Few suggested improvements for DisplayTools

[se...@gmail.com]

Hello,
I wanted to share with you a few ideas I have about new simple
improvements for DisplayTools. I should be able to make patches for
them if you are interested.

1. Add new method

isEmpty(object)

that will return true if the object is null or empty (for strings it's
zero length; for collections, maps and arrays it's zero size). This
should help with  annoying null checks. (Probably a better place for
this method would be Engine, not Tools)


2. Add new "property" parameter to

list(Object list, String delim, String finaldelim, String property)

method that will format an array or collection of objects on selected
property (similar to SortTools).


3. Add new method:

stripTags(Object obj, String... allowedTags)

that will strip all (html) tags from the text except those listed in
allowedTags (allowed tags are passed like this: "br","img","p").


4. Add new method:

br(Object obj)

that will replace \n with "<br />\n"


5. Add new "preserveWords" parameter to:

truncate(Object truncateMe, int maxLength, String suffix, boolean preserveWords)

that will truncate a string to a last complete word within maxLength
instead of exact character.


Thanks.

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Re: Few suggested improvements for DisplayTools

[Nathan Bubna <nb...@gmail.com>]

comments in line...

On Sat, Feb 7, 2009 at 3:41 PM,  <se...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
> I wanted to share with you a few ideas I have about new simple
> improvements for DisplayTools. I should be able to make patches for
> them if you are interested.
>
> 1. Add new method
>
> isEmpty(object)
>
> that will return true if the object is null or empty (for strings it's
> zero length; for collections, maps and arrays it's zero size). This
> should help with  annoying null checks. (Probably a better place for
> this method would be Engine, not Tools)

yeah, not something for tools.  would be interesting to have the
Uberspect pretend that every non-null reference has an isEmpty()
method, or perhaps just add 0-length strings, empty collections, empty
maps and 0-length arrays to the list of things that #if( $foo )
considers false.

> 2. Add new "property" parameter to
>
> list(Object list, String delim, String finaldelim, String property)
>
> method that will format an array or collection of objects on selected
> property (similar to SortTools).

great idea!

> 3. Add new method:
>
> stripTags(Object obj, String... allowedTags)
>
> that will strip all (html) tags from the text except those listed in
> allowedTags (allowed tags are passed like this: "br","img","p").

that would definitely be useful.  but should it strip them or escape them?

> 4. Add new method:
>
> br(Object obj)
>
> that will replace \n with "<br />\n"

simple enough.  want to make a patch for this or any of the others?

> 5. Add new "preserveWords" parameter to:
>
> truncate(Object truncateMe, int maxLength, String suffix, boolean preserveWords)
>
> that will truncate a string to a last complete word within maxLength
> instead of exact character.

also a good idea.  again, want to help?  i might take up a few of
these, but i've got a lot of other irons in the fire.  also, if you
want these ideas to be remembered, opening up a JIRA issue for them
would be a good idea.  otherwise, they risk becoming buried in
inboxes.

>
> Thanks.
>
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> To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscribe@velocity.apache.org
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>

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