Defining variable validation criteria

Administrators can tailor services by defining variable validation criteria to be applied to the job streams associated to a service.

About this task

By defining variable validation criteria, Administrators can ensure that input entered by the mobile user is checked against the criteria and only input that satisfies the criteria is accepted. An error message is issued when invalid input is entered by the user. When defining variable validation criteria, Administrators can specify, for example, whether the input value is numeric or alphabetic, or whether the entry must be within a range of values or a certain length.

The Variable Validation section lists all of the variables defined in the variable table. To define variable validation criteria:

Procedure

  1. In the Variable Validation section, determine for which variables you want to set validation criteria, and select the data type for the value of the variable: Text, Date, Number, Time, Boolean, Custom, or Hidden.
  2. Define the criteria for the data type selected:
    Text
    Specifies that the value must be a text string.
    Not null
    Specifies that an input value must be specified and cannot be left blank.
    Allow space
    Specifies that space characters are allowed in the input value.
    Length
    Specifies a minimum and a maximum value for the length of the text string.
    Min
    Specifies that the text string cannot contain less than this number of alphabetic characters.
    Max
    Specifies that the text string cannot contain more than this number of alphabetic characters.
    Date
    Specifies that the input value must correspond to a date in the format DD/MM/YYYY.
    Not null
    Specifies that a date value must be specified and cannot be left blank.
    Number
    Not null
    Specifies that a numeric input value must be specified and cannot be left blank.
    Min
    The number specified cannot be less than this minimum range value.
    Max
    The number specified cannot be more than this maximum range value.
    Time
    Specifies that the input must correspond to a time in the format HH:MM:ss.
    Not Null
    Specifies that a time must be specified and cannot be left blank.
    Boolean
    Specifies the input data must be of boolean type.
    Custom
    Not null
    Specifies that an input value must be specified and cannot be left blank.
    Regular Expression
    Allows you to enter your own custom validation criteria expressed as a regular expression. The regular expression is used to validate the variable value specified. The syntax supported is the JavaScript standard for regular expressions.
    Hidden
    Select this option to hide one or more variables defined in the variable table from the service. Mobile users who submit the service to run are not prompted to enter values for variables flagged as hidden. If a default value is defined in the variable table, then that is value used by the variable, otherwise, you can specify a different value in the Value field.
    Value
    Overwrite the value defined in the variable table by assigning a different value in this field.
  3. Save the changes.

Results

When the service is submitted by the mobile user, if the values entered by the user for the variables do not satisfy the validation criteria set by the Administrator, an error message is displayed