Do not rely on the size of a field to limit input

When creating a form for use in Webform Server, you cannot limit the amount of text the user can enter by setting the size of the field.

In some cases, form designers may rely on the size of a field to limit the amount of text the user can enter. For example, a multi-line field with a scrollhoriz of wordwrap and a scrollvert of fixed normally prevents the user from typing beyond the visible limit of the field.

However, Webform Server cannot restrict input in this manner. Instead, the following rules apply:

• Single-Line Fields — You can use the format option to limit the amount of text the user can type.
• Multi-Line Fields — There is no way to limit the amount of text the user can type.

Example

The following field uses the length setting in the format option to limit text to 100 characters. Note that this assumes a single-line field.

<field sid="Description"
   <value</value
   <format
      <datatypestring</datatype
      <constraints
         <mandatoryoptional</mandatory
         <length
            <min0</min
            <max100</max
         </length
      <constraints
   </format
</field

Exceptions to this practice

There are no exceptions to this practice.

Back to: General best practices