Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)

FreeBSD Manual Pages

  
 
  

home | help
form_field_validation(3X)	  Library calls        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, ...);

     /* 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 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.

FIELD TYPES
     The form library defines several field types.  They 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 au-
     tomatic 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 exam-
     ple, 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.

     It is possible to set up new programmer-defined field types.

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)).

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.

SEE ALSO
     curses(3X), form(3X), form_fieldtype(3X), form_variables(3X)

ncurses 6.5			   2025-08-16	       form_field_validation(3X)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=form_field_validation&sektion=3&manpath=FreeBSD+15.1-RELEASE+and+Ports.quarterly>

home | help