Form Validation

You can apply validation rules to text or calendar field types. Validation rules ensure that the information entered by site visitors meets your criteria. For example, a validation rule specifies that a response to the Telephone field is 10 digits. If the response does not conform, an error message indicates the problem. The input must conform before the form can be submitted.

For a list of validation rule types, see Validation Options.

When Validation Rules are Applied

Validation rules are applied when a site visitor submits an entire form, not when the input is entered. If an invalid response is found, the error message that you define appears.

The site visitor must change his response to conform to the validation rule. When he does, the next field is checked and, if that is invalid, its error message appears, etc.

Note: If you want to change the visual indicator that a field’s response is invalid, see the following Ektron CMS400.NET KB article: http://dev.ektron.com/kb_article.aspx?id=7070.

Note: If you apply validation rules to more than one field, include the field name in the error message. For example, enter The name field only allows text.
This is good practice because error messages only appear after a form is submitted. If the message does not identify the field, the user may not know which field needs correction.