Methods

Method

Return Data Type

Description

Example

DateAdd

Date and time

Returns a date and time value to which a time interval has been added, or from which a time interval has been subtracted.

The method accepts the following arguments:

1. Date and time to which a time interval must be added, in the YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss format.
2. Time interval that must be added to the initial date and time. The interval can be a positive or negative number.
3. Measurement unit of the time interval ("h" - hour, "d" - day, "m" - month, "y" - year).

Expression DateAdd("2016-10-20T00:00:00", 7, "d")adds 7 days to the specified date, and returns 2016-10-27T00:00:00.

Nested expression SnapshotCreateTime < DateAdd (DateAdd(Today, -2, "d"), 12, "h") returns True if the latest VM snapshot was created earlier than 2 days and 12 hour ago.

IndexOf

Numeric (integer)

Returns the position of the first occurrence of a specified value (substring) in a string. Index of the first character in a string is 0.

Returns -1 if the value is not found within the string.

The method accepts the following arguments:

1. String value.
2. Substring value whose index position must be found within the string value.

Expression IndexOf("vdi001_mrk", "_") returns 6.

Expression IndexOf("vdi001", "_") returns -1.

Left

Text (string)

Returns a substring that contains a specified number of characters from the left side of a string.

The method accepts the following arguments:

1. String value.
2. Number of characters from the left side of a string to return.

Expression Left("vdi001_mrk", 6) returns vdi001.

Nested expression Left("vdi001_replica", IndexOf("vdi002_replica", "_")) returns vdi002.

Length

Numeric (integer)

Returns the number of characters in a string.

The method accepts a string value as an argument.

Expression Length("123456789") returns 9.

For a VM, expression Length("Name") returns the number of characters in the VM name.

Replace

Text (string)

Returns a string in which a specified substring has been replaced with another substring.

The method accepts the following arguments:

1. String value.
2. Substring value that must be replaced.
3. Substring value that must replace the sought substring.

Note: If the there are two or more equal substrings in a string, all substrings will be replaced.

Expression Replace("vdi002 mrk", " ", "_") changes the vdi002 mrk value to vdi002_mrk.

For a VM, expression Replace(Name, "_replica", "") removes the _replica suffix from the VM name.

Right

Text (string)

Returns a substring that contains a specified number of characters from the right side of a string.

The method accepts the following arguments:

1. String value.
2. Number of characters from the right side of a string to return.

Expression Right("vdi003_mrk", 3) returns mrk.

Nested expression Right("vdi003_replica", (IndexOf("vdi003_replica", "_")) + 1) returns replica.

Space

Text (string)

Returns a string that consists of the specified number of spaces.

The method accepts a positive integer as an argument.

Nested expression Replace("vdi004_mrk", "_", Space(1)) changes the vdi004_mrk value to vdi004 mrk.

Substring

Text (string)

Retrieves a substring from a specified string. The substring starts at the specified character position (index) and has the specified length. Index of the first character in a string is 0.

The method accepts the following arguments:

1. String value.
2. Start index position of a substring that must be retrieved.
3. Number of characters to retrieve starting with the specified index position.

Expression Substring("vdi005_mrk", 7, 3) returns mrk.

Trim

Text (string)

Returns a string with no leading or trailing spaces.

The method accepts a string value as an argument.

Expression Trim("  vdi006  ") returns vdi006.

TrimLeft

Text (string)

Returns a string with no leading spaces.

The method accepts a string value as an argument.

Expression Trim("  vdi007") returns vdi007.

TrimRight

Text (string)

Returns a string with no trailing spaces.

The method accepts a string value as an argument.

Expression Trim("vdi008  ") returns vdi008.

ToDate

Date and time

Converts a string containing a valid date and time representation to the DateTime format.

Note: The method is based on the DateTime.TryParse method and accepts the same input values.

Expression ToDate("2009/03/12 10:30 AM") returns 2009-03-12T10:30:00.

Expression ToDate("ToDate(" 2009/03/01T10:00:00-5:00") returns 2009-03-01T18:00:00.

.ToLowerCase

Text (string)

Converts a string to lower case letters.

The method accepts a string value as an argument.

Expression ToLowerCase("LoWeRCaSe") returns lowercase.

ToUpperCase

Text (string)

Converts a string to upper case letters.

The method accepts a string value as an argument.

Expression ToUpperCase("uppercase") returns UPPERCASE.