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The following examples will try to illustrate the various paths that an evaluation of a formatting group can take.

Code Block
<{A}, {B}>

A

B

Result

 

1

2

1, 2

1

1

2

2

Code Block
<{A};{B};{C}: Message>

A

B

C

Result

 

1

2

3

1;2;3: Message

1

2

1;2

1

1

2

3

2;3: Message

Code Block
<{A} items??empty>

A

Result

1

1 items

empty

Code Block
<{A}, {B}.??<{C}??Nothing defined!>>

A

B

C

Result

1

2

3

1, 2

2

3

2

1

3

1

3

3

Nothing defined!

Advanced Examples

A real-world example with several data fields can take a few more iterations to get them right. Let's take a look below.

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Code Block
My name is <{LastName}, {FirstName} {MiddleInitial}.> and my phone number is <{MobNumber}??<{TelNumber}??<{FaxNumber}>>>.

LastName

FirstName

MiddleInitial

MobNumber

TelNumber

FaxNumber

Result

Doe

John

Q

0765551111

0765552222

0765553333

My name is Doe

Doe

John

Q

0765552222

0765553333

My name is Doe

Doe

John

0765552222

0765553333

My name is Doe

Doe

0765553333

My name is Doe and my phone number is 0765553333.

Doe

My name is Doe and my phone number is .

John

My name is John and my phone number is .

0765553333

My name is and my phone number is 0765553333.

My name is and my phone number is .

We can see from the sample input above that there are several instances where a phrase is included although all the data values are empty. The expression would work much better if the two formatting groups were merged.

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Code Block
<My name is <{LastName}, {FirstName}, {MiddleInitial}.> and my phone number is <{MobNumber}??<{TelNumber}??<{FaxNumber}>>>.??No data>

LastName

FirstName

MiddleInitial

MobNumber

TelNumber

FaxNumber

Result

Doe

John

Q

0765551111

0765552222

0765553333

My name is Doe

Doe

John

Q

0765552222

0765553333

My name is Doe

Doe

John

0765552222

0765553333

My name is Doe

Doe

0765553333

My name is Doe and my phone number is 0765553333.

Doe

My name is Doe

John

My name is John

0765553333

0765553333.

No data

As you can see, the fallbacks for missing data are now better, printing "No data" when absolutely nothing has been specified.

Writing tests

The following code illustrates how to test an expression using C# and NUnit with various inputs.

The test is written so that you can copy/paste most of it to your own solution and change the number of and the names of the parameters.

Code Block
[TestCase("Doe", "John", "Q", "0765551111", "0765552222", "0765553333", "My name is Doe, John Q. and my phone number is 0765551111.")]
[TestCase("Doe", "John", "Q", "", "0765552222", "0765553333", "My name is Doe, John Q. and my phone number is 0765552222.")]
[TestCase("Doe", "John", "", "", "0765552222", "0765553333", "My name is Doe, John and my phone number is 0765552222.")]
[TestCase("Doe", "", "", "", "", "0765553333", "My name is Doe and my phone number is 0765553333.")]
[TestCase("Doe", "", "", "", "", "", "My name is Doe")]
[TestCase("", "John", "", "", "", "", "My name is John")]
[TestCase("", "", "", "", "", "0765553333", "0765553333.")]
[TestCase(null, null, null, null, null, null, "No data")]
[TestCase("", "", "", "", "", "", "No data")]
public void TestFormattingExamples(
  [CanBeNull] string lastName,
  [CanBeNull] string firstName,
  [CanBeNull] string middleInitial,
  [CanBeNull] string mobileNumber,
  [CanBeNull] string telNumber,
  [CanBeNull] string faxNumber,
  [NotNull] string expectedResult)
{
  var parser = GetInstance<IExpressionParser>();
  var expressionText = $"'<My name is <{{{nameof(lastName)}}}, {{{nameof(firstName)}}} {{{nameof(middleInitial)}}}.> and my phone number is <{{{nameof(mobileNumber)}}}??<{{{nameof(telNumber)}}}??<{{{nameof(faxNumber)}}}>>>.??No data>'";
  var expression = parser.CreateExpression(expressionText, false);
  var context = new ExpressionContext
  {
    [nameof(lastName)] = lastName,
    [nameof(firstName)] = firstName,
    [nameof(middleInitial)] = middleInitial,
    [nameof(mobileNumber)] = mobileNumber,
    [nameof(telNumber)] = telNumber,
    [nameof(faxNumber)] = faxNumber
  };

  Assert.That(expression.TryGetValue(context, out var value));
  Assert.That(value.ToString(), Is.EqualTo(expectedResult));
}