--- MPIWGWeb/Attic/MPIWGHelper.py	2008/08/27 21:08:40	1.1.2.5
+++ MPIWGWeb/Attic/MPIWGHelper.py	2008/08/28 18:20:09	1.1.2.6
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ def sortI(x,y):
 
 def unicodify(str):
     """decode str (utf-8 or latin-1 representation) into unicode object"""
-    logging.error("unicodify: %s"%str)
+    #logging.error("unicodify: %s"%str)
     if not str:
         return ""
     if type(str) is StringType:
@@ -97,3 +97,8 @@ def utf8ify(str):
     else:
         return str.encode('utf-8')
 
+
+def shortenString(s, l, ellipsis='...'):
+    """returns a string of length l (or l-1) by omitting characters in the middle of s, replacing with ellipsis."""
+    l1 = int((l - len(ellipsis)) / 2)
+    return "%s%s%s"%(s[:l1],ellipsis,s[-l1:])