Restricting input by MaskEdit in IE / Firefox

Jerry.Wang

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5 Nov 2006CPOL2 min read

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To provide a better user experience using MaskEdit, a textbox with restrictions, auot-trim box, and tip box, supports IE/Firefox.

Download demo project - 17.3 KB

Introduction

There is a very useful control called CXTMaskEdit in XtremeToolkit used in VC++. I managed to replant the MaskEdit to JavaScript, then I started to create the JavSscript lib myself. The only purpose is to better the user's experience.

There are several kinds of textboxes I am providing for IE / Firefox.

Textbox only accepts non-negative integer
Textbox only accepts whole number
Textbox only accepts currency (e.g., 14.22 ) and two decimal points
MaskEdit accepts special strings such as postal code, telephone number etc.
Textbox will auto-trim when it loses focus
Textbox will show tip if it is empty

Demo

Here comes the demo, please try it yourself: Click here for the demo.

Using the code

You should copy the *.js in the /JSLib/ to your project, and there is a file named "help.txt" that describes which files you need to include in your HTML pages. The Global.js is necessary.

HTML

<head>
    // ......
    <script language="javascript" src="JSLib/Global.js" 
      type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script language="javascript" src="JSLib/Textbox.Restriction.js" 
      type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script language="javascript" src="JSLib/Textbox.MaskEdit.js" 
      type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script language="javascript" src="JSLib/Textbox.Trim.js" 
      type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script language="javascript" src="JSLib/Textbox.Tip.js" 
      type="text/javascript"></script>
    // ......
</head>

And then you should initialize the textboxes when the page loads, for example:

JavaScript

function OnPageLoad()
{
    InitializeTrimBox();    

    // all the first parameters of the functions below are the textbox id   
    // initialize textbox only accepts nonnegative integerBox
    InitializeTextbox( "txtAcceptNonnegativeIntegerBox", 
                       InputType.NonnegativeInteger);

    // initialize textbox only accepts whole number
    InitializeTextbox( "txtAcceptWholeNumberBox", InputType.WholeNumber);

    // initialize textbox only accepts currency
    InitializeTextbox( "txtAcceptCurrencyBox", InputType.Currency);

    // initialize textbox only accepts Postal Code, such as "M1M 1M1"
    InitializeMaskEdit( "txtPostalCode", "$A$d$A $d$A$d");

    // initialize textbox only accepts telphone number, such as "(111)111-1111"
    InitializeMaskEdit( "txtTelPhone", "($d$d$d)$d$d$d-$d$d$d$d");

    // initialize textbox only accepts car number, such as "A*11111"
    InitializeMaskEdit( "txtCarNumber", "$$A*$d$d$d$d$d");

    // initialize textbox only accepts datetime, such as "2006-12-30"
    InitializeMaskEdit( "txtDateTime1", "$d$d$d$d-$d$d-$d$d");

    // initialize textbox only accepts datetime, such as "12/30/2006"
    InitializeMaskEdit( "txtDateTime2", "$d$d/$d$d/$d$d$d$d");

    // initialize tip box
    InitializeTipBox( "txtTipBox", 
      "If you do not change the password, left blank.");
}

Deficiencies

It does not support Chinese characters at this time. I would like to implement it but it is very difficult, I need to consider more.
Since Firefox does not support onpaste / ondrag / ondrop / oncut / oncontentmenu events, the user can still input an invalid string by pasting, dropping, so this script is just used to provide a better experience, and it is necessary to use ASP.NET validation controls.

History

V1.0 2006-10-10: Created.
V1.1 2006-10-15

Improvement: Renamed InputType.
Fixed bug: If there is already a value for mask edit when page loads, the value will be removed.
Improvement: Changed the Escape character to $A $a $d.
Fixed bug: Should prevent content menu and cutting in mask edit in IE.
Improvement: Added the auto-trim textbox.
Improvement: Add the tip textbox.

V1.2 2006-11-05

Improvement: Add the JavaScript object browser.
Improvement: For the InitializeXXX functions, can pass either control ID or instance.
Fixed bug: If the mask edit gets focus, the input cursor will move to the first unfilled position.
Improvement: Added the AJAX class.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Written By

Jerry.Wang

Team Leader

China

Jerry is from China. He was captivated by computer programming since 13 years old when first time played with Q-Basic.

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