[Solved] Format number in grid ClientTemplate

[Michiel]

I'm trying to format a whole number (like 1234) in a MVC Grid so that it looks like 1,234
If I use 

.Format("{0:n}")

then it becomes 1,234.00

.Format("{0:n2}")

Is not supported (using Ajax binding).
I can get it to work with

.Format("{0:###,###}")

However I use an extension to determine if the value is null. If so, we show N/A, if not, we use the format specified to display the value.

public static GridBoundColumnBuilder<T> DefaultToNA<T>(this GridBoundColumnBuilder<T> columnHelper) where T : class
        {
            const string defaultValue = "N/A";
            var format = columnHelper.Column.Format ?? "";
            if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(format.Trim()))
            {
                columnHelper.ClientTemplate(string.Format("{0}", "<# if(" + columnHelper.Column.Member + " + ''.length == 0) { #>" + defaultValue + "<#;} else { #> <#= $.telerik.formatString('" + format + "', " + columnHelper.Column.Member + ") #> <#}#>"));
            }
            else
                columnHelper.ClientTemplate(string.Format("{0}", "<# if(" + columnHelper.Column.Member + " + ''.length == 0) { #>" + defaultValue + "<#;} else { #> <#=" + columnHelper.Column.Member + "#> <#}#>"));

            return columnHelper;
        }

When I use the format ({0:###,###}) in combination with this method extension it fails with a javascript error (Illegal Character).

The same happens when I do this:

columns.Bound(o => o.CSO).ClientTemplate("<#= $.telerik.formatString('{0:###,###}', CSO) #>")

If I replace the # with 0 it works. So it looks like it cannot handle the # character. Might be because it is an escape character for Telerik? Any way to override this or another solution to use the # sign in an ClientTemplate?

[Atanas Korchev]

Hello Michiel,

 Indeed the # character is special. I suggest a simple workaround - use a helper  JavaScript function :

<script>
       function formatter(value) {
        return    $.telerik.formatString('{0:###,###}', value)
       }
</script>

columns.Bound(o => o.CSO).ClientTemplate("<#= formatter(CSO) #>")

Greetings,
Atanas Korchev
the Telerik team

[Michiel]

Good tip. Thanks!

I convert the # to another character in my method extension and use a javascript function to convert it back to # before passing it to the Telerik format function. I need the ability to pass formatting rules to the function.

function formatGridValue(format, value) {

     format = format.replaceAll('^', '#');

    return  $.telerik.formatString(format, value)
}

Would be nice if we can use an escape character in the client template to specify a # character to the parser ignores this.

Thanks again for your quick response.