No combined field if formatting number or unit

[PhilippImhof]

Description of bug / unexpected behavior

The following two do not work:

{_0|w=34px|bgcol=red|txtcol=#FFF|left}{_u} 
{_0}{_u|w=40px|bgcol=#66F|txtcol=yellow|left}

In both cases, two separate input fields are shown, even though there is no space between the two placeholders which normally means that they should be combined.

Thanks @dbauer-ets for finding this one as well.

At the moment, I am not sure, what the correct behaviour should be. It would probably make sense to introduce a specific placeholder for a combined field when one wants to use custom formatting and to allow the legacy format {_0}{_u} only for unformatted fields.

[dbauer-ets]

Separate boxes (placeholders separated by a space)

• {_0} {_u}
  Displays a value box of default width and a unit box of default width.
  ✅ Works as expected.

• {_0|w=100px} {_u}
  Displays a value box 100px wide and a unit box of default width.
  ✅ Works as expected.

• {_0} {_u|w=100px}
  Displays a value box of default width and a unit box 100px wide.
  ✅ Works as expected.

• {_0|w=100px|bgcol=red}{_u|w=80px|bgcol=blue}
  Displays literally as {_0|w=100px|bgcol=red}{_u|w=80px|bgcol=blue}.
  ❌ Does not render.
  Should display a value box 100px wide with a red background and a unit box 80px wide with a blue background.

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Merged boxes (placeholders without a space)

• {_0}{_u}
  Displays a single merged box of default width.
  ✅ Correct and consistent with legacy behavior.

• {_0|w=100px}{_u}
  Displays a value box 100px wide and a unit box of default width as two separate boxes.
  ❌ Not merged — should be merged according to legacy behavior.

• {_0}{_u|w=100px}
  Displays a value box of default width and a unit box 100px wide as two separate boxes.
  ❌ Not merged — should be merged according to legacy behavior.

• {_0|w=100px}{_u|w=100px}
  Displays literally as {_0|w=100px}{_u|w=100px}.
  ❌ Does not render.

Suggestion

• {_0|w=100px|bgcol=red}{_u}
  Could display a single combined box 100px wide with a red background.

• {_0}{_u|w=100px|bgcol=red}
  Could be accepted—or not—as equivalent to the above.

• {_0|w=100px|bgcol=red}{_u|w=80px|bgcol=blue}
  Could be rejected, or could ignore the unit’s settings and display a single combined box 100px wide with a red background.

[PhilippImhof]

Thanks for your comments, @dbauer-ets.

The idea of using the old style syntax and accepting formatting only in one of the placeholders seems very good to me. I will probably go for that. And I would probably opt for the variant where the formatting is done in the second (the unit) placeholder.

[PhilippImhof]

• {_0|w=100px|bgcol=red}{_u|w=80px|bgcol=blue}
  Displays literally as {_0|w=100px|bgcol=red}{_u|w=80px|bgcol=blue}.
  ❌ Does not render.
  Should display a value box 100px wide with a red background and a unit box 80px wide with a blue background.

There is no space between the two placeholders, so the correct rendering would be a combined unit field.