TMaskEdit: what changed
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Title: TMaskEdit
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| 1 | + | A **TMaskEdit**  is a control with a single line of editable text that has to fit to a predefined 'EditMask'. It is available from the [[Additional tab]] of the [[Component Palette]]. | |
| 2 | + | ||
| 3 | + | ## The EditMask property | |
| 4 | + | ||
| 5 | + | The EditMask consist of 3 fields, each separated by the MaskFieldSeparator character (by default a semicolon (';')). | |
| 6 | + | ||
| 7 | + | | | | | | | |
| 8 | + | |----|----|----|----| | |
| 9 | + | | **Field** | **Type** | **Meaning** | **Required** | | |
| 10 | + | | Actual mask | String | The actual pattern to which the text has to fit | Yes | | |
| 11 | + | | MaskSave | Char | Controls wether the Text property contains the literals in the actual mask. A value other than '0' means literals will be included. | No | | |
| 12 | + | | SpaceChar | Char | The character shown in the TMaskEdit when left blank. Defaults to '_' | No | | |
| 13 | + | ||
| 14 | + | The actual mask is formed with a pattern of characters with the following meaning: | |
| 15 | + | ||
| 16 | + | | | | | | | |
| 17 | + | |----|----|----|----| | |
| 18 | + | | **Type** | **Character** | **Possible input by user** | **Delphi compatibility** | | |
| 19 | + | | cMask_SpecialChar | \\ | after this you can set an arbitrary char (e.g. for unit like 'P\a' =\> 'Pa') | | | |
| 20 | + | | cMask_LowerCase | \< | after this the chars is in lower case | | | |
| 21 | + | | cMask_UpperCase | \> | after this the chars is in upper case. Notice that the sequence \<\> will end enforcing lower- or uppercase. | | | |
| 22 | + | | cMask_Letter | l | only a letter but not necessary | | | |
| 23 | + | | cMask_LetterFixed | L | only a letter (arbitrary!) | | | |
| 24 | + | | cMask_AlphaNum | a | an alphanumeric char (\['A'..'Z','a..'z','0'..'9'\]) but not necessary | | | |
| 25 | + | | cMask_AlphaNumFixed | A | an alphanumeric char (arbitrary!) | | | |
| 26 | + | | cMask_AllChars | c | any Utf8 char but not necessary | | | |
| 27 | + | | cMask_AllCharsFixed | C | any Utf8 char, but NOT SpaceChar | | | |
| 28 | + | | cMask_Number | 9 | only a number but not necessary \[('0'..'9'\]) | | | |
| 29 | + | | cMask_NumberFixed | 0 | only a number (arbitrary!) | | | |
| 30 | + | | cMask_NumberPlusMin | \# | only a number \[('0'..'9'\]) or '+' or '-', but not necessary | | | |
| 31 | + | | cMask_HourSeparator | : | automatically put the hour separator char | | | |
| 32 | + | | cMask_DateSeparator | / | automatically put the date separator char | | | |
| 33 | + | | cMask_Hex | h | a hexadecimal character but not necessary | Lazarus extension, not supported by Delphi | | |
| 34 | + | | cMask_HexFixed | H | a hexadecimal character | Lazarus extension, not supported by Delphi | | |
| 35 | + | | cMask_Binary | b | a binary character but not necessary | Lazarus extension, not supported by Delphi | | |
| 36 | + | | cMask_BinaryFixed | B | a binary character | Lazarus extension, not supported by Delphi | | |
| 37 | + | | cMask_SetStart | \[ | Start of a set (if EnableSets = True) | Lazarus extension, not supported by Delphi | | |
| 38 | + | | cMask_SetEnd | \] | End of a set (if EnableSets = True) | Lazarus extension, not supported by Delphi | | |
| 39 | + | | cMask_SetNegate | ! | Negates a set (if it is the first character inside the given set) | Lazarus extension, not supported by Delphi | | |
| 40 | + | | cMask_SetOptional | \| | Makes the set optional, so a blank is accepted (if it is the first character inside the given set, and the set is not negated) | \| Lazarus extension, not supported by Delphi | | |
| 41 | + | | cMask_NoLeadingBlanks | ! | Trim leading blanks, otherwise trim trailing blanks from the data | | | |
| 42 | + | ||
| 43 | + | ## Avoiding Exceptions upon validation | |
| 44 | + | ||
| 45 | + | When the user leaves the TMaskEdit (or presses <span class="kbd">Enter</span>) the control validates the input against the EditMask.\ | |
| 46 | + | By default, if validation fails, an `EDBEditError` exception will be raised.\ | |
| 47 | + | If you want to handle this exception, you'll need to do this in the [[TApplication|Application's]] `OnException` event.\ | |
| 48 | + | You can avoid exceptions on validation if you set the `ValidationErrorMode` property to `mvemEvent` and handle the validation error in the TMaskEdit's `OnValidationError` event.\ | |
| 49 | + | Notice that this is a Lazarus extension of TMaskEdit and it is **not** Delphi compatible. | |
| 50 | + | ||
| 51 | + | ## Sample EditMask files | |
| 52 | + | ||
| 53 | + | The property editor for TMaskEdit.EditMask supports the loading of sample files.\ | |
| 54 | + | Delphi sample editmask files (*.dem) were already supported for a long time and in Lazarus 4.0 support for Lazarus sample editmask files (*.lem) was added.\ | |
| 55 | + | The latter has a more relaxed syntax, where whitespace is non-significant (in other words: it will be ignored).\ | |
| 56 | + | For copyrigth reasons Lazarus does not distribute sample editmask files itself. | |
| 57 | + | ||
| 58 | + | ### Syntax of sample EditMask files | |
| 59 | + | ||
| 60 | + | Sample EditMask files are plain text files, where each line defines a sample editmask.\ | |
| 61 | + | Each line consists of 3 fields separated by a pipe symbol. In Delpi sample files (*.dem) each pipe symbol must be preceeded and followed by a space.\ | |
| 62 | + | Lines starting with `//` will be ignored. You can use this feature to add comments to your sample editmask file(s).\ | |
| 63 | + | Notice that Lazarus assumes the file is UTF-8 encoded. | |
| 64 | + | ||
| 65 | + | | | | | |
| 66 | + | |----|----| | |
| 67 | + | | **Fieldname** | **Meaning** | | |
| 68 | + | | Caption | The name of the sample editmask as displayed in the property editor | | |
| 69 | + | | Example | Example text applied to the editmask (*) | | |
| 70 | + | | EditMask | Sample editmask | | |
| 71 | + | ||
| 72 | + | * When applying the example text, the sample editmask's MaskSave and SpaceChar fields will be ignored (and set to False and a space char (#32) respectively). This is done for Delphi compatibility.\ | |
| 73 | + | Consider the following line in a sample file:\ | |
| 74 | + | `IPv4 value | 128255255032 | !999.999.999.999;1;_`\ | |
| 75 | + | This will show "IPv4 value" as caption and "128.255.255.032" as an example in the property editors listbox (without the quotes obviously). | |
| 76 | + | ||
| 77 | + | ## See also | |
| 78 | + | ||
| 79 | + | - [[doc:lcl/maskedit/tmaskedit.html|TMaskEdit doc]] | |
| 80 | + | - [[TEdit]] - A basic field | |
| 81 | + | - [[TLabeledEdit]] - An edit field like a TEdit with a label | |
| 82 | + | - [[TSpinEdit]] - An edit field for integers defined numbers range limits | |
| 83 | + | - [[TFloatSpinEdit]] - An edit field for tiles floating-point numbers with defined numbers range limits | |
| 84 | + | - [[TEditButton]] - An edit field like a TEdit with an attached button as a [[TSpeedBtn]] | |
| 85 | + | - [[TFileNameEdit]] - An edit field with attached [[TOpenDialog]], to enter a file name | |
| 86 | + | - [[TDirectoryEdit]] - An edit field with attached [[TSelectDirectoryDialog]], to enter a file path | |
| 87 | + | - [[TDateEdit]] - An edit field with attached [[TCalendarDialog]] (calendar), to enter a date | |
| 88 | + | - [[TCalcEdit]] - An input field with attached [[TCalculatorDialog]] (Calculator), to enter a number | |
| 89 | + | - [[TTIEdit]] - An RTTI capable input field | |
| 90 | + | ||
| 91 | + | --- | |
| 92 | + | *From the Free Pascal wiki, page "TMaskEdit", as it stood on 2024-05-20 after a change by Bart, out of the wiki's dump of 2024-05-26. Copyright stays with the author who wrote it, according to the old wiki's [[Licensing]] page. If you have concerns about this material, [message the admin](/wiki-contact).* |