Formatting addresses on web page

Mike

I want to suppress blank lines in an address on a web page.

At the moment, I am displaying the data like this:

<asp:Label ID="Address1Label" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Address1")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="Address2Label" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Address2")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="Address3Label" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Address3")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="TownLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Town")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="LocationLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Location")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="PostcodeLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Postcode")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="TelephoneLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Telephone")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="FaxLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Fax")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="WebLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Web")%>'></asp:Label> 

This of course creates blank lines on the page if a line is empty.

I created a method that checks to see if there was anything in the field and
then builds a string including the field, or excluding it depending on the
result:

public static string FormatAddress(string ad1, string ad2, string ad3,
string town, string county, string post)
{
string FormattedAddress ="";
if (ad1 != "")
{ FormattedAddress = ad1 + " "; }
if (ad2 != "")
{ FormattedAddress += ad2 + " "; }
if (ad3 != "")
{ FormattedAddress += ad3 + " "; }
if (town != "")
{ FormattedAddress += town + " "; }
if (county != "")
{ FormattedAddress += county + " "; }
if (post != "")
{ FormattedAddress += post + " "; }
return FormattedAddress;
}

Then I tried to pass this into it:

<asp:Label ID="FormatAddressLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
MyUtilityClass.FormatAddress((string)Eval("Address 1"),
(string)Eval("Address2"), (string)Eval("Address3")...%>'></asp:Label>

but it fell over with an "Unable to cast object of type 'System.DBNull' to
type 'System.String'" exception. I realise what this means, in that at
least one of the fields is null, and this type of casting won't work.

Now I'm stuck. Has anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks

Mike

Dec 14 '06 #1

Subscribe Post Reply

1194

Laurent Bugnion

Hi,

Mike wrote:

I want to suppress blank lines in an address on a web page.

<snip>

but it fell over with an "Unable to cast object of type 'System.DBNull' to
type 'System.String'" exception. I realise what this means, in that at
least one of the fields is null, and this type of casting won't work.

Now I'm stuck. Has anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks

Mike

You must test the field value against System.DbNull.Value to check if it
exists in the DB. You must do this *before* you call your method,
because the method expects string parameters. DbNull is not equivalent
to null and can also not be casted to a string.

HTH,
Laurent
--
Laurent Bugnion, GalaSoft
Software engineering: http://www.galasoft-LB.ch
PhotoAlbum: http://www.galasoft-LB.ch/pictures
Support children in Calcutta: http://www.calcutta-espoir.ch

Dec 14 '06 #2

Mike

Thanks Laurent,

I kind of guessed that was what I had to do, but I'm not sure how to
proceed. I'm thinking of scrapping the standalone method, but using
something similar to accomplish this task in the FormView's DataBinding
event to intercept the values coming from the datareader - test whether they
are DBNulls or not, then doing my thing with them. Does this sound
sensible?
"Laurent Bugnion" <ga*********@bluewin.chwrote in message
news:uM**************@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

Hi,

Mike wrote:
>I want to suppress blank lines in an address on a web page.

<snip>

>but it fell over with an "Unable to cast object of type 'System.DBNull'
to type 'System.String'" exception. I realise what this means, in that
at least one of the fields is null, and this type of casting won't work.

Now I'm stuck. Has anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks

Mike

You must test the field value against System.DbNull.Value to check if it
exists in the DB. You must do this *before* you call your method, because
the method expects string parameters. DbNull is not equivalent to null and
can also not be casted to a string.

HTH,
Laurent
--
Laurent Bugnion, GalaSoft
Software engineering: http://www.galasoft-LB.ch
PhotoAlbum: http://www.galasoft-LB.ch/pictures
Support children in Calcutta: http://www.calcutta-espoir.ch

Dec 14 '06 #3

Mike

I've worked this out now. The clue was in the exception message I first
got: "Unable to cast Object...." so I worked out that Eval("SomeValue")
produces an object.

All I did then was change the method parameters from "string" to "object",
then within the method body, test if the value of <object>.ToString != null.

Works beautifully :-)

Mike

"Mike" <xx*@xxx.xxxwrote in message
news:O3*************@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

Thanks Laurent,

I kind of guessed that was what I had to do, but I'm not sure how to
proceed. I'm thinking of scrapping the standalone method, but using
something similar to accomplish this task in the FormView's DataBinding
event to intercept the values coming from the datareader - test whether
they are DBNulls or not, then doing my thing with them. Does this sound
sensible?
"Laurent Bugnion" <ga*********@bluewin.chwrote in message
news:uM**************@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>Hi,

Mike wrote:
>>I want to suppress blank lines in an address on a web page.

<snip>

>>but it fell over with an "Unable to cast object of type 'System.DBNull'
to type 'System.String'" exception. I realise what this means, in that
at least one of the fields is null, and this type of casting won't work.

Now I'm stuck. Has anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks

Mike

You must test the field value against System.DbNull.Value to check if it
exists in the DB. You must do this *before* you call your method, because
the method expects string parameters. DbNull is not equivalent to null
and can also not be casted to a string.

HTH,
Laurent
--
Laurent Bugnion, GalaSoft
Software engineering: http://www.galasoft-LB.ch
PhotoAlbum: http://www.galasoft-LB.ch/pictures
Support children in Calcutta: http://www.calcutta-espoir.ch

Dec 14 '06 #4

Steve B.

Change

<asp:Label ID="Address1Label" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Address1")%>'></asp:Label> 

by :

<asp:Label ID="Address1Label" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Address1",
"{0} ")%>'></asp:Label>

Repeat this to all of your lines...

It's quite easier that having to test the value...

"Mike" <xx*@xxx.xxxa écrit dans le message de news:
%2****************@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

>I want to suppress blank lines in an address on a web page.

At the moment, I am displaying the data like this:

<asp:Label ID="Address1Label" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Address1")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="Address2Label" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Address2")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="Address3Label" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Address3")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="TownLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Town")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="LocationLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Location")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="PostcodeLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Postcode")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="TelephoneLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Telephone")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="FaxLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Fax")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="WebLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Web")%>'></asp:Label> 

This of course creates blank lines on the page if a line is empty.

I created a method that checks to see if there was anything in the field
and then builds a string including the field, or excluding it depending on
the result:

public static string FormatAddress(string ad1, string ad2, string ad3,
string town, string county, string post)
{
string FormattedAddress ="";
if (ad1 != "")
{ FormattedAddress = ad1 + " "; }
if (ad2 != "")
{ FormattedAddress += ad2 + " "; }
if (ad3 != "")
{ FormattedAddress += ad3 + " "; }
if (town != "")
{ FormattedAddress += town + " "; }
if (county != "")
{ FormattedAddress += county + " "; }
if (post != "")
{ FormattedAddress += post + " "; }
return FormattedAddress;
}

Then I tried to pass this into it:

<asp:Label ID="FormatAddressLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
MyUtilityClass.FormatAddress((string)Eval("Address 1"),
(string)Eval("Address2"), (string)Eval("Address3")...%>'></asp:Label>

but it fell over with an "Unable to cast object of type 'System.DBNull' to
type 'System.String'" exception. I realise what this means, in that at
least one of the fields is null, and this type of casting won't work.

Now I'm stuck. Has anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks

Mike

Dec 14 '06 #5

Mike

Great! Thanks - that's two more things I've learned today!

"Steve B." <st**********@com.msn_swap_msn_and_comwrote in message
news:uC**************@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

Change

<asp:Label ID="Address1Label" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Address1")%>'></asp:Label> 

by :

<asp:Label ID="Address1Label" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Address1",
"{0} ")%>'></asp:Label>

Repeat this to all of your lines...

It's quite easier that having to test the value...

"Mike" <xx*@xxx.xxxa écrit dans le message de news:
%2****************@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>I want to suppress blank lines in an address on a web page.

At the moment, I am displaying the data like this:

<asp:Label ID="Address1Label" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Address1")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="Address2Label" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Address2")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="Address3Label" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Address3")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="TownLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Town")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="LocationLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Location")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="PostcodeLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Postcode")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="TelephoneLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Telephone")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="FaxLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Fax")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="WebLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Web")%>'></asp:Label> 

This of course creates blank lines on the page if a line is empty.

I created a method that checks to see if there was anything in the field
and then builds a string including the field, or excluding it depending
on the result:

public static string FormatAddress(string ad1, string ad2, string ad3,
string town, string county, string post)
{
string FormattedAddress ="";
if (ad1 != "")
{ FormattedAddress = ad1 + " "; }
if (ad2 != "")
{ FormattedAddress += ad2 + " "; }
if (ad3 != "")
{ FormattedAddress += ad3 + " "; }
if (town != "")
{ FormattedAddress += town + " "; }
if (county != "")
{ FormattedAddress += county + " "; }
if (post != "")
{ FormattedAddress += post + " "; }
return FormattedAddress;
}

Then I tried to pass this into it:

<asp:Label ID="FormatAddressLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
MyUtilityClass.FormatAddress((string)Eval("Addres s1"),
(string)Eval("Address2"), (string)Eval("Address3")...%>'></asp:Label>

but it fell over with an "Unable to cast object of type 'System.DBNull'
to type 'System.String'" exception. I realise what this means, in that
at least one of the fields is null, and this type of casting won't work.

Now I'm stuck. Has anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks

Mike

Dec 14 '06 #6

Mike

Well, now that I've tried your suggestion, I've found that it doesn't
suppress blank lines if the filed is empty. Nevertheless, I wasn't aware
that you could apply custom formatting in the way you have demonstrated, so
that, together with my improved method is useful.

"Mike" <xx*@xxx.xxxwrote in message
news:%2******************@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

Great! Thanks - that's two more things I've learned today!

"Steve B." <st**********@com.msn_swap_msn_and_comwrote in message
news:uC**************@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>Change

<asp:Label ID="Address1Label" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Address1")%>'></asp:Label> 

by :

<asp:Label ID="Address1Label" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Address1",
"{0} ")%>'></asp:Label>

Repeat this to all of your lines...

It's quite easier that having to test the value...

"Mike" <xx*@xxx.xxxa écrit dans le message de news:
%2****************@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>>I want to suppress blank lines in an address on a web page.

At the moment, I am displaying the data like this:

<asp:Label ID="Address1Label" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Address1")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="Address2Label" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Address2")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="Address3Label" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Address3")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="TownLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Town")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="LocationLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Location")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="PostcodeLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Postcode")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="TelephoneLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Telephone") %>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="FaxLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Fax")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="WebLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Web")%>'></asp:Label> 

This of course creates blank lines on the page if a line is empty.

I created a method that checks to see if there was anything in the field
and then builds a string including the field, or excluding it depending
on the result:

public static string FormatAddress(string ad1, string ad2, string ad3,
string town, string county, string post)
{
string FormattedAddress ="";
if (ad1 != "")
{ FormattedAddress = ad1 + " "; }
if (ad2 != "")
{ FormattedAddress += ad2 + " "; }
if (ad3 != "")
{ FormattedAddress += ad3 + " "; }
if (town != "")
{ FormattedAddress += town + " "; }
if (county != "")
{ FormattedAddress += county + " "; }
if (post != "")
{ FormattedAddress += post + " "; }
return FormattedAddress;
}

Then I tried to pass this into it:

<asp:Label ID="FormatAddressLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
MyUtilityClass.FormatAddress((string)Eval("Addre ss1"),
(string)Eval("Address2"), (string)Eval("Address3")...%>'></asp:Label>

but it fell over with an "Unable to cast object of type 'System.DBNull'
to type 'System.String'" exception. I realise what this means, in that
at least one of the fields is null, and this type of casting won't work.

Now I'm stuck. Has anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks

Mike

Dec 14 '06 #7

Steve B.

Ok sorry for the error..

you can try this :

<asp:Label ID="Address1Label" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Address1",
"{0} ")%>'
visible='<%# Eval("Address1") != System.Data.DBNull.Value %>'

></asp:Label>

"Mike" <xx*@xxx.xxxa écrit dans le message de news:
er***************@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

Well, now that I've tried your suggestion, I've found that it doesn't
suppress blank lines if the filed is empty. Nevertheless, I wasn't aware
that you could apply custom formatting in the way you have demonstrated,
so that, together with my improved method is useful.

"Mike" <xx*@xxx.xxxwrote in message
news:%2******************@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>Great! Thanks - that's two more things I've learned today!

"Steve B." <st**********@com.msn_swap_msn_and_comwrote in message
news:uC**************@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>Change

<asp:Label ID="Address1Label" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Address1")%>'></asp:Label> 

by :

<asp:Label ID="Address1Label" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Address1",
"{0} ")%>'></asp:Label>

Repeat this to all of your lines...

It's quite easier that having to test the value...

"Mike" <xx*@xxx.xxxa écrit dans le message de news:
%2****************@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
I want to suppress blank lines in an address on a web page.

At the moment, I am displaying the data like this:

<asp:Label ID="Address1Label" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Address1")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="Address2Label" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Address2")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="Address3Label" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Address3")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="TownLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Town")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="LocationLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Location")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="PostcodeLabel" runat="server" Text='<%# Eval("Postcode")
%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="TelephoneLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Telephone") %>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="FaxLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Fax")%>'></asp:Label> 
<asp:Label ID="WebLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
Eval("Web")%>'></asp:Label> 

This of course creates blank lines on the page if a line is empty.

I created a method that checks to see if there was anything in the
field and then builds a string including the field, or excluding it
depending on the result:

public static string FormatAddress(string ad1, string ad2, string ad3,
string town, string county, string post)
{
string FormattedAddress ="";
if (ad1 != "")
{ FormattedAddress = ad1 + " "; }
if (ad2 != "")
{ FormattedAddress += ad2 + " "; }
if (ad3 != "")
{ FormattedAddress += ad3 + " "; }
if (town != "")
{ FormattedAddress += town + " "; }
if (county != "")
{ FormattedAddress += county + " "; }
if (post != "")
{ FormattedAddress += post + " "; }
return FormattedAddress;
}

Then I tried to pass this into it:

<asp:Label ID="FormatAddressLabel" runat="server" Text='<%#
MyUtilityClass.FormatAddress((string)Eval("Addr ess1"),
(string)Eval("Address2"), (string)Eval("Address3")...%>'></asp:Label>

but it fell over with an "Unable to cast object of type 'System.DBNull'
to type 'System.String'" exception. I realise what this means, in that
at least one of the fields is null, and this type of casting won't
work.

Now I'm stuck. Has anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks

Mike

Dec 14 '06 #8

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