Strange character causing an error in memo field

[Tim Sutherland]

I have a button on a form that adds a note to a memo field on the form using the following code:

DIM SHARED NotesVar as C
DIM SHARED DialBox as C
ok_button_label = "&OK"
cancel_button_label = "&Cancel"
DialBox = ui_dlg_box("Enter Notes",<<%dlg%
{region}
Notes:| [%mw%.40,5NotesVar];
{endregion};
{line=1,0};
{region}
<*15=ok_button_label!OK> <15=cancel_button_label!CANCEL>
{endregion};
%dlg%)

If Var->NotesVar=""
	end 
	ELSE

Dim P as P
DIM SHARED Test AS C

vMode = parentform.mode_get()

IF vMode = "CHANGE" .or. vMode = "ENTER"
	parentform.commit()
END IF

tbl = table.current() 
p.text=tbl.Notes

tbl.change_begin()
If alltrim(tbl.Notes) = ""
	tbl.Notes = tbl.Notes + date_format(date(),"MM-dd-yy") +" (" + word(api_getusername(),1) +"): " + var->NotesVar
	ELSE
	tbl.Notes = tbl.Notes + crlf() +date_format(date(),"MM-dd-yy") +" (" + word(api_getusername(),1) +"): " + var->NotesVar
	END IF
tbl.change_end(.t.)
Notes.refresh()
topparent.commit()

tc = table.current()
tc.change_begin()
tc.change_dtf = now()
tc.change_by = api_getusername()
tc.change_end(.t.)
change_dtf.refresh()
NotesVar = ""
END IF

We started receiving an error when attempting to add a note to one specific error and could not figure out why. It was generating an error stating incorrect data type pointing to the line above - If alltrim(tbl.Notes) = ""

When viewing the memo field on the form, it appears fine, however if I view the table from the control panel, find that record and inspect the notes field, I see an odd character. I've attached a picture of this character.

I have no idea what this character is, how it got there, how to prevent it from showing up again, or how to make my code above ignore it.

If I delete the character while viewing the table from the control panel, we quit receiving the error when running script.

Any suggestions?

char.jpg

[Tom Cone Jr]

Re: Strange character causing an error in memo field

Assuming this is a memo field, and not an RTF memo field...

Was the text of the note "pasted" into the memo field variable from another source?

Memo fields are limited to text. Somehow someone is trying to include non-printable control codes. No can do.

[Tim Sutherland]

Re: Strange character causing an error in memo field

Assuming this is a memo field, and not an RTF memo field...

Was the text of the note "pasted" into the memo field variable from another source?

Memo fields are limited to text. Somehow someone is trying to include non-printable control codes. No can do.

Tom,

It's definitely a memo field, not an RTF field.

Also, the text of the note was manually typed in and not copied from another source.

I suspect that character was generated as a result of a 'fat finger' combo accidentally pressed while the user was entering the text.

Is there a way to prevent 'non standard' characters to be saved in the first place?

Thanks

[Tom Cone Jr]

Re: Strange character causing an error in memo field

Tim,

Stan M, has reminded me that my suggestion could lead to big trouble. Sorry!

Remspecial will remove your punctuation.

So, its not a good choice for you here.

Sorry.

I recall wrestling with this a long time ago and wound up writing code that loops through each character in the memo field and if the ascii value of the current character was below or above the desired alphanumeric range my script converted the "character" to a blank space.

--tom

[Ted Giles]

Re: Strange character causing an error in memo field

Looks a bit like an ASCII character out of the Alternate Char set.

[Tim Sutherland]

Re: Strange character causing an error in memo field

I appreciate the responses.

I found that character in the ascii table and it is generated by pressing alt + 11 on the keypad.

Perhaps I should look into disabling the alt key when entering text?

Tim

[Ted Giles]

Re: Strange character causing an error in memo field

See, us old timers do know stuff (if we don't forget it, that is).
Alt+Keypad as you found out is a quick way of getting ASCII characters into a text field.
Problem comes with using Alt+171 to get �. It's easier than looking for symbols and I use it a lot.
Not sure how you could get around this, but disabling the Alt key is s good start.

[Tom Cone Jr]

Re: Strange character causing an error in memo field

Tim, if I were you, I'd be curious whether this was accidental or deliberate. Fat fingers wouldn't do this. -- tom

[Ted Giles]

Re: Strange character causing an error in memo field

We call it Sausage fingers over here.
Depends where the Alt key is located.
♂, no �, no � (_|_) Yes!

[Tim Sutherland]

Re: Strange character causing an error in memo field

Thought I'd pass along a follow up to this problem and how we solved it.

It turns out that the character was not being generated by an 'Alt 11' keystroke combination after all.

When I looked at it more closely, the character being generated was similar to the ascii character created by Alt-11 but not quite the same.

Today at the office, we found several records that had this problem and narrowed it down to records entered by one user. It turns out that when he was entering new records and entered text into a memo field, he occasionally used the 'Shift+Enter' combination when starting a new line of text.

Each time you press 'Shift+Enter' in a memo field, it generates this character which later causes the above error.

I prevented this key combination in the onkey event of the form and problem solved.

I appreciate the help!

Tim