--- a/host/tools/Utils/common/Collections.cpp
+++ b/host/tools/Utils/common/Collections.cpp
@@ -32,6 +32,16 @@ void String::Format (LPCTSTR  const pszF
   va_end(args);
 }
 
+String String::SFormat (LPCTSTR  const pszFormat,...)
+{
+  String s;
+  va_list args;
+  va_start(args, pszFormat);
+  s.vFormat(pszFormat,args);
+  va_end(args);
+  return s;
+}
+
 void String::vFormat(LPCTSTR  pszFormat, va_list marker)
 {
   for(int nLength=100;nLength;) {
@@ -40,7 +50,7 @@ void String::vFormat(LPCTSTR  pszFormat,
     if(-1==n){
       nLength*=2;  // NT behavior
     } else if (n<nLength){
-      *this=buf;
+      string::operator=(buf);
       nLength=0;   // trigger exit from loop
     } else {
       nLength=n+1; // UNIX behavior generally, or NT behavior when buffer size exactly matches required length
@@ -52,7 +62,7 @@ void String::vFormat(LPCTSTR  pszFormat,
 TCHAR * String::GetBuffer(unsigned int nLength)
 {
   assert(NULL==m_pszBuf);
-  nLength=MAX(nLength,GetLength()); // to accommodate _tcscpy below
+  nLength=MAX(nLength,size()); // to accommodate _tcscpy below
   m_pszBuf=new TCHAR[1+nLength];
   m_nBufferLength=nLength;
   _tcscpy(m_pszBuf,c_str());
@@ -63,7 +73,7 @@ void String::ReleaseBuffer()
 {
   assert(m_pszBuf);
   m_pszBuf[m_nBufferLength]=_TCHAR('\0'); // just in case the terminating null has been forgotten
-  *this=m_pszBuf;
+  string::operator=(m_pszBuf);
   delete [] m_pszBuf;
   m_pszBuf=0;
 }
@@ -84,53 +94,78 @@ String String::CStrToUnicodeStr(const ch
 int String::Chop(StringArray &ar,TCHAR cSep,bool bObserveStrings/*=TRUE*/) const
 {
   assert('\0'!=cSep);
-#define IsSep(c) (cSep==_TCHAR(' ')?isspace(c):c==cSep)
+#define IsSep(c) (cSep==_TCHAR(' ')?_istspace(c):c==cSep)
   LPCTSTR c=c_str();
   ar.clear();
-  for(;;){
-    // Skip multiple separators
-    while(IsSep(*c))c++;
-    if(*c==_TCHAR('\0')){
-      break;
+  while(*c){
+    // Spaces are slightly different from other separators - we treat multiple instances as
+    // just one (a la sscanf)
+    if(_istspace(cSep)){
+      while(IsSep(*c))c++;
+    } else if (ar.size()>0) {
+      c++;
     }
-    String strTok;
-    if(bObserveStrings){
-      bool bInString=false;
-      do{
-        if(*c==_TCHAR('\\') && c[1]){
-          strTok+=c[1];
-          c++;
-        } else if(*c==_TCHAR('"')){
-          bInString ^= 1;
-        } else if (!bInString && IsSep(*c)) {
-          break;
-        } else {
-          strTok+=*c;
-        }
-      } while (*++c);
-    } else {
-      do {
-        if(IsSep(*c)) {
-          break;
-        } else {
-          strTok+=*c;
-        }
-      } while (*++c);
+    if(*c){
+      String strTok;
+      if(bObserveStrings){
+        bool bInString=false;
+        do{
+          if(*c==_TCHAR('\\') && c[1]){
+            strTok+=c[1];
+            c++;
+          } else if(*c==_TCHAR('"')){
+            bInString ^= 1;
+          } else if (!bInString && IsSep(*c)) {
+            break;
+          } else {
+            strTok+=*c;
+          }
+        } while (*++c);
+      } else {
+        do {
+          if(IsSep(*c)) {
+            break;
+          } else {
+            strTok+=*c;
+          }
+        } while (*++c);
+      }
+      ar.push_back(strTok);
     }
-    ar.push_back(strTok);
   }
   return ar.size();
 }
 
 char * String::GetCString() const
-  {
-    char *psz=new char[1+GetLength()];
+{
+  char *psz=new char[1+size()];
 #ifdef _UNICODE
-    WideCharToMultiByte(CP_ACP, 0, c_str(), -1, psz, 1+GetLength(), NULL, NULL);
+  WideCharToMultiByte(CP_ACP, 0, c_str(), -1, psz, 1+size(), NULL, NULL);
 #else
-    strcpy(psz,c_str());
+  strcpy(psz,c_str());
 #endif
-    return psz;
+  return psz;
+}
+
+void String::Replace(LPCTSTR psz1, LPCTSTR psz2, bool bObserveEscapes)
+{
+  for(unsigned int nOffset=0;nOffset<size();){
+    LPCTSTR psz=c_str()+nOffset;
+    const TCHAR *pc=_tcsstr(psz,psz1);
+    if(pc){
+      if(bObserveEscapes && pc>psz && _TCHAR('\\')==pc[-1]){
+        // Substitution protected by escape
+        nOffset=(pc-psz)+_tcslen(psz1);
+      } else {
+        String strNew(psz,pc-psz); // before the substitution
+        strNew+=psz2;              // substitution text
+        pc+=_tcslen(psz1);         // past the substituted text
+        strNew+=pc;                // after the substitution
+        string::operator=(strNew);
+        nOffset=(pc-psz)+_tcslen(psz2);
+      }
+    } else {
+      break;
+    }
   }
-  
-
+}