Fixed Length String??

Perhaps thing somewhat backwards. What if you started with a 12 space NSString and then replaced a portion of it with your possibly less than 12 space string.

 

I guess thats one way to do it. I was thinking something like this. The NSString class never ceases to amaze!

Code:

NSString *blanks = @"            ";
NSString *insert = @"test";
NSString *out = [blanks stringByReplacingCharactersInRange: NSMakeRange( 0, [insert length]) withString: insert];

With appropriate boundary conditions to ensure that insert wasn't longer than blanks, etc...

Why would you go through this trouble instead of just..

Code:

NSString *mycall = [stnCallSign retain];

or just..

Code:

NSString *mycall = [stnCallSign stringByPaddingToLength:12 withString:@" " startingAtIndex:0];

 

stnCallSign probably isn't an NSString. Note the use of stringValue in the OP code. This is not an NSString method AFAIK.

Also, retain is unbalanced, so that's a leak.

You probably meant something more like this:

Code:

NSString *mycall = [stnCallSign stringValue];

or this:

Code:

NSString *mycall = [[stnCallSign stringValue] stringByPaddingToLength:12 withString:@" " startingAtIndex:0];

But I do agree with you that the senseless use of stringWithFormat: should be burned with fire. Because the short analysis of the problem is: "It's already an NSString".

 

Yeah, obviously I meant the interim -(NSString *)stringValue;
And I certainly didn't mean to unbalance a retain, I just meant for him to think about ownership, like -retain or -copy instead of +stringWithFormat:;