Configure text field validations

Text fields are displayed on a single line. Text fields can be configured to display the data according to a certain format. For example, you can configure a text field to accept and format a ten-digit telephone number or display a specific number of decimal places for a percentage.

To create a text field validation:

  1. Open a new or existing validation; see Configure validations.

  2. In the Component Type field, select Text Field.

  3. In the Data Mask field, select one of the following data masks:

    • Alphanumeric

    • Alphanumeric Uppercase

    • Numeric

    • Currency

    • Percentage

    • Telephone

    • Custom

  4. Optionally, configure the data mask. Depending on your data mask type, the field you see varies. Use the following table to help you determine how to configure your data mask:

    5. Data Mask Type

    Field Name

    Description

    Alphanumeric and Alphanumeric Uppercase

    Max Length

    Specify the maximum field length for fields using this validation.

    Currency

    Region

    Determines the currency symbol displayed in the field and the position of the text in the field.

    The default settings used depends on the locale setting for the machine. You can set the currency display settings by using the Regional Settings tab in the Edit My Profile dialog:

    • select Open > Administration > Edit My Profile and select the Regional Settings tab

    Currency, Numeric, and Percentage

    Maximum Value

    Largest value allowed for this field. You can specify a positive or negative number.

    Currency, Numeric, and Percentage

    Minimum Value

    Smallest accepted value for the field. You can specify positive or negative number.

    Currency, Numeric, and Percentage

    If Data not Entered, then display a zero

    Determines whether a field with no data displays a zero.

    Currency, Numeric, and Percentage

    Use Group Separator

    Determines if the field uses a group separator (such as a comma) to divide characters within large numbers. For example, display 1000000 as 1,000,000.

    The default character used as the separator depends on the regional settings defined by each user.

    Currency, Numeric, and Percentage

    Negative Number looks like

    Determines the text used to display negative numbers. Options are:

    • (1000)—parentheses and black text

    • (1000)—parentheses and red text

    • -1000—minus character (-) and black text

    • -1000—minus character (-) and red text

    Currency, Numeric, and Percentage

    Number of Decimal Places

    The maximum number of decimal places displayed.

    Telephone

    Format

    The rule that determines how digits are formatted, including the use of spaces or delimiters. The format definition can include the following delimiters:

    • Parentheses ( )

    • Period (.)

    • Dash (-)

    • Space

    • Plus character (+)

    For telephone format examples, see Sample Telephone Data Mask Formats.

    Telephone

    Maximum # of Digits

    The maximum number of digits that the field accepts.

    Telephone

    Minimum # of Digits

    The minimum number of digits that the field accepts.

    Custom

    Format

    Type a combination of the following symbols.

    • Use D to specify that the user must provide a numeric value between 0 and 9.

    • Use L to specify that the user must provide an alphabetic character between A and Z.

    • Use A to specify that the user must type a character or space.

    • Use a \ (backslash) to specify that the next character is to be displayed as the literal character. For example: "\A" is displayed as "A".

    For custom format examples, see Sample Custom Data Mask.

  5. To view the results of your data mask settings:

    1. In the Sample Input field, specify a value to preview based on your settings.

    2. Click Format.

      The Formatted Output window displays the results.

  6. Click OK.

    Note: If your PPM instance supports multiple languages, any validation you configure is defined in the language you selected at logon (your session language). After the validation is configured, it can be modified only in its definition language. For more information, see the Multilingual User Interface Guide.

Sample Telephone Data Mask Formats

Use the telephone data masks to specify telephone number display.

Table 5-2. Sample telephone data mask formats

Format Rule

User Input

Output

D-DDD-DDD-DDDD

15555555555

1-555-555-5555

DDD DDD DDDD

5555555555

555 555 5555

(DDD) DDD-DDDD

5555555555

(555) 555-5555

If you define a format that lets users specify a range of number of characters, any extra characters specified are always grouped with the first set of characters.

For example, if you configure the telephone data mask with a minimum of 10 characters and a maximum of 15 characters, the results are as follows:

Table 5-3. Sample extra character telephone data mask formats

Format Rule

User Input

Output

DDD-DDD-DDDD

1234567890

123-456-7890

DDD-DDD-DDDD

12345678901

1234-567-8901

Sample Custom Data Mask

You can customize the field to accept numeric values, alphabetic characters, spaces, and custom delimiters.

Table 5-4. Sample custom data mask formats

Format Rule

User Input

Output

DDD\-DD\-DDDD

555555555

555-55-5555

AA\-DDD

BC349

BC-349