Truncate.js

function truncateString(str, len, append)
{
   var newLength;
   append = append || "";  //Optional: append a string to str after truncating. Defaults to an empty string if no value is given
   
   if (append.length > 0)
    {
      append = " "+append;  //Add a space to the beginning of the appended text
    }
   if (str.indexOf(' ')+append.length > len)
   {
       return str;   //if the first word + the appended text is too long, the function returns the original String
   }
   
   str.length+append.length > len ? newLength = len-append.length : newLength = str.length; // if the length of original string and the appended string is greater than the max length, we need to truncate, otherwise, use the original string
   
		var tempString = str.substring(0, newLength);  //cut the string at the new length
		tempString = tempString.replace(/\s+\S*$/, ""); //find the last space that appears before the substringed text

   
   if (append.length > 0)
      {
		   tempString = tempString + append;
      }

   return tempString;
};