custom currency formatting

[fred flintstone]

So I'm trying to do some custom currency formatting. There are some bugs/outdated data in the current java locale currency formatting results. I could update my locale database using http://userguide.icu-project.org/icu4j-locale-service-provider#TOC-Using-ICU4J-Locale-Service-Provider

but I just want to be able to format some currencies by hand using either NumberFormat or DecimalFormat.

Here is my test class:

import java.text.DecimalFormat;
import java.text.DecimalFormatSymbols;
import java.text.NumberFormat;

public class CurrencyTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        double money = 124523423434.50;

        DecimalFormat df = new DecimalFormat();
        DecimalFormatSymbols dfs = df.getDecimalFormatSymbols();
        dfs.setCurrencySymbol("€");
        dfs.setDecimalSeparator(',');
        dfs.setGroupingSeparator('.');
        df.setMinimumFractionDigits(2);
        df.setDecimalFormatSymbols(dfs);
        String result = df.format(money);
        System.out.println("result:"+result);

    }
}

This results in:
result:124.523.423.434,50

So if you notice, that for result, the currency symbol is missing. How come the DecimalFormatSymbols doesn't make the currency symbol appear when I set it?

Another question is, what if I wanted to make the currency symbol appear AFTER the number?

Thanks,
Eric

[Tony Docherty]

If you want the currency symbol to display you have a few choices, such as:

1. Use the NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance() method to get a formatter that handles currencies.
2. Supply your own pattern which outputs the currency symbol.

Another question is, what if I wanted to make the currency symbol appear AFTER the number?

If you are using option 1 above, I would imagine the currency formatter will put the symbol in an appropriate location for that currency. If you want to change that behaviour then I believe you will have to supply your own pattern.
If you are using option 2 then you are supplying a pattern so you can put the symbol wherever you want

For details on setting your own pattern see the DecimalFormat classes API docs.

[Campbell Ritchie]

Consider printf or String#format and the % tags as an alternative.