RE: Finding non-alphanumeric characters using SQL

I'm not sure about data validation on 5250 display... does it have a concept
of a "mask"?

As for database integrity, there is no substitute for check constraints. If
you had them on, you would never have to worry about ANY method putting
"bad" data in (5250 or otherwise).

Using RPG built-in for input data validation will probably perform better
than embedded SQL call to a TRANSLATE function.

HTH, Elvis

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-----Original Message-----
Subject: RE: Finding non-alphanumeric characters using SQL

That is a really cool idea! My question may need to go to the RPG list, as
that would be my preferred language, but I have a similar problem to solve.
The difference is that mine is a text entry field, so all normal characters
including punctuation are valid. I could just build up a list of valid
characters and use the technique, but I wonder if there is a "better" way.
I need to validate at input time as well as clean up the database (maybe - I
might have fixed them all). The problem I have is people paste from email
and have characters that are not valid on a 5250 display. I'm not sure why
it allows them to be entered, but it does. Any suggestion as to whether the
below approach is better or if there is an easy way to check for characters
outside the "normal" range?
--
Sean Porterfield