Cuxstom Format Masked Text Box

[CoachBarker]

I have a masked text box that needs to be formatted as

Three letters a period three numbers

ABC.123

in VB.net Visual Studio 2005

any help would be greatly appreciated.

CoachBarker

[TRScheel]

I have a masked text box that needs to be formatted as

Three letters a period three numbers

ABC.123

in VB.net Visual Studio 2005

any help would be greatly appreciated.

CoachBarker

Why not just have two textboxes that only allow 3 characters, have one that accepts alpha characters, the other only numbers, and seperate them by a label that has only the '.' in it.

[TEXTBOX1].[TEXTBOX2]

[CoachBarker]

Why not just have two textboxes that only allow 3 characters, have one that accepts alpha characters, the other only numbers, and seperate them by a label that has only the '.' in it.

[TEXTBOX1].[TEXTBOX2]

The text box is used to list the Name of a Course that is being stored in database. Don't want to go to the extreme of concatenating the string to pass it to the data base

[Plater]

Is this a web or windows application?
Windows is easy with the maskedtextbox, web is a bit more tricky

[TRScheel]

The text box is used to list the Name of a Course that is being stored in database. Don't want to go to the extreme of concatenating the string to pass it to the data base

Well there are two other methods I have for you then. Either:

A) Catch each letter coming and going from the textbox, and if it doesnt fit the pattern, dissallow it (or inform the user somehow). Something like:

[code=cpp]
void TextBox1_TextCh anged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
for (int i = 0; i < 3 && i < ((TextBox)sende r).Text.Length; i++)
{
if (!IsAlpha(((Tex tBox)sender).Te xt[i]))
{
InformUserOfBad Character(i);
}
}

if (((TextBox)send er).Text.Length > 3)
{
if (((TextBox)send er).Text[3] != '.')
{
InformUserOfBad Character(3);
}
}

for (int i = 4; i < 7 && i < ((TextBox)sende r).Text.Length; i++)
{
if (!IsNumeric(((T extBox)sender). Text[i]))
{
InformUserOfBad Character(i);
}
}
}

static bool IsAlpha(char test)
{
return (test >= 65 && test <= 90) || (test >= 97 && test <= 122);
}

static bool IsNumeric(char test)
{
return test >= 48 && test <= 57;
}
[/code]


or

B) Create a property that fakes the two text box's values in the example I gave above. Something like:

[code=cpp]
public string CourseName
{
get { return string.Format(" {0}.{1}", TextBox1.Text, TextBox2.Text); }
}
[/code]

Setting it would run through the same difficulties as method A. You would need to make sure the value is of valid size, and then of valid input. If not, I would probably throw an exception to be handled else where.

[CoachBarker]

Is this a web or windows application?
Windows is easy with the maskedtextbox, web is a bit more tricky

This is a windows application.

[Plater]

This is a windows application.

Well then good news!

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.maskedtextbox.aspx

The MaskedTextBox is your friend

[TRScheel]

Well then good news!

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.maskedtextbox.aspx

The MaskedTextBox is your friend

Never used the masktextbox, but I suppose that with this he could use:

[code=cpp]
MyMaskedTextBox .Mask = "LLL.000";
[/code]

[CoachBarker]

Never used the masktextbox, but I suppose that with this he could use:

[code=cpp]
MyMaskedTextBox .Mask = "LLL.000";
[/code]

Thank you all for your help I ended up formatting it this way
>LLL.000 and the greter than sign means that the letters are all captilized

Thanks
CoachBarker