max # of characters in a field

[ddave]

Is there a way I can set a field to limit the number of characters that can be entered into that field. I understand that within Define Fields you can set validation to a maximum number of characters. But in the field on the layout, you can still enter as many characters as you wish. When you leave the field, if set to strict validation, you will be get an error message saying you've entered too many characters. What I need to do is have some fields set up to not accept any more characters within the limit of the size of the field as it is seen on the screen. Did I explain clearly?! I hope so. Thanks for any help.

[LiveOak]

Sort of. There is no way I know of to actually have the field stop accepting characters. You can stack two fields, an entry field (text) and a calculated field. Place the entry field behind the calculated field. Set the calculated field to not allow entry in field format (this prevents it from being clicked into). When you click on the top, calculated, field you will be taken to the bottom, entry, field. Define the calculated field as:

CalcField (calculation, text) = Left(EntryField, MaxNumOfCharacters)

Obviously, replace "MaxNumOfCharacters" with the maximum number of characters you wish to allow in the field.

This won't stop an entry of more characters, but will prevent the annoying validation messages while still limiting the number of characters.

-bd

[CobaltSky]

I am guessing that your concern stems from the fact that users can keep entering text to their heart's content, only to be rudely awakened on field exit that they have been wasting their time because there is a max character limit on the field (so all their painstaking work is wasted - making for a rather souring user experience).

This is an unfortunate consequence of the way maximum character length is implemented in FileMaker at present, which is a half-baked solution if ever there was one (and is in fact no more than we could already achieve using validation by calculation).

What you are looking for is really not a validation, but a field format which will allow a special kind of limited length field. Unfortunately that is not an option within FileMaker Pro at the present time, nor is it a feature made available by any third party plug-ins on the market, to the best of my knowledge.

The best you can do is probably to forewarn users by stating the character limit in brackets after the field name on data entry layouts.

Sorry the news is not better.