1587 is true, and line 1594 is false, so a space is
unconditionally appended in line 1615.

Maybe line 1615 should check for bNeg before adding the space, like lines
1611-1612 do?

As for the relationship between Str() and Format(), note that line 1584 calls
pArg->Format(). The built-in Format() function in RTLFUNC(Format) also calls
the Format() method on its arg. These end up in SbxValue::Format() of
main/basic/source/sbx/sbxscan.cxx, and end up converting the double to a
string. Yet Str() adds the space after calling Format(). So it's not accurate
to say "the Format function works like the Str function".

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[Issue 128533] The BASIC function Str inserts a space before negative numbers

[bu...@apache.org]

https://bz.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=128533

--- Comment #2 from Czesław Wolański <cz...@gmail.com> ---
Thank you, damjan, for the code pointer and analysis.

> Maybe line 1615 should check for bNeg before adding the space,
> like lines 1611-1612 do?
Quite recently I came across a bug report submitted to
LibreOffice Bugzilla that is similar to my report.

tdf#146590
"Basic's Str function adding unnecessary blank space
 before negative numbers"
https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=146590

Please take a look at the comment therein
(I have no idea whether it might bear any relevance to OpenOffice).

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