Use the C1InputMaskExtender control to improve the efficiency and accuracy of data entry by controlling the values users can enter into a text box.
Mask Types
The following table lists some examples of masks and their behaviors:
|
Mask |
Behavior |
|
00/00/0000 |
A date (day, numeric month, year) in international date format. The "/" character is a logical date separator, and will appear to the user as the date separator appropriate to the application's current culture. Note that to specify date patterns, you can use the C1InputDateExtender. |
|
00->L<LL-0000 |
A date (day, month abbreviation, and year) in United States format in which the three-letter month abbreviation is displayed with an initial uppercase letter followed by two lowercase letters. |
|
(999) 000-0000 |
United States phone number, area code optional. If users do not want to enter the optional characters, they can either enter spaces or place the mouse pointer directly at the position in the mask represented by the first 0. |
|
$999,999.00 |
A currency value in the range of 0 to 999999. The currency, thousandth, and decimal characters will be replaced at run time with their culture-specific equivalents. |
Use the mask option to define masking elements for the control. If you define an edit mask, each character position in the widget maps to either a special placeholder or a literal character. Literal characters, or literals, can give visual cues about the type of data being used. For example, the parentheses surrounding the area code of a telephone number and dash are literals: (412) 123-4567. The edit mask prevents users from entering invalid characters and provides other enhancements of the user interface.
Mask Characters
To enable masked input, set the mask property to a mask string composed of one or more placeholders and literals, the following table lists available placeholders:
|
Masking Element |
Description |
|
0 |
Digit, required. This element will accept any single digit between 0 and 9. |
|
9 |
Digit or space, optional. |
|
# |
Digit or space, optional. If this position is blank in the mask, it will be rendered as a space. Plus (+) and minus (-) signs are allowed. |
|
L |
Letter, required. Restricts input to the ASCII letters a-z and A-Z. This mask element is equivalent to [a-zA-Z] in regular expressions. |
|
? |
Letter, optional. Restricts input to the ASCII letters a-z and A-Z. This mask element is equivalent to [a-zA-Z]? in regular expressions. |
|
& |
Character, required. |
|
C |
Character, optional. Any non-control character. |
|
A |
Alphanumeric, optional. |
|
. |
Decimal placeholder. The actual display character used will be the decimal placeholder appropriate to the culture option. |
|
, |
Thousands placeholder. The actual display character used will be the thousands placeholder appropriate to the culture option. |
|
: |
Time separator. The actual display character used will be the time placeholder appropriate to the culture option. |
|
/ |
Date separator. The actual display character used will be the date placeholder appropriate to the culture option. |
|
$ |
Currency symbol. The actual character displayed will be the currency symbol appropriate to the culture option. |
|
< |
Shift down. Converts all characters that follow to lowercase. |
|
> |
Shift up. Converts all characters that follow to uppercase. |
|
| |
Disable a previous shift up or shift down. |
|
\ |
Escape. Escapes a mask character, turning it into a literal. "\\" is the escape sequence for a backslash. |
|
<<n...m>> |
Restricts the user input to the declared numeric range, for example, <<0...255>>. |
|
<<Value1|Value2|Value3>> |
Restricts the user input to one of the set options. Character ("|") serves as a separator between the option values, for example, <<Option One|Option Two|Option Three>>. |
|
All other characters |
Literals. All non-mask elements will appear as themselves within the mask. Literals always occupy a static position in the mask at run time and cannot be moved or deleted by the user. |
