Better separation of built-in string.Format and Smart.Format features

[axunonb]

Better separation of built-in string.Format and Smart.Format features

1. Settings.StringFormatCompatibility == true

• In this mode, SmartFormat is a drop-in replacement for string.Format regarding formatting syntax.
• Curly braces {} must be escaped with double braces {{ and }}
• The Parser will not include the formatter name or formatting options. Like with string.Format, everything after the Selector separator (colon) is considered as format specifier.
• DefaultFormatter is the only formatter which will be invoked.
• Even in compatibility mode, SmartFormat will
  • Process named Placeholders (beside indexed Placeholders)
  • have ISources available for Placeholders.
  • be able to process escaped string literals like \n, \U1234 etc.

2. Settings.StringFormatCompatibility == false

• Makes full use of all SmartFormat features
• Any character can be used, as long as few special characters are escaped with a backslash \. These are e.g. {}()[]():..
• This leads to a slightly different format string syntax. Example: string.Format("It is now {0:yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss}, DateTime.Now) vs. Smart.Format("It is now {Date:yyyy/MM/dd HH\:mm\:ss}, DateTime.Now).

3. All modes

• It is possible to use a System.IFormatProvider as argument to Smart.Format - same as with string.Format. This custom format provider can in turn call a System.ICustomFormatter for special formatting needs.
• This feature is implemented in the DefaultFormatter.