utils.floatToStr: 1. Add leftPaddingMethod option. 2. Stop trying to …

…exclude the +/- sign from the beforeDecimal count; it's something that the layout writer should have in mind anyway, and the exclusion wasn't working unless 'signed' was specified. This could be a minor backward incompatibility.

utils.lua

@@ -262,9 +262,13 @@ function utils.floatToStr(x, options)
   if x == nil then return "nil" end
   if options == nil then options = {} end
 
-  -- Guarantee at least a certain number of digits before the decimal
+  -- Guarantee at least a certain number of chars before the decimal
+  -- (+/- sign counts as 1 char)
   local beforeDecimal = options.beforeDecimal or nil
-  -- Display a certain number of digits after the decimal
+  -- Method of padding the left side of the string: 'zero' or 'space'.
+  -- 'zero' is like '-00049.285'; 'space' is like '   -49.285'
+  local leftPaddingMethod = options.leftPaddingMethod or 'zero'
+  -- Display a certain number of chars after the decimal
   local afterDecimal = options.afterDecimal or 3
   -- Trim zeros from the right end
   local trimTrailingZeros = options.trimTrailingZeros or false
@@ -274,16 +278,14 @@ function utils.floatToStr(x, options)
   local f = "%"
   if signed then f = f.."+" end
   if beforeDecimal then
-    if signed then
-      -- The number after the 0 counts all digits + decimal point + sign
-      f = f.."0"..(beforeDecimal+afterDecimal+2)
-    else
-      -- The number after the 0 counts all digits + decimal point
-      f = f.."0"..(beforeDecimal+afterDecimal+1)
+    local totalChars = beforeDecimal + 1 + afterDecimal
+    if leftPaddingMethod == 'zero' then
+      f = f.."0"..totalChars
+    elseif leftPaddingMethod == 'space' then
+      f = f..totalChars
     end
   end
   f = f.."."..afterDecimal.."f"
-
   local s = string.format(f, x)
 
   if trimTrailingZeros then
@@ -333,7 +335,7 @@ end
 function utils.writeIntLE(address, value, numberOfBytesToWrite)
   local remainingValue = value
   local bytes = {}
-  
+
   for n = 1,numberOfBytesToWrite do
     byteValue = remainingValue % 256
     byteValue = tonumber(string.format("%.f", byteValue))  -- round to int