Access 2003 input mask setting

[szaby]

Hi,
I have run into the following problem.
I have a table where one field should contain data with following form
HUN M QH021230000 where
HUN should always be "HUN" followed by a space than upper case letter M or K, then space then upper case two letter followed by nine digit. Every character is mandatory. I followed the instruction on the wizard. Testing works, however when i save the table and want to enter data to the field the format does not follow the above format.
What do i do wrong?
thanks
Szaby

 

[Alansidman]

What does the mask look like in the properties section of your table? Difficult to say what you did right or wrong. Show us your mask.

 

[Galaxiom]

From another perspective:

Where some characters are the same in every records many developers will not record them but use a Format property string to display them.

This format string will allow you to enter and store data without the HUN prefix but display it included:
"HUN "@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

If the M or K field means an important difference in the record it may be that it should be stored separately. You may already have a field that represents that difference. The M or K can be concatenated into the string when it is displayed.

Similarly the two letters in the rest of the string. If these represent a category of items they might be better concatenated from other fields.

This would then leave the rest of the code as a numeric field with format for zero padding to a fixed number of digits on display. Entry templates and validation of this structure is very simple.

What I have described here is strong normalization. It is quite impossible for the code to appear with the wrong prefixes because they are never actually separately recorded.

However this approach to structure requires more coding to display and presents many alternatives for data entry.

Done well it can be very efficient for both the user and the computer.

 

[kipcliff]

You will be hard-pressed to find a better way than what Galaxiom has laid out.

 

[szaby]

thanks for the inputs.
What i did is the following: "HUN ">L\ >LL000000000;0;
Whn making the mask though the \ sign was not after the first letter L. Anyway the problem now is that the field of the new record shows HUN __ ______ and when i enter date it looks something like this HUN mq h01232434241.
So after the fixed HUN, the letters are small instead of capital and instead of letters M and QH, it gives back mq and h.
What do i do wrong?
thanks