BstHelpers

Helper library with formatting, string utilities, and humanization for .NET projects (PT-PT defaults).

Settings

Override the static defaults on BstHelperSettings once at startup:

BstHelperSettings.DateFormat = "dd/MM/yyyy";
BstHelperSettings.CurrencySign = "€";
BstHelperSettings.PercentageSign = "%";
BstHelperSettings.DecimalSeparator = ",";
BstHelperSettings.ThousandsSeparator = " ";
BstHelperSettings.TimeSeparator = ":";
BstHelperSettings.DecimalPlaces = 2;
BstHelperSettings.CurrencySignBefore = false;
BstHelperSettings.PercentageSignBefore = false;
BstHelperSettings.LocalTimeZone = TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById("Europe/Lisbon");

LocalTimeZone controls the timezone used when rendering DateTimeOffset values via FormatDate() / FormatTime(). Defaults to Europe/Lisbon (falls back to GMT Standard Time, then UTC, if the timezone is not available on the host).

Usage

Date & time formatting

DateTime date = DateTime.Now;
date.FormatDate();                          // "03-05-2026"
date.FormatDate(minutes: true);             // "03-05-2026 14:30"
date.FormatDate(seconds: true);             // "03-05-2026 14:30:45"
date.FormatTime();                          // "14:30"

DateTimeOffset utc = DateTimeOffset.UtcNow;
utc.FormatDate(minutes: true);              // rendered in BstHelperSettings.LocalTimeZone
utc.FormatTime();                           // rendered in BstHelperSettings.LocalTimeZone

DateTime? maybe = null;
maybe.FormatDate(replaceNull: "—");         // "—"

// Convert a naive DateTime to DateTimeOffset
var dto = DateTime.Now.ConvertToDateTimeOffset(DateTimeKind.Local);

Number formatting

1234.5m.FormatNumber();                                  // "1 234,50"
1234.5m.FormatNumber(currencySign: true);                // "1 234,50€"
0.25m.FormatNumber(percentageSign: true, decimalPlaces: 0); // "0%"
1234.5m.FormatNumber(autoDecimalPlaces: true);           // "1 234,5"
1234.5m.FormatNumber(javascript: true);                  // "1234.50"  (locale-neutral)
0m.FormatNumber(replaceZero: "—");                       // "—"

12.3456m.Round(2);                                       // 12.35

String helpers

"Some long text".Truncate(8, "…");           // "Some lon…"
"<p>Hello <b>world</b></p>".StripHtml();     // "Hello world"
"hello world".ToTitleCase();                 // "Hello World"
"  ".ReplaceEmpty("(empty)");                // "(empty)"

"123456789".IsValidPortugueseVat();
"1000-001".IsValidPortuguesePostalCode();
"foo@bar.com".IsValidEmail();
"foo@bar.com".NormalizeEmail();
"912345678".IsValidPhoneNumber();
"912345678".FormatPhoneNumber();             // "912 345 678"
"912345678".HidePhoneNumber();               // "XXX XXX X78"
"123456789".FormatMultibancoReference();     // "123 456 789"
"12345".FormatMultibancoEntity();            // "12 345"

"file/name?.txt".RemoveInvalidPathChars();
"https://youtu.be/abc123".YouTubeUrlToEmbed();
"foo@bar.com".GetEmailLink();                // "<a href=\"mailto:...\">...</a>"

Slugs

SlugHelper.GenerateSlug("Olá Mundo!");       // "ola-mundo"
SlugHelper.GenerateSlug("Olá Mundo", 2);     // "ola-mundo-2"

Humanization (PT-PT)

Humanizer.GetMonthName(DateTime.Now);        // "Maio"
Humanizer.GetMonthName(7);                   // "Julho"
Humanizer.GetWeekDay(DateTime.Now);          // "domingo"
Humanizer.GetGreeting();                     // "Bom dia" / "Boa tarde" / "Boa noite"
Humanizer.CurrencyWriting(125.50m);          // "cento e vinte e cinco euros e cinquenta cêntimos"

Pass a CultureInfo to override the default pt-PT culture on month/weekday helpers.