AI2 - add tab in between 2 text (while creating a tab delimited text file)

[SS TheAppInventor]

Hi all, Iam working on an app that writes 2 fields in a text file: eg

Barcode  Qty

"34234242342" "100"

"786786786786" "500"

"888578867867" "1000"

I need a tab in between barcode and qty so that file I am exporting can be used on a windows app.

I have already tried 5 and 8 blank spaces and used \n but not getting any resolution.

Any help will be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance!

SS

[Evan Patton]

Actually it is possible but it cannot be done just with App Inventor. The problem is that typically the tab key has a special meaning on web pages, which is to go to the next focusable element, so when you attempt to type a tab into a text box, for example, it will focus on some other element. This behavior is not triggered if you paste the tab character from another program. It's possible to copy a tab character from your favorite text program (I used TextEdit.app on Mac) and paste it into a text field in App Inventor. I've attached the screenshot of the blocks I used and tested against three things: Label, Notifier, and File. Each seemed to show a wider than normal whitespace where the tab character is located. The text file contains ASCII value 9 (horizontal tab) at byte 4, so it's definitely ending up in the companion app. I did not test compiling the app, so it's possible there is differing behavior, but I think it is unlikely. Let us know if that works out for you.

Evan

[SS TheAppInventor]

Thanks Evan. You are a genius!!!. That was last puzzle in my app and your solution worked.

Kind regards,

SS

[Abraham Getzler]

See attached for how to get a TAB character using the Web component and a html stunt.

From my CRLF app in the Gallery.

ABG