What are all the prebuilt formats possible

[VoreckLukas]

I couldnt find anywhere in the documentation what formats there are you can use. I know of float, utc and enum, i guess there is probably a string (will try after this) but for example is there a format for bool values?

[jvigliotta]

HI @Voreck could you provide a little more detail? What are you trying to accomplish?

[VoreckLukas]

Honestly not trying to accomplish anything with that. I just know that there are some prebuilt options like float, enum, utc and string and that you can add your own formats. So I just would like to know what formats there already are besides the one i listed

[jvigliotta]

Sorry @Voreck for the very late reply. We don't have a set list of built-in formats. The API has some information here: https://github.com/nasa/openmct/blob/master/API.md#registering-formats for registering custom formats, which may be helpful if you haven't seen it yet.

[inad9300]

I'm also interested in the list of built-in formats. Also in knowing what the default formatter does.

I would additionally pose the question: how come documentation is so poor in a project like this, to the point where even maintainers can't find basic information? Lots to improve in this regard, I reckon.

[ozyx]

I'm also interested in the list of built-in formats. Also in knowing what the default formatter does.

Hi @VoreckLukas and @inad9300 ,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We genuinely appreciate feedback from our community and recognize that our documentation can certainly be improved. To answer your queries:

The core of a formatter in Open MCT is defined by the Formatter interface (I've provided TypeScript-style interfaces for simplicity):

interface Formatter {
  key: string;
  parse: (value: any) => any;
  format: (value: any) => string;
  validate: (value: any) => boolean;
}

Open MCT on its own defines three built-in formatters:

1. Number (default):

Applied to data with format: 'number'

valueMetadata = {
    format: 'number'
    // ...
};

interface NumberFormatter extends Formatter {
    parse: (x: any) => number;
    format: (x: number) => string;
    validate: (value: any) => boolean;
}

2. String:

Applied to data with format: 'string'

valueMetadata = {
    format: 'string'
    // ...
};

interface StringFormatter extends Formatter {
    parse: (value: any) => string;
    format: (value: string) => string;
    validate: (value: any) => boolean;
}

3. Enum:
   Applied to data with format: 'enum'

valueMetadata = {
    format: 'enum',
    enumerations: [
    {
        value: 1,
        string: 'APPLE'
    }, 
    {
        value: 2,
        string: 'PEAR',
    },
    {
        value: 3,
        string: 'ORANGE'
    }]
    // ...
};

Creates a two-way mapping between enum string and value to be used in the parse and format methods.
Ex:

• formatter.parse('APPLE') === 1;
• formatter.format(1) === 'APPLE';

interface EnumFormatter extends Formatter {
    parse: (value: string) => string;
    format: (value: number) => string;
    validate: (value: any) => boolean;
}

Regarding your concerns about our documentation, we understand the frustration. With a project as long-standing as Open MCT, there are numerous areas of documentation that require updating, and your feedback serves as a valuable reminder. I will be updating our Formatter documentation immediately with the information I've provided here.

Hope this helps! Please feel free to reach out with any other questions. Thanks for being a part of the Open MCT community!

[inad9300]

Thanks so much for the information and the proactiveness.

I noticed that, in your answer, you wrote a three-element list containing elements 1, 4 and 5. Why the gap? Perhaps related, there are examples in the API documentation and other places using formats "utc", "float" and "integer".

[ozyx]

Whoops! That was a typo. Nice catch.

The utc format is provided by the UTCTimeSystem plugin, and docs can be found inline.

As for 'integer' and 'float', those may have just been used as examples in the documentation (this particular area of which was penned a little over 6 years ago) as I don't find them defined anywhere.