Trimming a String Function with ASP.NET and VB.NET

I'm trying to run a simple function on a dataset field but can not for the life of me figure out how to get it to work.


All I want to do it trim the text that is output by some bound data. The function I have written is below

Code:

---

<script runat="server">
Function TrimTeaser( strString As String)
strString = strString.Substring (0,4)
End Function
</script>

---

On the page:

Code:

---

<%# TrimTeaser(ds_main_news.FieldValue("headerText", Container)) %>

---

I have tried so many variations and all either complain of missing Expressions, no String data, or it simply does not print to the page. Help!

Cheers,
Jeff

Use Trim$() function.

So I changed it to Substring$ and the page renders without errors, but nothing shows up where the trimmed string is supposed to.

Code:

---

 
<script runat="server">
Function TrimTeaser( strString As String)
strString = strString.Substring$ (0,4)
End Function
</script>

---

You are missing one VERY IMPORTANT line of code my friend.

IF you will recall, a function is differentiated from a Sub by one important thing... it RETURNS something.

You have no return in your function, effectively returning nothing.

VB Code:

<script runat="server"> 
Function TrimTeaser(strString As String) 
Return strString.SubString(0,4)
End Function 
</script>

That said, if that's all your function does, you might as well not even create a function for it, and skip the overhead.

Code:

---

<%# DirectCast(ds_main_news.FieldValue("headerText", Container),String).SubString(0,4) %>

---

If you get an error with the code immediately above, its because I don't use Crystal reports, and therefore am unclear what fieldvalue returns, I only guess its an object of some kind. You may have to substitute convert.toString instead.