Remove decimal place (not saving variable as int)

[diazdar]

So I have an input box and a user would enter an amount. Lets say a user enters 999.99, I want the variable to save as 99999. Basically I want to save exactly what the user enters without the decimal point.

How do I do this?

[dunfiddlin]

Well, first of all, why would you? If a user enters 999.99, I can't see how you would decide that it really means 99999! But if you insist, use the string .Replace method to replace "." with String.Empty or "".

[diazdar]

Haha I know, I'm making a program that takes input information the user types in and encodes it into text readable by a promotion coupon application. Appreciate all your help man.

so 9.99 is what the user inputs, the application understands that as 999. 2 dec to the left

[dunfiddlin]

Dim input = TextBox1.Text.Replace("."c, "")

... at its simplest.

[dbasnett]

Haha I know, I'm making a program that takes input information the user types in and encodes it into text readable by a promotion coupon application. Appreciate all your help man.

so 9.99 is what the user inputs, the application understands that as 999. 2 dec to the left

What if they enter 99 or 99.9? This sounds like you are making this complex for no reason. Where are you saving the data?

[diazdar]

Okay that was a great question that basically put me into an epic fail situation. Check out the attached picture. Third row down look over to the minimum and maximum digits. the minimum has a bunch of zeros and the maximum has all 9s. The last two digits to the right of both boxes indicated values past the decimal place and the 8 digits before that represent whole numbers. How can I code this application so that if someone enters 9.99

it will come up as
0000000999

my application doesnt product zeros based on the amount the user inputs. if i enter 9.99, you'll literally see 999

the only reason the minimum shows all those zeros before the 9999 is because i added them myself ("000000" & minAmount)

[Shaggy Hiker]

Take a look at the PadLeft method of string. What you want to do is pad to the size you want with "0"c

[diazdar]

'padleft for values
        Dim pad As Char
        pad = "0"c
        Console.WriteLine(minimumValue.PadLeft(10, pad))

I inserted that, but it doesnt pad values to the left. Is that wrong?

[Crzyrio]

Someone on here, gave this to me a little while back. I am sure you will find some use of it

Function GetNumber(ByVal theString As String) As String
        Dim sa() As Char = theString.ToCharArray
        Dim builder As New StringBuilder
 
        For Each n In sa
            If IsNumeric(n) Then builder.Append(n)
        Next
        Return builder.ToString
    End Function

Function breaks up the string in to a array of characters and then checks each if it is numerical. If it is then it adds it to the string and lastly returns that string back to you.


Sample Program

Imports System.Text
 
Public Class Form1
    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim x As String = GetNumber("9.99")
        Dim newbuilder As New StringBuilder
 
        If x.Count < 10 Then
            MsgBox(x.Count)
            newbuilder.Append("0", 10 - x.Count)
            newbuilder.Append(x)
        End If
        x = newbuilder.ToString
        MsgBox(x)
 
    End Sub
    Function GetNumber(ByVal theString As String) As String
        Dim sa() As Char = theString.ToCharArray
        Dim builder As New StringBuilder
 
        For Each n In sa
            If IsNumeric(n) Then builder.Append(n)
        Next
        Return builder.ToString
    End Function
End Class

The Input in here is '9.99' and returns '0000000999'

[Shaggy Hiker]

'padleft for values
        Dim pad As Char
        pad = "0"c
        Console.WriteLine(minimumValue.PadLeft(10, pad))

I inserted that, but it doesnt pad values to the left. Is that wrong?

Well, if it doesn't pad values, then it is certainly wrong, but it doesn't look all that bad. What is minimumValue? That sounds like it might not be a string, and you are padding with 0s, so if it is a numeric type, and especially if you have Option Strict OFF, I would guess that it is implicitly converting your value to a string, padding, then implicitly converting back to the numeric type, which will delete off all the 0s again.

[Crzyrio]

For the 0's you can also use the string builder, it is actually quiet usefull.

Dim x As String = "999"
Dim newbuilder As New StringBuilder
 
        If x.Count < 10 Then
            newbuilder.Append("0", 10 - x.Count)
            newbuilder.Append(x)
        End If
 
x = newbuilder.ToString

Since the maximum number of characters you want is 10, check if your string has less than 10 characters. If it does then you add 0's to it based on 10 subtract the number of values in your string and then append your string again and you are set.

If you put this piece of code in my above example you can enter 9.99 and it will output 0000000999.

[diazdar]

Dim newbuilder As New System.Text.StringBuilder

        If minimumValue.Count < 10 Then
            newbuilder.Append("0", 10 - minimumValue.Count)
            newbuilder.Append(minimumValue)
        End If

minimum value is the variable. Is that correct? It still doesnt work. I changed line 1 because there was a syntax error. Is that even right?

[diazdar]

oh didnt use it right, give me a minute

[diazdar]

Yeah it doesnt' work. Any suggestions?

[techgnome]

Dim newbuilder As New System.Text.StringBuilder

        If minimumValue.Count < 10 Then
            newbuilder.Append("0", 10 - minimumValue.Count)
            newbuilder.Append(minimumValue)
        End If

minimum value is the variable.

But WHAT is the variable Dimmed as? That's what we're guessing at...

-tg

[diazdar]

Dim minimumValue As String

if i change it, it renders ' minimumValue = minimumValue.Replace(".", "")'
as useless since that is for a string. How can I use a replace function to change the decimal to nothing,
and if i change it to a double

will that work?

[Crzyrio]

Dim minimumValue As String

if i change it, it renders ' minimumValue = minimumValue.Replace(".", "")'
as useless since that is for a string. How can I use a replace function to change the decimal to nothing,
and if i change it to a double

will that work?

Take a look at this and see if it makes sense

Imports System.Text
     
    Public Class Form1
        Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
            Dim x As String = GetNumber("9.99")
            Dim newbuilder As New StringBuilder
     
            If x.Count < 10 Then
                MsgBox(x.Count)
                newbuilder.Append("0", 10 - x.Count)
                newbuilder.Append(x)
            End If
            x = newbuilder.ToString
            MsgBox(x)
     
        End Sub
        Function GetNumber(ByVal theString As String) As String
            Dim sa() As Char = theString.ToCharArray
            Dim builder As New StringBuilder
     
            For Each n In sa
                If IsNumeric(n) Then builder.Append(n)
            Next
            Return builder.ToString
        End Function
    End Class

Dim newbuilder As New System.Text.StringBuilder

        If minimumValue.Count < 10 Then
            newbuilder.Append("0", 10 - minimumValue.Count)
            newbuilder.Append(minimumValue)
        End If

minimum value is the variable. Is that correct? It still doesnt work. I changed line 1 because there was a syntax error. Is that even right?

TRY THIS :

Dim newbuilder As New System.Text.StringBuilder
 
        If minimumValue.Count < 10 Then
            newbuilder.Append("0", 10 - minimumValue.Count)
            newbuilder.Append(minimumValue)
        End If
minimumValue = newbuilder.tostring

[diazdar]

lol i meant decimal sorry, not double

[techgnome]

well something isn't right... I used this code:

        Dim minimumNumber As String = "99.99"
        minimumNumber = minimumNumber.Replace(".", "").PadLeft(10, "0"c)
        MessageBox.Show(minimumNumber)

I get "000009999" in my messagebox....



so there's no reason the PadLeft shouldn't be working...

-tg

[diazdar]

that worked perfectly, thank you so much. Only one problem, if a user inputs 10 digits, the whole set of numbers disappears.

Any suggestions?

[Crzyrio]

[

Dim newbuilder As New System.Text.StringBuilder
     
            If minimumValue.Count < 10 Then
                newbuilder.Append("0", 10 - minimumValue.Count)
                newbuilder.Append(minimumValue)
                minimumValue = newbuilder.tostring
            End If

[diazdar]

techgnome that was perfect. Solved all problems, thank you.

[diazdar]

and Crzyrio thank you for your help, im also writing down that method in case. very useful stuff.

[diazdar]

im going to publish this application online for free since theres countless businesses using this corporate retail system and theres no applications to make uploading coupons easy like the one im making. im going to put everyone who helped me as a developer for this program, message me your name or alias if you helped me and would like to be included.

[AceInfinity]

In my opinion you're using the wrong control anyways. You should use a NumericUpDown control for this task.

edit: I may have misread the issue here. What if they enter $99.00 though. Removing the "." does not remove the "$". This is why I usually try to program for the value that I know I want. You know you want digits from 0-9. So in my opinion instead of removing values, you should be looking for the characters to keep. They could also enter in data like this: "$100, 000.00" where there may be a comma and a space.

This can be achieved with (a little) less code using LINQ:

Const digits As String = "0123456789"
Dim input As String = "$3, 457.99"
Dim result As String = String.Concat(input.Where(Function(c) Char.IsDigit(c))).PadLeft(10, "0"c)
Console.WriteLine(result) '0000345799

Or you can loop with the regular For loop and check the values.