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Formatting with CurrencyService?

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Anders Ebdrup
Anders Ebdrup
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Posted on 08/03/2021 16:19:42

Dear Dynamicweb,

 

What is the difference between: CurrencyService.FormatCurrency and CurrencyService.Format, and when does it make sense to use the different formatting methods?

 

Best regards, Anders


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Martin Vang
Martin Vang
Posted on 09/03/2021 10:35:34
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Hi Anders,

I can't explain exactly why we have two entry points like this. Probably legacy, but here is the difference:

Format tries to use the provided currency's cultureinfo to use a "standard" string.format with a "C" format, or "N" if symbol should be excluded (as per the currency object). It falls back on FormatCurrency, if it cannot format with the cultureinfo.

FormatCurrency uses the cultureinfo from the thread/rendering context, and does a custom formatting based upon this cultureinfo. "#,##0.0" or "#,##0.00" depending upon rounding settings. Then, if usesymbol is true, it adds the currency symbol at the front or back of the string, based upon if SymbolPlace == 0 or not.

I would personally always use "Format" because I think string.Format() with "C" or "N" is well defined and easier to understand.

Hope this explaination helps. 

BR

Martin

 
Anders Ebdrup
Anders Ebdrup
Posted on 09/03/2021 10:47:29
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Dear Martin,

 

Thanks for the explanation. Would it make sense to only have one formatting method to avoid confusing?

 

Best regards, Anders

 
Nicolai Pedersen
Posted on 09/03/2021 11:18:56
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This post has been marked as an answer

At some point currencies got the ability to have regional settings on them. Before, they used custom settings to control currency formatting. That is why there are 2 options - old and new.

Format is the new and uses regional settings if present - otherwise falls back to FormatCurrency. So yes, use Format.

We cannot remove the old method as it is still in use and public and would break api. We could mark it as obsolete, but it is still not...

 

Votes for this answer: 1
 
Anders Ebdrup
Anders Ebdrup
Posted on 09/03/2021 12:03:40
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Dear Nicolai,

 

It would be great marking the old method as obsolete, as we then know what method to use.

 

Best regards, Anders

 

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