AX / Dynamics 365 For Finance and Operations blog

When dealing with strings containing comma-separated values (CSV) in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, it is often necessary to split the string into individual elements for further processing. In X++, one efficient way to achieve this is by using the strSplit() method. In this article, we’ll walk you through how to split a string and insert the resulting values into an array using a simple X++ example.

The Code Example

Below is a sample method that takes a string of comma-separated values and splits it into individual elements using strSplit(). These elements are then iterated over and stored in a list.

Code Snippet

public void splitString(str _splitString)
{
    List strlist = new List(Types::String); // Create a list to hold string elements
    ListIterator iterator; // Iterator for traversing the list
    str _Value; // Variable to hold each value during iteration

    // Split the input string using a comma as the delimiter
    strlist = strSplit(_splitString, ",");

    // Initialize the list iterator
    iterator = new ListIterator(strlist);

    // Loop through the list and process each element
    while (iterator.more())
    {
        _Value = iterator.value(); // Get the current value
        info(strFmt("Value: %1", _Value)); // Output or process the value
        iterator.next(); // Move to the next element
    }
}

How It Works

1. Using strSplit()

The strSplit() function takes a string and a delimiter (in this case, a comma ,) as input and splits the string into a list of elements. The resulting list can contain as many elements as present in the original string, separated by the specified delimiter.

2. Creating and Initializing a List

The split elements are stored in a List object of type String. This makes it easy to traverse and access individual elements later.

3. Using ListIterator

A ListIterator object is used to iterate over the elements in the list. This provides a straightforward way to access each element one-by-one.

4. Iterating Over the Elements

The while loop runs as long as there are elements left in the list. Inside the loop:

• iterator.value() retrieves the current element.
• iterator.next() moves the iterator to the next element.

Example Usage

Let’s demonstrate how to use this method with a simple input string.

splitString("apple,orange,banana,grape");

Expected Output

The method will output each value:

Value: apple
Value: orange
Value: banana
Value: grape

Practical Applications

1. Data Parsing

This method is useful for parsing input data from external systems, such as CSV files or web service responses, that need to be processed in D365FO.

2. String Manipulation

Splitting and processing strings is a common requirement for data transformation, validation, and custom logic implementation.

3. Creating Arrays or Lists for Logic Processing

You can extend this example to populate arrays or lists and use them in business logic, condition checks, or other customizations within D365FO.

Conclusion

The strSplit() function in X++ offers a simple and efficient way to split comma-separated strings into individual elements. By combining this with lists and iterators, you can easily traverse and process each element, making it a handy tool for data processing tasks. This example can be adapted to suit your specific requirements and applied to various scenarios in your development projects.