Bug 192981 Leading white space get trimmed in PDF&HTML output.
Build ID: The Eclipse bundled with BIRT 2.1.3 designer all in one Steps To Reproduce: 1.Create a new blank report. 2.Setup data source and data set component 3.Insert a List 4.Insert a DataItem into the detail slot of List 5.Set the value expression of DataItem to " " + row["Column1"] 6.Run the report to produce PDF or HTML 7.the leading white space is disappeared in output More information: The leading white space is preserved in BIRT 2.1.1, but get disappeared in BIRT 2.1.3 or later version. We want to know whether it's expected behavior or a bug.
core/org.eclipse.birt.core/src/org/eclipse/birt/core/format/StringFormatter.java
int len2 = 0;
		char fc = ' ';
		String sc = null;
		if ( !dir )
		{
			if ( len > col )
			{
				ret
						.append( handleCase( orig.substring( 0, len - col ),
								chcase ) );
				pos = len - col;
				len = col;
			}
			ext = col - len;
		}
		len2 = this.formatPattern.length( );
		for ( i = 0; i < len2; i++ )
		{
			fc = fstr.charAt( i );
			switch ( fc )
			{
				case ( '@' ) :
				case ( '&' ) :
					
					if ( ext > 0 || len == 0 )
					{
						if ( fc == '@' )
							ret.append( ' ' );
						ext--;