Support "Old" string concat behavior

Prior to v5.1, NCalc would treat + as string concatenation if the first argument was a string. Later versions changed this logic and while they did add options to control it, no combination of those options restored the old behavior.

The Tech Software fork exists to allow callers to opt-in to the old behavior.

Author: mattwTS

.github/workflows/publish-nuget.yml

@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ jobs:
       uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v4
       with:
         dotnet-version: '8.0.x'
+    - name: Configure NuGet
+      run: dotnet nuget add source https://nuget.pkg.github.com/tech-software/index.json --name github --username tech-software --password ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} --store-password-in-clear-text
     - name: Restore dependencies
       run: dotnet restore
     - name: Build
@@ -29,15 +31,12 @@ jobs:
       run: dotnet test -c Release --no-build --verbosity normal
     - name: Pack unsigned
       run: dotnet pack -c Release --no-build -p:PublicRelease=true
-    - name: Pack signed
-      run: dotnet pack -c SignedRelease -p:PublicRelease=true
     - name: Publish packages
       run: |
-          dotnet nuget push src/NCalc.Core/bin/Release/NCalc.Core*.nupkg --api-key "${{ secrets.NUGET_NCALC_PLUGINS_API_TOKEN }}" --source https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json --skip-duplicate
-          dotnet nuget push src/NCalc.Sync/bin/Release/NCalcSync*.nupkg --api-key "${{ secrets.NUGET_NCALC_SYNC_API_TOKEN }}" --source https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json --skip-duplicate
-          dotnet nuget push src/NCalc.Sync/bin/SignedRelease/NCalcSync*.nupkg --api-key "${{ secrets.NUGET_NCALC_SYNC_API_TOKEN }}" --source https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json --skip-duplicate
-          dotnet nuget push src/NCalc.Async/bin/Release/NCalcAsync*.nupkg --api-key "${{ secrets.NUGET_NCALC_PLUGINS_API_TOKEN }}" --source https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json --skip-duplicate
-          dotnet nuget push src/NCalc.DependencyInjection/bin/Release/NCalc.DependencyInjection*.nupkg --api-key "${{ secrets.NUGET_NCALC_PLUGINS_API_TOKEN }}" --source https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json --skip-duplicate
-          dotnet nuget push src/Plugins/NCalc.MemoryCache/bin/Release/NCalc.MemoryCache*.nupkg --api-key "${{ secrets.NUGET_NCALC_PLUGINS_API_TOKEN }}" --source https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json --skip-duplicate
-          dotnet nuget push src/Plugins/NCalc.Antlr/bin/Release/NCalc.Antlr*.nupkg --api-key "${{ secrets.NUGET_NCALC_PLUGINS_API_TOKEN }}" --source https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json --skip-duplicate
+          dotnet nuget push src/NCalc.Core/bin/Release/TSNCalc.Core*.nupkg --api-key "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" --source github --skip-duplicate
+          dotnet nuget push src/NCalc.Sync/bin/Release/TSNCalcSync*.nupkg --api-key "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" --source github --skip-duplicate
+          # dotnet nuget push src/NCalc.Async/bin/Release/NCalcAsync*.nupkg --api-key "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" --source github --skip-duplicate
+          # dotnet nuget push src/NCalc.DependencyInjection/bin/Release/NCalc.DependencyInjection*.nupkg --api-key "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" --source github --skip-duplicate
+          # dotnet nuget push src/Plugins/NCalc.MemoryCache/bin/Release/NCalc.MemoryCache*.nupkg --api-key "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" --source github --skip-duplicate
+          # dotnet nuget push src/Plugins/NCalc.Antlr/bin/Release/NCalc.Antlr*.nupkg --api-key "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" --source github --skip-duplicate
 

Directory.Build.props

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
     <PackageIcon>NCalc.png</PackageIcon>
     <Authors>Sebastien Ros and contributors</Authors>
     <Copyright>Sebastien Ros and contributors</Copyright>
-    <Company>https://github.com/ncalc</Company>
+    <Company>https://github.com/tech-software</Company>
     <PackageLicenseExpression>MIT</PackageLicenseExpression>
     <TreatWarningsAsErrors>true</TreatWarningsAsErrors>
     <EnableNETAnalyzers>true</EnableNETAnalyzers>

src/NCalc.Core/ExpressionOptions.cs

@@ -79,5 +79,14 @@ public enum ExpressionOptions
     /// <summary>
     /// Return the value instead of throwing an exception when the expression is null or empty.
     /// </summary>
-    AllowNullOrEmptyExpressions = 1 << 14
+    AllowNullOrEmptyExpressions = 1 << 14,
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Use the pre-NCalc 5.1 behavior for string concatenation.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <p>If the left value is a string, the result of + will be string concatenation.
+    /// Otherwise both parameters will be converted to numeric if needed and possible.</p>
+    /// </remarks>
+    UseOldStringConcatBehavior = 1 << 31,
 }

src/NCalc.Core/Helpers/EvaluationHelper.cs

@@ -19,7 +19,15 @@ public static class EvaluationHelper
     public static object? Plus(object? leftValue, object? rightValue, ExpressionContextBase context)
     {
         if (context.Options.HasFlag(ExpressionOptions.StringConcat))
+        {
+            return string.Concat(leftValue, rightValue);
+        }
+
+        if (context.Options.HasFlag(ExpressionOptions.UseOldStringConcatBehavior) &&
+            leftValue is string)
+        {
             return string.Concat(leftValue, rightValue);
+        }
 
         if (context.Options.HasFlag(ExpressionOptions.NoStringTypeCoercion) &&
             (leftValue is string || rightValue is string))

src/NCalc.Core/NCalc.Core.csproj

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
         <TargetFrameworks>net462;netstandard2.0;net6.0;net8.0</TargetFrameworks>
         <LangVersion>12</LangVersion>
         <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
-        <PackageId>NCalc.Core</PackageId>
+        <PackageId>TSNCalc.Core</PackageId>
         <AssemblyName>NCalc.Core</AssemblyName>
         <Description>Assembly with the core logic of NCalc.</Description>
         <SignAssembly>true</SignAssembly>

src/NCalc.Sync/NCalc.Sync.csproj

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
     <!-- Unsigned Assembly Configuration -->
     <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == 'Debug' Or '$(Configuration)' == 'Release' ">
         <AssemblyName>NCalc.Sync</AssemblyName>
-        <PackageId>NCalcSync</PackageId>
+        <PackageId>TSNCalcSync</PackageId>
         <Description>NCalc is a fast and lightweight expression evaluator library for .NET, designed for flexibility and high performance. It supports a wide range of mathematical and logical operations. NCalc can parse any expression and evaluate the result, including static or dynamic parameters and custom functions. This package contains the unsigned assembly 'NCalc'. For the stronly signed assembly version of 'NCalc', see the NCalcSync.signed package.</Description>
     </PropertyGroup>
 

test/NCalc.Tests/UseOldStringConcatBehaviorTests.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+namespace NCalc.Tests;
+
+[Trait("Category", "UseOldStringConcatBehavior")]
+public class UseOldStringConcatBehaviorTests
+{
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("'to' + 'to'", "toto")]
+    [InlineData("'one' + 2", "one2")]
+    [InlineData("'one' + 2.1", "one2.1")]
+    [InlineData("'1' + '2'", "12")]
+    [InlineData("'1.1' + '2'", "1.12")]
+    [InlineData("'1' + '2.2'", "12.2")]
+    [InlineData("1 + 2", 3)]
+    [InlineData("1.5 + 2.5", 4.0)]
+    [InlineData("1 + '2'", 3.0)]
+    [InlineData("1.5 + '2.5'", 4.0)]
+    [InlineData("'10' + 'mA - ' + (10 + 20) + 'mA'", "10mA - 30mA")]
+    public void ShouldUseStringConcatenationIfFirstValueIsAString(string expression, object expected)
+    {
+        Assert.Equal(expected, new Expression(expression, ExpressionOptions.UseOldStringConcatBehavior).Evaluate());
+    }
+
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("2 + 'one'")]
+    [InlineData("2.1 + 'one'")]
+    public void ShouldThrowIfFirstValueIsNumericAndSecondIsNot(string expression)
+    {
+        Assert.Throws<FormatException>(()
+            => new Expression(expression, ExpressionOptions.UseOldStringConcatBehavior).Evaluate());
+    }
+}