From: Douglas Livingstone <rampant@...>
Date: 2005-04-01T08:28:05+09:00
Subject: Number formatting + subscriptions

Hi all,

I want to make strings like this:

$100.00 plus $22.00 per month
$100.00
$22.00 per week
free (I want this when both numbers are zero)

Generally: [one off fee] plus [fee per billing cycle] per [billing cycle length]

Based on this input:

per_license_cost (= one off fee)
per_cycle_cost (= fee per cycle)
currency_symbol (=$)
cycle_length (= a string: 'day' | 'week' | 'month' | 'year')

I have working code, and in any other language I'd take the uglyness
for granted, but in Ruby I still have hope. So, what would be a better
way to write this? I've put the code I put together at the bottom.

Thanks,
Douglas


The code:

	def human_price
		if per_license_cost.zero? and per_cycle_cost.zero?
			'free'
		elsif per_cycle_cost.zero?
			human_per_license_cost
		elsif per_license_cost.zero?
			human_per_cycle_cost
		else
			human_per_license_cost + ' plus ' + human_per_cycle_cost
		end
	end
	
	def currency_symbol
		'$' # fine for now... should I think about a Money class to manage this?
	end

	private

	def human_cost(number)
		human = number.to_s
		number = if number.abs.to_s.length > 2
		           human[-2, 0] = '.'
		           human
		         elsif number.abs.to_s.length == 2
		           '0.'  + human
		         elsif number.abs.to_s.length == 1
		           '0.0' + human
		         else
		           '0.00'
			 end
		return currency_symbol + number
	end
	
	def human_per_license_cost
		human_cost(per_license_cost)
	end

	def human_per_cycle_cost
		human_cost(per_cycle_cost) + ' per ' + cycle_length
	end