Storing an input mask with symbols vs without symbols.

[Guest]

I'm new with Access and have a question that I can't seem to find an answer
to in Access help menu. Any help would be appreciated.

What are the pros/cons of storing an input mask with symbols or without
symbols?
I get to this part of the Wizard and have no idea why it matters.

Thanks,

 

[JK]

Ross,

There is no sort in mask or in the wizard, you must be referring to
something else, can you elaborate on "I get to this part of the Wizard ..."?

Regards/JK

 

[Van T. Dinh]

If I use InputMask for Text Fields, I always store the mask characters as
part of the values.

It is less confusing this way, especial if you want to search for par of the
String later ...

 

[Guest]

Hi Van
I can see what your saying there, but I guess I was just wondering if
storing say, the phone # with the mask, will take up more room in the data
base? And will it change the way it looks in reports or the way it exports
to other programs? I couldn't figure out why the Wizard is even asking the
question.

Alot of questions, I know, but am frustrated in not being able to find the
answers in my research, and I think guys like you are my only hope to solve
it.

Thanks again for any insight..
-
smither fan

 

[Guest]

Sorry JK...I meant store.
--
smither fan

Ross,

There is no sort in mask or in the wizard, you must be referring to
something else, can you elaborate on "I get to this part of the Wizard ..."?

Regards/JK

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

Yes, it will take more space: (999) 999-9999 takes 4 more characters than
9999999999, but in the overall scheme of things, that's probably not going
to make a huge difference. Even with 200,000 phone numbers, that's less than
1 Mb difference.

Yes, it will change how the fields look in report and when exported. If all
you're storing is 9999999999, then you'd need to apply a format to that to
have it look like (999) 999-9999 in a report. When exporting, you'd actually
need to use the Format function in order to get it looking how you want.

 

[Van T. Dinh]

Agree with Doug completely ...

Storing the mask characters will make it a lot easier when you use the data:
it is already of the correct format for you!

 

[Guest]

Thanks Doug. That all makes sense.
Sounds like if you're not exporting, and don't have a very complicated or
huge data base, then go ahead and store it. Otherwise, maybe creating a
format in the field Properties box is better?

Which leads to another question for you. If I don't store the mask, how
would I set up the mask in the underlying table so that my queries/reports
will format properly? I tried it, but in the phone # field of my query and
report the info came out showing (999) 000-000 plus the unformatted phone
number...Confusing to say the least. Thanks for your time and expertise.
-
smither fan

 

[Guest]

Thanks Van
You're right, it certainly appears easier to use it, then to not use it. I
think I may be required to not store the mask though, and that brought me to
another question.

Check out my response to Doug, if you would, please. I think I'm stuck on
this one right now.

Thanks for responding.

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

If you always want the number in the same format, then it just makes sense
(at least to me) to store it in that format, as opposed to having to
reformat it each time you're using it. It's a case of "format it once when
you capture it" vs. "format it every other time you use it".

Having said that, if you do want to strictly store 10 digits in a row, you
can format them as (@@@) @@@-@@@@. Using 9 or 0 is strictly for numbers:
your phone number is text.

 

[Guest]

It does make sense (not to mention much shorter work). I was just wondering
how I would accomplish my reports, if my company decided make things
complicated, depending on database bloat, or something.

Thanks again...I will take your's and Van's advice and store the mask for now.