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Jeroen W. Pluimers on .NET, C#, Delphi, databases, and personal interests

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Checking KeyPress is not the place to do your input validation

Posted by jpluimers on 2017/09/19

I have seen too many projects over the years trying to do input validation by checking KeyPress. This is not limited to Delphi projects (C#, VB and other projects suffer from this just as much). Most of these projects suffer from these::

  • Much of the KeyPress logic logic in the UI byusing half-baked copy-pasted code fragments.
  • They all fail missing important functionality (like paste, clear, Ctrl-key handling and such) either supporting or suppressing that functionality where needed

If doing Delphi, then that code should be rewritten in a generic way based on examples like like these:

–jeroen

unit ValidatableEdits;
interface
uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms, Dialogs,
StdCtrls;
type
TCharSet = Set of Char;
TBaseValidatableEdit = class(Tedit)
private
{ Private declarations }
FLastContent: String;
FLastPosition: Integer;
FAllowedChars: TCharset;
Procedure SetAllowedChars; virtual; abstract;
protected
{ Protected declarations }
Procedure SaveState;
Procedure RestoreState;
Function IsValidChar( ch: Char ): Boolean; virtual;
Function Validate: Boolean; virtual; abstract;
Procedure WndProc( Var msg: TMessage ); override;
property AllowedChars: TCharset read FAllowedChars write FAllowedChars;
property LastContent: String read FLastContent;
property LastPosition: Integer read FLastPosition;
public
{ Public declarations }
Constructor Create( aOwner: TComponent ); override;
end;
TIntegerEdit = Class( TBaseValidatableEdit )
private
Procedure SetAllowedChars; override;
function GetAllowNegative: Boolean;
procedure SetAllowNegative(const Value: Boolean);
protected
Function Validate: Boolean; override;
published
{ Published declarations }
property AllowNegative: Boolean
read GetAllowNegative write SetAllowNegative default True;
end;
TFloatEdit = Class( TIntegeredit )
private
Procedure SetAllowedChars; override;
protected
Function Validate: Boolean; override;
end;
procedure Register;
implementation
procedure Register;
begin
RegisterComponents('PBGoodies', [TIntegerEdit, TFloatEdit]);
end;
{ TBaseValidatableEdit }
constructor TBaseValidatableEdit.Create(aOwner: TComponent);
begin
inherited;
ControlStyle := Controlstyle – [csSetCaption];
SetAllowedChars;
end;
function TBaseValidatableEdit.IsValidChar(ch: Char): Boolean;
begin
Result := ch In FAllowedChars;
end;
procedure TBaseValidatableEdit.RestoreState;
begin
Text := FLastContent;
SelStart := FLastPosition;
end;
procedure TBaseValidatableEdit.SaveState;
begin
FLastContent := Text;
FLastPosition := SelStart;
end;
procedure TBaseValidatableEdit.WndProc(var msg: TMessage);
begin
Case msg.msg of
WM_CHAR: Begin
If IsValidChar( Chr( msg.wparam )) Then Begin
SaveState;
inherited;
If not Validate Then
RestoreState;
End { If }
Else
If msg.wparam < 32 Then
{ Pass on control characters or Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, Ctrl-X stop to
work }
inherited;
End; { Case WM_CHAR }
WM_PASTE: Begin
SaveState;
inherited;
If not Validate Then
RestoreState;
End; { WM_PASTE }
Else
inherited;
End; { Case }
end;
{ TIntegeredit }
function TIntegerEdit.GetAllowNegative: Boolean;
begin
Result := IsValidChar( '–' );
end;
procedure TIntegerEdit.SetAllowedChars;
begin
AllowedChars := ['0'..'9','–',#8];
end;
procedure TIntegerEdit.SetAllowNegative(const Value: Boolean);
begin
If Value Then
Include( FAllowedChars, '–' )
Else
Exclude( FAllowedChars, '–' );
end;
{$HINTS OFF}{ Hide hint for "i not used" in method below. }
function TIntegerEdit.Validate: Boolean;
var
err, i: Integer;
begin
Val( Text, i, err );
Result := (err = 0) or (GetTextLen = 0) or (Text = '–');
end;
{$HINTS ON}
{ TFloatEdit }
procedure TFloatEdit.SetAllowedChars;
begin
inherited;
AllowedChars := AllowedChars + [DecimalSeparator];
end;
function TFloatEdit.Validate: Boolean;
begin
try
StrToFloat( text );
Result := true;
except
Result := (GetTextLen = 0) or (Text = '–');
end;
end;
end.

view raw
ValidatableEdits.pas
hosted with ❤ by GitHub

{== NumberEdits =======================================================}
{: This unit implements an edit control for the input of positive
integer numbers.
@author Dr. Peter Below
@desc Version 1.0 created 15 Oktober 2001<BR>
Current revision 1.0<BR>
Last modified 15 Oktober 2001<P>
This unit started life as an example component for the Borland newsgroups. }
{======================================================================}
{$BOOLEVAL OFF}{Unit depends on shortcut boolean evaluation}
Unit NumberEdits;
Interface
Uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
Dialogs, StdCtrls;
Type
TEMreplaceSel = TWMSettext;
TFilteredEdit = Class( TEdit )
Private
Procedure WMPaste( Var msg: TMessage ); message WM_PASTE;
Procedure WMSetText( Var msg: TWMSettext ); message WM_SETTEXT;
Procedure EMReplaceSel( Var msg: TEMReplaceSel );
message EM_REPLACESEL;
Protected
Procedure KeyPress(Var Key: Char); override;
Function IsCharValid( ch: Char ): Boolean; virtual; abstract;
Function IsStringValid( Const S: String ): Boolean; virtual;
End;
TNumberedit = Class(TFilteredEdit)
Protected
Function IsCharValid( ch: Char ): Boolean; override;
End;
Procedure Register;
Implementation
Uses clipbrd;
Procedure Register;
Begin
RegisterComponents('PBGoodies', [tNumberedit]);
End;
Procedure TFilteredEdit.EMReplaceSel(Var msg: TEMReplaceSel);
Begin
If IsStringValid( msg.Text ) Then
inherited;
End;
Function TFilteredEdit.IsStringValid(Const S: String): Boolean;
Var
i: Integer;
Begin
Result := True;
For i:= 1 To Length(S) Do
If not IsCharValid(S[i]) Then Begin
Result := False;
Break;
End;
End;
Procedure TFilteredEdit.KeyPress(Var Key: Char);
Begin
If IsCharValid(Key) or (Key In [#8, ^V, ^C, ^X]) Then
// #8 = backspace, ^V = Ctrl-V, ^C = Ctrl-C, ^X = Ctrl-X
inherited
Else
Key := #0;
End;
Procedure TFilteredEdit.WMPaste(Var msg: TMessage);
Begin
If IsStringValid( Clipboard.AsText ) Then
inherited;
End;
Procedure TFilteredEdit.WMSetText(Var msg: TWMSettext);
Begin
If IsStringValid( msg.Text ) Then
inherited;
End;
Function tNumberedit.IsCharValid(ch: Char): Boolean;
Begin
result := ch In ['0'..'9'];
End;
End.

view raw
NumberEdits.pas
hosted with ❤ by GitHub

This entry was posted on 2017/09/19 at 06:00 and is filed under .NET, Delphi, Development, Software Development, Windows Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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