String Formatter in GWT

Question

How do I format my string in GWT?

I made a method

  Formatter format = new Formatter();
    int matches = 0;
    Formatter formattedString = format.format("%d numbers(s, args) in correct position", matches);
    return formattedString.toString();

But it complains by saying

Validating newly compiled units
   [ERROR] Errors in 'file:/C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/kkshetri/workspace/MasterMind/MasterMind/src/com/kunjan/MasterMind/client/MasterMind.java'
      [ERROR] Line 84: No source code is available for type java.util.Formatter; did you forget to inherit a required module?

Isn't Formatter included?

Answer 1

See the official page on GWT date and number formatting.

They suggest the following:

myNum decimal = 33.23232;
myString = NumberFormat.getFormat("#.00").format(decimal);

It is best to use their supported, optimized methods, than to cook up your own non-optimal method. Their compiler will be optimizing them all to nearly the same thing anyway in the end.

Answer 2

A very simple replacement for String.format() in GWT 2.1+:

import com.google.gwt.regexp.shared.RegExp;
import com.google.gwt.regexp.shared.SplitResult;

public static String format(final String format, final Object... args) {
  final RegExp regex = RegExp.compile("%[a-z]");
  final SplitResult split = regex.split(format);
  final StringBuffer msg = new StringBuffer();
  for (int pos = 0; pos < split.length() - 1; ++pos) {
    msg.append(split.get(pos));
    msg.append(args[pos].toString());
  }
  msg.append(split.get(split.length() - 1));
  return msg.toString();
}

Answer 3

UPDATE: Please see (and vote up) Joseph Lust's post below before looking further at this answer.

Looks like formatter isn't included according to this post. However, they suggest some alternatives.

Answer 4

Or even simpler, not using RegExp, and using only Strings:

public static String format(final String format, final String... args) {
    String[] split = format.split("%s");
    final StringBuffer msg = new StringBuffer();
    for (int pos = 0; pos < split.length - 1; pos += 1) {
        msg.append(split[pos]);
        msg.append(args[pos]);
    }
    msg.append(split[split.length - 1]);
    return msg.toString();
 }