How to use the field mask option

A field mask requires the user to input text data in a specific format. This might come in handy if you have a zip code field that needs to be a five digit number, or a customer ID that is always two letters followed by a four-digit number.

Activating field mask on a short text field

1. Launch the App Builder (from the Apps page)
2. Go to the Short Text (text box) you want to apply this format to. Click to edit.
3. Expand the More Field Settings tab. 
   
   
    
4. Enter the desired field mask

Types of field masks

There eight different types of field masks. Each character requires a different response. Below is a list of the different characters that can be part of a valid field mask and their meanings.

0 - Digit, Required
9 - Digit, Optional (can be space or digit)
L - Letter, Required
l - Letter, Optional (can be a space or a letter)
A - Digit/Letter, Required
a - Digit/Letter, Optional (can be a space or a digit or a letter)
? - Something is required in this space (digit, letter, space, symbol, etc..)
* - Wildcard, used to signify an undetermined number of characters. This is used for "Starts with" (e. g. 000*) or "Ends with" (e.g. *AAA) but only one wildcard character is allowed per mask and it MUST be the first or last character.

Examples of field mask in use

Example 1

If we setup a Field Mask on a Field of AAA* this means that when responding, the user must enter text that meets the following criteria:

• The response MUST be at least three characters, but can be longer.
• The first three characters in the response must be either numbers or letters, they cannot be left blank or contain any symbols.

Here is a list of VALID response to a mask of AAA*:

123456
ABCDE
1R4 7&)/

Here is a list of INVALID responses to a mask of AAA*

&78 4
...567
89.ABC

Example 2