Best way to disallow special characters in a field (1 Viewer)

[PaulD2019]

Hi all, I have done a bit of searching online, didn't really see a what would be the best way to do what I need

One of the fields on one of the forms on one of the databases I have created I want to use its contents as part of the file name when a pdf is created, with it being used as part of the file name I need to disallow the special characters \ / : * ? " < > |

I was thinking having a box popping up either when it is typed if that is possible or before the form is closed

What would be the best way to achieve this?

Thanks in advance

 

[theDBguy]

Hi. Not sure if it's the "best" approach, but one way is to use the Change event of the Textbox.

 

[Micron]

You have 3 options that I know of:
- Change event: validate every keystroke against your list of allowed or disallowed characters. Validation is immediate.
- control BeforeUpdate event: validate entire contents of textbox before user action completes its update; cancel update if pass fails
- form BeforeUpdate event: validate the entire form, especially this field, cancel as before

Another way (which is just a guess, thus I didn't include it above) is to let Windows handle the errors. However, your list of prohibited characters might be more inclusive, plus I don't know if you can trap the error in Access when it occurs.

 

[Isaac]

If you use the Change event of the Textbox (which is what I would probably do as has been suggested), you should refer to it's .Text property

 

[PaulD2019]

Thanks all, I'll look into adding some VBA code to the fields OnChange event

 

[GK in the UK]

I don't think I ever tested or used this but I remembered bookmarking it just in case

UtterAccess.com

www.utteraccess.com

 

[Dreamweaver]

In my tab but You could use the key press event if one of the characters is used set ascii=0 I'm not sure what the codes are for each key but you could use a debug.print ascii to find out

 

[Micron]

The code at that link will not allow characters that have not been defined as 'not allowed' by OP. Just sayin so that it's not used verbatim.