CSERIESTOTEXT

The CSERIESTOTEXT specifies the character set of the output of the function.

From that point onward, the data is treated as if it were in that character set. If the data is not in the specified character set, you get the wrong answer.

The character set is required to be specified in this function. If you choose not to specify a character set, you should use the original version of the SERIESTOTEXT function.

Syntax:
CSERIESTOTEXT (series-object-expression , "character-set-of-object-content")
Meaning:
CSERIESTOTEXT (series_to_convert, object_character_set )
Returns:
A single text item

The series_to_convert argument concatenates the series of the input argument, including nested delimiters but excluding initiators and terminators.

The second argument, object_character_set, represents the character set of the resulting object.

Examples

In this example, you have the following data that represents bowler information for a bowling league:

Andrews, Jessica:980206:JBC:145:138:177:159

Little, Randy:980116:BBK:175:168

Wayne, Richard:980102:JBC:185:204:179:164:212

Each record consists of the bowler's name, the date of their last game played, a team code and one or more bowling scores. Record is defined as a group that is infix delimited by a colon.

Using the following rule produces results of the concatenation of all scores for all of the bowlers, even though the scores are not all contiguous within the data.

  • = CSERIESTOTEXT (Score Field:Bowler:Input, "ASCII")

    Returns: 145138177159175168185204179164212

You can change the rule to concatenate the list of scores to the bowler's name using the following rule:

  • = BowlerName Field:Bowler:Input + " ->" + CSERIESTOTEXT (Score Field:Bowler:Input, "ASCII")

    Returns:

    Andrews, Jessica -> 145138177159

    Little, Randy -> 175168

    Wayne, Richard -> 185204179164212

In this example, you have an input number that is of variable size, followed by a name. There is no syntax that separates the number from the name. You can define the number as a group with Byte(s) as a component and provide a component rule for Byte(s), such as:

ISNUMBER ($)