Eliminating Leading Zeros for Input

Question

Hello,
I am very new to the world of Netweaver Portals and Web Dynpro, so please have some patience.
I have created an application in Web Dynpro which will display the Stock Requirements for a Material.  Everything is working fine with the exception that the User needs to enter 10 leading zeros before they enter the material number.  Is this something that I can correct in Web Dynpro, or is there something I need to do on the R/3 side?
In R/3, the user can simply type in the 7 digit material number, but in my Web Dynpro App, they need to enter a 17 digit number (10 leading zeros and the 7 digit mat number).
I have checked other topics, but couldn't find where this exact issue has been addressed.  Thanks for your help.
Paul

Answer 1

Paul,
one possible solution for this issue might be to write some code to add the missing zeros. For example you can put the coding in a action method.
Please take a look at the following snippet:
// get the material number from context (this is the number entered by the user)
String id = wdThis.wdGetWelcomeComponentController().wdGetContext().currentContextElement().getMaterialID();
if(id.length() < 17) {
   for(int i = 0; i < 17 - id.length(); i++) {
      id = "0" + id;
// your id is now a 17 digit number
I that helps you.
Sebastian