How to I remove spaces and blank lines from a multiline text field?

(0) Share

Report

Posted on by Community Member

I have a custom workflow which is now working below that creates multiple records from a multi-line text field (line by line).

Problem: People will type in telephone numbers into this field in a list however some people put in spaces into phone numbers. I want to be able to remove any spaces in these phone numbers.

Another problem is that people put blank lines in the text field and this blank line will create a new record in the said custom workflow below.

I need to know how to manipulate the code below so that the mutliline text field data is cleansed before it creates the records.

So for example:

08888 888888
09888 888888
<Blank Line>
09988 888 888

Becomes

08888888888
09888888888
09988888888<<<<<<Array/Multiline is trimmed at this point.

Code I have used so far for the custom workflow is:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.Threading.Tasks;

using System.Activities;

using Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk.Workflow;

using Microsoft.Xrm.Sdk;

using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

namespace CreateLineRecords

{

public class CreateRecords : CodeActivity

{

[Input("Phone Numbers")]

[RequiredArgument]

public InArgument<string> LinesString { get; set; }

[Input("Billing Account")]

[RequiredArgument]

[ReferenceTarget("account")]

public InArgument<EntityReference> Accountfromorder { get; set; }

[Input("Order")]

[RequiredArgument]

[ReferenceTarget("salesorder")]

public InArgument<EntityReference> Orderfromorder { get; set; }

protected override void Execute(CodeActivityContext context)

{

IWorkflowContext workflowcontext = context.GetExtension<IWorkflowContext>();

IOrganizationServiceFactory serviceFactory = context.GetExtension<IOrganizationServiceFactory>();

IOrganizationService service = serviceFactory.CreateOrganizationService(workflowcontext.InitiatingUserId);

var lines = LinesString.Get<string>(context).Split('\n').ToList<string>(); ;

foreach (var line in lines)

{

var lineEntity = new Entity("rp_line");

var accountforline = Accountfromorder.Get<EntityReference>(context);

var orderforline = Orderfromorder.Get<EntityReference>(context);

lineEntity["rp_cli"] = line;

lineEntity["new_billingaccount"] = accountforline;

lineEntity["new_order"] = orderforline;

service.Create(lineEntity);

}

*This post is locked for comments

I have the same question (0)

All responses (11)

Answers (1)

Suggested answer

Ryan Maclean 3,070 on at

Like (1)

Report

If you don't want to use code, you could try using Jason Lattimer's String Workflow Utilities to modify the field via a workflow - github.com/.../CRM-String-Workflow-Utilities

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

Ivan Ficko 1,380 on at

Like (0)

Report
You can just add .Where(x => x != "") to the split line.

var lines = LinesString.Get<string>(context).Split('\n').ToList<string>().Where(x => x != "");

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Community Member on at

Like (0)

Report

That worked a treat for getting rid of blank lines but it doesn't work to remove spaces in the phone numbers.

Also if you have a space on a blank line it doesn't get rid of the line and it still creates a blank record

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Community Member on at

Like (0)

Report

I did look at this Ryan but you can't replace spaces with it :( - Well I couldn't see a way you could. It seams to allows you to add spaces though.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Verified answer

Ivan Ficko 1,380 on at

Like (0)

Report
Replace line

lineEntity["rp_cli"] = line;

with

lineEntity["rp_cli"] = line.Replace(" ", string.Empty);

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

Community Member on at

Like (0)

Report
Put before lineEntity["rp_cli"] = line; the following code:

line = Regex.Replace(line, @"\s+", "");

If you need to remove also tab and newline just add "\n\r\t";

Hope it helps!

If you found the answer helpful, please mark as Verified

Thank You & Best Regards

Francesco Picchi

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Consultant, Bologna, ITALY

Independent Contractor

http://www.francescopicchi.com

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

Ryan Maclean 3,070 on at

Like (0)

Report

Hi John,

You could use the RegEx Replace step:

I've done a brief experiment with this and managed to remove all of the excess spaces and/or all newlines in a given expression

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Community Member on at

Like (0)

Report

Hi John,

have you solved the problem?

Please let us know.

If you found the answer helpful, please mark as Verified

Thank You & Best Regards

Francesco Picchi

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Consultant, Bologna, ITALY

Independent Contractor

http://www.francescopicchi.com

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Community Member on at

Like (0)

Report

Hi John,

if you solved the problem thanks to an answer, please mark the response as verified to encourage the community to provide more and more a better support. Thank you. Francesco

If you found the answer helpful, please mark as Verified

Thank You & Best Regards

Francesco Picchi

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Consultant, Bologna, ITALY

Independent Contractor

http://www.francescopicchi.com

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
bpr_admin on at

Like (0)

Report

Hi Ryan, I am unable to remove blank lines with the regex replace utility. Do you have any insight to the issue? I don't need to remove spaces, just blank lines and blank lines that might have spaces. Here's the RegEx that I am using. No matter what I still have the first blank line.

(^(\r\n|\n|\r)$)|(^(\r\n|\n|\r))|^[ \t\r\n]*$|^\s*$/gm

Was this reply helpful? Yes No