TEXT, NATIVE LANGUAGE SUPPORT, AND TIME MEDIA - Creating a TParameterFormatter instance

Creating a TParameterFormatter instance

Until an editor is available to construct TParameterFormatter instances, create them programmatically by following these steps:

Set up the template either in the TParameterFormatter constructor or by calling the TParameterFormatter::SetTemplate member function. You can also specify a text-ordering object in the constructor. In addition to the default constructor, TParameterFormatter provides these constructors:
Set the parameters and parameter types with the TParameterFormatter::SetParameterType member function.
Attach formatters to each parameter with the TParameterFormatter::SetParameterFormat member function.

A localizer can localize the parameter formatter by resetting the template with SetTemplate and attaching different formatters and by resetting the text-ordering object if one exists. A localizer can change the order of the parameters within the template but cannot change the indexing.

To use the formatter, you call the Format or Scan function, passing in a TFormattableParameterList instance containing values for each parameter.

Step 1: Setting up the template

Declare the TParameterFormatter instance and attach a text instance as the template.

  TParameterFormatter myParameterFormatter;
  myParameterFormatter.SetTemplate(TStandardText(
           "Today, date, there are n files on the disk called name."));
          //0123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234

Step 2: Setting the parameter types

Specify the type of formattable data that each parameter represents. The parameter types are not attached to a particular range within the template. The ranges are specified when the formatters are attached so that a localizer can translate the template string and change the order of the parameters within the template.

  myParameterFormatter.SetParameterType(0, TStandardText("TFormattableTime"));
  myParameterFormatter.SetParameterType(1, TStandardText("TFormattableNumber"));
  myParameterFormatter.SetParameterType(2, TStandardText("TFormattableText"));

Step 3: Attaching formatters to each parameter

Attach a formatter to each parameter that handles that type of formattable data.

This example uses formatters that provide default behavior:

  TGregorianDateTimeFormatter myDateTimeFormat;
  TPositionalNumberFormatter myNumberFormat;
  TSimpleTextFormatter myStringFormat;
  
  myParameterFormatter.SetParameterFormat
              (TTextRange(TTextOffset(7),TTextOffset(11)), 0, myDateFormat);
  myParameterFormatter.SetParameterFormat
              (TTextRange(TTextOffset(23),TTextOffset(24)), 1, myNumberFormat);
  myParameterFormatter.SetParameterFormat
              (TTextRange(TTextOffset(50),TTextOffset(54)), 2, myStringFormat);

Using the formatter

This example produces the output string Today, 12/12/99, there are 25 files on the disk called Joe Smith's Disk.

  TFormattableParameterList myParameterList;
  myParameterList.SetParameter(0, TFormattableTime(TTime::Now()));
  myParameterList.SetParameter(1, TFormattableNumber(25));
  myParameterList.SetParameter(2, TFormattableText("Joe Smith's Disk");
  
  TStandardText resultText;
  TParameterFormatResult formatResult;
  
  myParameterFormatter.Format(myParameterList, resultText, formatResult);

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