SIN, Phone postal code validation

[Thanato]

I am a new user to FM, previously I was using Approach and appreciated its data entry features, this said I am looking how can I have fields formatted to accept data this way: SIN 000-000-000 (all numbers), phone numbers 000-000-0000 and finally Postal code H1H 1H1 (Canadian postal code)

Thank you!

[danjacoby]

I've used a couple of methods.

The first (and I think by far the easier) is to separate the field into its components for data entry, then have a calc field concatenate the parts. For instance, a phone number field would have three entry fields, one each for area code, prefix and the rest of the number.

The second is to have a data entry field, then create a calc field that concatenates the data entered based on the manner of data entry. Continuing with the phone number example, you have a data entry field for phone numbers. The calc field then looks at several factors in the data entry field. For instance, if the data entry field contains 10 characters, just add the hyphens in the right locations; or if the data entry field starts with an open paren (the "(" character), concatenate based on the data entry field using parentheses to separate the area code, etc. Much more complex to program, but eventually it could be more idiot proof.