StartsAt does not work for fluentfiles

[tijlreynhout]

I have the following configuration for an object.

WithMember(_ => _.Type, _ => _.StartsAt(0).WithLength(3))
      .WithMember(_ => _.UpdateCode, _ => _.StartsAt(3).WithLength(1))
      .WithMember(_ => _.CompanyIdForPayrollAdministration, _ => _.StartsAt(4).WithLength(7))
      .WithMember(_ => _.PayrollAdministrationNumber, _ => _.StartsAt(11).WithLength(20).WithRightPadding(' '))
      .WithMember(_ => _.DateOfPrestation, _ => _.StartsAt(31).WithLength(10).WithConverter(new DateTimeFormatter()))
      .Ignore(2)
      .WithMember(_ => _.PrestationCode, _ => _.WithLength(6).WithRightPadding(' '));

Currently the StartsAt is completely ignored. And when I try to use ignore to skip a certain width I get the following error: Cannot use a fixed width layout with an ignored section for writing.

This is for the case when you are writing a file. Any workarounds or ways I can fix this?

[mthamil]

Currently StartsAt and EndsAt are only used for reading. What behavior would you expect for writing? For example if your object's UpdateCode was "123456", would you expect only "4" to be written (starting at index 3 with length of 1)?

[tijlreynhout]

I would expect that if I have an object with lets say: Id, name, and age. I could do something like
Id: starts at 0, with length 3, padding left with 0,
name: starts at 10, with length 10,
age: starts at 21, with length 3, padding left with ' '.

So that there is a gap between id and name

[mthamil]

Could you use WithLeftPadding for the hypothetical name field? The default padding is to the right, so this will switch it to left.

[tijlreynhout]

But what if I want name padded with spaces to the right as well?
Because that is actually the case that I would need..

[mthamil]

Ok, I think I see now what you are going for. In the mean time I suppose you could write a custom conversion while I look in to this feature.

[tijlreynhout]

If the Ignore() would work for writing than this would also solve my problem.
Thank you! :)