I want to validate the input of a field and generate an error if it is incorrect. The field is to allow letters, numbers, hyphens, fullstops and underlines. So commas and the rest of the other punctuation is not allowed.

Thanks

Simon

[ August 05, 2001: Message edited by: SimonG ]

So you don't have to check every position for valid characters, it's probably easier to check for all invalid characters (yes, you have to list them ALL). There are no validations by type in FM. The calculation to use in the validation entry in define fields could look like:

not (

Position(text, ",", 1, 1)

or

Position(text, "*", 1, 1)

or

Position(text, "@", 1, 1)

or

.

.

. <--- add as many as you need separated by "or"

)

I can't think of an easier way at the moment. To validate valid characters, you would have to compare each character up to the max lenght of and entry to a string, one character at a time.

-bd

one possible solution that might be to define a field that would never be modified that would contain

"abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890-_" and whatever a fullstop is. then make the validation to check if each character in the input field is a member of the field with all the valid options. You can use

PatternCount(Big Field, Left(Right(your field),1),1))

And

PatternCount(Big Field, Left(Right(your field),1),2))

And

PatternCount(Big Field, Left(Right(your field),1),3))

And

.

.

.

with as many characters as the input may be.

This may not be easier than LiveOak's method, depending on how big the field could be.

~Ati, Jedi Master