FP98: Cannot Validate Form Field if Name Has Invalid Character

ID: Q194283

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

If the Name property of a form field contains an invalid character and you attempt to use form field validation on that field, you will the following message:

   This control's name is not a valid identifier for scripting languages.
   Consequently, any script that FrontPage generates may not work properly.
   Before specifying validation criteria, please change the control's name
   so that it starts with a letter, and subsequent characters are letters
   (A-Z and a-z), digits (0-9), or underscores ("_").

   NOTE:  The letters must be ASCII; extended characters are not allowed.

CAUSE

The scripting language used by FrontPage does not recognize spaces or extended characters (such as /, \, *, &, @, and so forth) as valid characters for a form field name. Form field validation will not work if you use any of these characters in the Name property of a form field.

RESOLUTION

To remove the invalid characters or spaces from the form field names, follow these steps:

1. Click the form field that you want to modify.

2. On the Edit menu, click Form Field Properties.

3. In the Name box, type a name that contains alphanumeric characters, such

   as A-Z, a-z, or 0-9 or the underscore character ("_"). The name must
   start with a letter.

Additional query words: 98 validate form field
Keywords          : fpedit 
Version           : WINDOWS:
Platform          : WINDOWS
Hardware          : MAC x86
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: July 1, 1999