calling a trim method in actionscript 2.0

Question

Hi I Got a notnull function for a text field as below

private function valStringNotNull( val:String ) :Boolean
    {
     if ( String(val).length <= 0 )
     {
      _errorCode = "StringNull";
      return false;
     }

     _errorCode = "NoError";
     return true;
    }

and this function is being called here

var pCnt:Number = 0;
  _validateParams[pCnt++] = { type: "notNull",  input: win.firstNameInput , isSendData:true, dataName:"firstName"};
  _validateParams[pCnt++] = { type: "notNull",  input: win.lastNameInput, isSendData:true, dataName:"lastName"};
  _validateParams[pCnt++] = { type: "noValidation", input: roleCombo, isSendData:true, dataName:"role" };

  Selection.setFocus(win.firstNameInput);

and for the not null I defined this way

private function validateCases ( param:Object ) :Boolean
 {
  _errorObj = param.input || param.input1;
  switch( param.type )
  {
                 case "notNull":
    return valStringNotNull( param.input.text );
   break;
                       }
 }

but as you see as I defined the length should be greater than zero its taking even a space as an input and displaying blank white space in my text field so I got a trim function as below

public function ltrim(input:String):String
    {
     var size:Number = input.length;
     for(var i:Number = 0; i < size; i++)
     {
      if(input.charCodeAt(i) > 32)
      {
       return input.substring(i);
      }
     }
     return "";
    }

and I need to call this trim function before my not null function so that it trims off all the leftside white space but as I am very new to flash can some one help me how to keep this trim function before the notnull function.Can some one please help me with this please

Answer 1

Why not just change valStringNotNull() as follows?

private function valStringNotNull( val:String ) :Boolean
{
    if ( String(ltrim(val)).length <= 0 )
    {
            _errorCode = "StringNull";
            return false;
    }

    _errorCode = "NoError";
    return true;
}