do not display placeholder

[Robert Mainwaring]

If the field in a record contains a placeholder character ~ I want the form not to display the character. Either remain blank or replace with text "not listed".

Thought I could add an "on arrive" event to the form field and check for the ~ placeholder character, then replace ...

Code syntax ...?

[Stan Mathews]

RE: do not display placeholder

If you are speaking of the placeholder character in a mask, you will probably need to define a form level calculated field (or report level, etc) something like

if(alltrim(Id)="","Not listed",mask(alltrim(id)," ~ "))

where id is the table field having the mask and the mask string in the calculated field definition matches the data entry mask using spaces. IOW if the field rule mask were

(000) | 000-0000

the calculated field rule mask string would be

"(__)_|___-___"

using underscores in place of spaces for demonstration.

The field rule should have the checkbox "Do not store mask
iterals in field" is selected.

Screenshots attached.

[CALocklin]

RE: do not display placeholder

Another method that I often like to use is to build my own function that will enter the mask "after the fact". This function is then used in the CanWrite event of the field. BUT, the big advantage is that it can also be used in custom lookups where I prompt the user for a value then format the input value as needed for the lookup.

For the situation in question, the result would be that no 'placeholder' characters would be entered unless there was actually a value in the field.

For example, I have a function called Phone_Dash() that outputs phone numbers as either NNN-NNNN or NNN-NNN-NNNN. (Longer numbers end up as NNN-NNN-NNNNNNNNN.)

I don't care how the user inputs the number. It can be 234-567-8900 or 2345678900 or 1 (234)-56789-00 or even 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0-0. It still comes out as 234-567-8900. (Note that my function even removes the preceding "1".) Of course, the most common input is the easiest - 2345678909.

This method is very flexible. In my case, if the value entered is blank or less than 3 characters, no dashes are added but any special characters will be removed. It also warns the user if any letters are entered. Other features could easily be added - it's just a function so it does whatever I define it to do.

In the CanWrite event, I simply add:
A_field_value = phone_dash( A_field_value )

In a custom lookup I might use something like:

phone_in = ui_get_text( "PHONE NUMBER", "Lookup what number?" )
IF phone_in = ""
END'
END IF
phone_in = phone_dash( phone_in )
Tbl_Pointer.fetch_find( phone_in )
....

(Actually, today I'd probably end up with something much more elaborate in an xdialog but I won't go there - to complicated for demo purposes.)

Cal Locklin
www.aimsdc.net