Lesson 13. Validating Data

Many applications collect information from users phone numbers, email addresses, and so on for later use, or to send to a database where the data can be stored and retrieved as needed. However, if an application trusted users to enter properly formatted, error-free information, the application probably wouldn't function properly or your database would quickly fill with useless data. The fact is, users often enter data incorrectly, which is why it's a good idea to validate data before it's used or processed. Validating data usually entails writing a script to check the way data was entered against a set of guidelines or rules. If data-entry errors are found, the user can be prompted to reenter the data; or in some cases, the script can make the needed adjustments without further input from the user.

Our fictional product contains a product registration form that allows us to collect data from the user, validate it, and display any errors found.

In this lesson, we'll create an application that includes a form requiring user-input data that needs to be validated. After our application validates this information, the app will display a custom confirmation page and then send the data to a server for processing.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

In this lesson, you will:

• Learn why validation is important

• Define validation requirements

• Set up a mechanism to handle errors found in the validation process

• Create functions for validating strings, sequences, and numbers

• Send data from a validated form to a server for processing

APPROXIMATE TIME

This lesson takes approximately one and one half hours to complete.

LESSON FILES

Starting File:

Lesson13/Assets/validate1.fla

Completed Project:

validate7.fla