form_field_validation(3x) — Linux manual page
form_field_validation(3X) form_field_validation(3X)
NAME
form_field_validation - data type validation for fields
SYNOPSIS
#include <form.h>
void *field_arg(const FIELD *field);
FIELDTYPE *field_type(const FIELD *field);
int set_field_type(FIELD *field, FIELDTYPE *type, ...);
/* predefined field types */
FIELDTYPE *TYPE_ALNUM;
FIELDTYPE *TYPE_ALPHA;
FIELDTYPE *TYPE_ENUM;
FIELDTYPE *TYPE_INTEGER;
FIELDTYPE *TYPE_NUMERIC;
FIELDTYPE *TYPE_REGEXP;
FIELDTYPE *TYPE_IPV4;
DESCRIPTION
By default, no validation is done on form fields. You can
associate a form with with a field type, making the form library
validate input.
field_arg
Returns a pointer to the field's argument block. The argument
block is an opaque structure containing a copy of the arguments
provided in a set_field_type call.
field_type
Returns a pointer to the field type associated with the form
field, i.e., by calling set_field_type.
set_field_type
The function set_field_type associates a field type with a given
form field. This is the type checked by validation functions.
Most field types are configurable, via arguments which the caller
provides when calling set_field_type.
Several field types are predefined by the form library.
Predefined types
It is possible to set up new programmer-defined field types.
Field types are implemented via the FIELDTYPE data structure,
which contains several pointers to functions.
See the form_fieldtype(3X) manual page, which describes functions
which can be used to construct a field-type dynamically.
The predefined types are as follows:
TYPE_ALNUM
Alphanumeric data. Required parameter:
• a third int argument, a minimum field width.
TYPE_ALPHA
Character data. Required parameter:
• a third int argument, a minimum field width.
TYPE_ENUM
Accept one of a specified set of strings. Required
parameters:
• a third (char **) argument pointing to a string list;
• a fourth int flag argument to enable case-sensitivity;
• a fifth int flag argument specifying whether a partial
match must be a unique one. If this flag is off, a
prefix matches the first of any set of more than one
list elements with that prefix.
The library copies the string list, so you may use a list
that lives in automatic variables on the stack.
TYPE_INTEGER
Integer data, parsable to an integer by atoi(3). Required
parameters:
• a third int argument controlling the precision,
• a fourth long argument constraining minimum value,
• a fifth long constraining maximum value. If the maximum
value is less than or equal to the minimum value, the
range is simply ignored.
On return, the field buffer is formatted according to the
printf format specification “.*ld”, where the “*” is
replaced by the precision argument.
For details of the precision handling see printf(3).
TYPE_NUMERIC
Numeric data (may have a decimal-point part). Required
parameters:
• a third int argument controlling the precision,
• a fourth double argument constraining minimum value,
• and a fifth double constraining maximum value. If your
system supports locales, the decimal point character
must be the one specified by your locale. If the
maximum value is less than or equal to the minimum
value, the range is simply ignored.
On return, the field buffer is formatted according to the
printf format specification “.*f”, where the “*” is replaced
by the precision argument.
For details of the precision handling see printf(3).
TYPE_REGEXP
Regular expression data. Required parameter:
• a third argument, a regular expression (char *) string.
The data is valid if the regular expression matches it.
Regular expressions are in the format of regcomp and
regexec.
The regular expression must match the whole field. If you
have for example, an eight character wide field, a regular
expression "^[0-9]*$" always means that you have to fill all
eight positions with digits. If you want to allow fewer
digits, you may use for example "^[0-9]* *$" which is good
for trailing spaces (up to an empty field), or "^ *[0-9]*
*$" which is good for leading and trailing spaces around the
digits.
TYPE_IPV4
An Internet Protocol Version 4 address. Required parameter:
• none
The form library checks whether or not the buffer has the
form a.b.c.d, where a, b, c, and d are numbers in the range
0 to 255. Trailing blanks in the buffer are ignored. The
address itself is not validated.
This is an ncurses extension; this field type may not be
available in other curses implementations.
RETURN VALUE
The functions field_type and field_arg return NULL on error. The
function set_field_type returns one of the following:
E_OK The routine succeeded.
E_SYSTEM_ERROR
System error occurred (see errno(3)).
SEE ALSO
curses(3X), form(3X), form_fieldtype(3X), form_variables(3X).
NOTES
The header file <form.h> automatically includes the header file
<curses.h>.
PORTABILITY
These routines emulate the System V forms library. They were not
supported on Version 7 or BSD versions.
AUTHORS
Juergen Pfeifer. Manual pages and adaptation for new curses by
Eric S. Raymond.
COLOPHON
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bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org. This page was obtained from the
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