Entry Mask Field

When customizing fields, you can specify characters (such as decimal points, hyphens, and slashes) that will appear in the field. When entering data, the user cannot type over those characters.

The following table shows how you specify the kinds of characters the user can enter:

X	Any ASCII character (not allowed in combination with special characters)
9	Any number 0-9
N	Any alphanumeric character
Any other	Any nonalphanumeric character except ! ' #

You must use all Xs (such as XXXXX) or any combination of 9, N, and nonalphanumeric characters (such as NN-999-99). You can use all nonalphanumeric characters except an exclamation point (!), an apostrophe ('), or a pound sign (#).

Caution! A decrease in entry mask size can cause you to lose existing data. Additionally, if you change the field entry mask to include characters such as hyphens and slashes, existing characters move to the right, past the fixed characters. If the addition of fixed characters pushes existing characters beyond the length of the field and you save the asset's data, the characters beyond the field length are lost.

When you click OK to exit the Customize Fields window in either of the above situations, the system prompts you with the message: "Modification of the entry mask could cause permanent loss of data. Do you wish to continue?" Click Yes to continue.