How do I prevent < > : " / \ | ? * from being in a field?

[krabine]

I have a form that a user enters part information about among other things and I use 3 of those fields combined together to be used as an automatic filename for a word document that I transfer all the info over to?



The user enters a pin number and from a table that I have it does a DLOOKUP to get the part number and enters that automatically into the part number field. I have a button that saves the record, opens a word template, transfers certain fields to the form fields in the word template and then saves it. Today I just had an issue where the file didnt save because it had a "/" in the part number. I have removed all of those from the part info table that the DLOOKUP references but I still let the user enter their own info into that field incase there are issues with the info table.


How do I prevent the user from entering those illegal characters that will eventually be in a filename?

[Mpike926]

Are part numbers strictly Numeric? If so you could change the properties of the control to general number and it would allow only numbers to be entered.

[June7]

If this is an alpha/numeric value, would have to use VBA code to validate/correct the input. This validation can be done with each keystroke or after input is completed. Otherwise, use a combobox with LimitToList set to yes.

[ItsMe]

I use a function to check for special characters.

Public Function SpecialCharacters(ByRef strCheckThis As String) As Boolean

'Use the following for your msgbox. This includes spaces for readability.
'strDontWant = "/ " & ", " & "\ " & ". " & """" & " & " & "# " & "* " & "( " & ") " & ":"
    
Dim intCount As Integer
Dim strCompare As String
Dim strDontWant As String
Dim strFront As String
Dim strBack As String

strCompare = ""
strDontWant = "/" & "," & "\" & "." & """" & "&" & "#" & "*" & "(" & ")" & ":"
SpecialCharacters = 0
For intCount = 1 To Len(strCheckThis)
strCompare = Mid(strCheckThis, intCount, 1)
    If InStr(strDontWant, strCompare) <> 0 Then
    
        strFront = Left(strCheckThis, intCount - 1)
        strBack = Mid(strCheckThis, intCount + 1, Len(strCheckThis) - intCount)
        strCheckThis = strFront & "_" & strBack
        SpecialCharacters = -1
        
    End If
Next intCount

End Function

[CJ_London]

perhaps you could use an input mask - see this link

https://support.office.com/en-gb/art...2-4a47832de8da