Managing Validators

Validators can be applied to individual form fields on your pages to help ensure your supporters supply responses that conform to your data requirements.

The error alert specified in the validator will be displayed automatically if the supporter enters a value that doesn’t match the validator and then submits the page.

Types of validators

Engaging Networks has eleven default validators available plus one custom that you can create:

Type	Description
Required	Use on mandatory form fields and if left blank, it will display your message.
Alphanumeric	You can request that the data entered is letters and numbers only.
Required Alphanumeric	You can request that the data entered is letters and numbers only that is mandatory.
Restricted Alphanumeric (25 characters)	Does not allow the characters `@/\.:` to be submitted in a field. It also restricts to a maximum of 25 characters. This is useful if you are finding you are receiving spam URL-type submissions into the First Name and Last Name
Numeric	You can request that the data entered is numbers only.
Required Numeric	You can request that the data entered is numbers only that is mandatory.
Date	You can request that a value entered in a date field is in a specific date format. You can choose one of the following formats: mm/dd/yy mm/dd/yyyy dd/mm/yy dd/mm/yyyy dd/mm mm/yy mm/yyyy NOTE: The tagged field “SUPPORTER BIRTHDAY” has to be formatted as YYYY-MM-DD and should not use this validator.
Required Date	You can request that a value entered in a date field is in a specific date format that is mandatory.
Email	You can validate if the value entered in the email address field is a valid email format.
Required phone number	The field should include the “+” country code at the start, for example +44123456789. This format is required for click to call pages and for SMS.
Custom	You can create a tailored validator using regular expressions (regex) such as: ^(\d{5}-\d{4})\|(\d{5})$ – validates that 5 numbers are entered or 5 numbers, a dash and 4 numbers (ie. zip code validator) (blue\|orange\|red) – validates that either blue or orange or red is inputted More examples below and at this link.
Donation Amount	You can set a minimum and maximum donation amount allowed on the form. Enter the min~max (5~1000) separated by a ~ symbol. If a decimal is included in the value range, it will also be allowed in the field (5.01~1000.99)
ISO Date	You can validate that the date entered is in the ISO (international) date format YYYY-MM-DD.

NOTE: Each validator will have an error alert for each locale enabled in your account.

Creating validators

To create a new validator, go to Pages > Alerts & Validators

Click on the new validator button and select the validator type.

Enter a name for your validator as well as the error message the supporter will receive if the validator is triggered.

Managing Validators

To edit an existing validator, click on the edit icon.

To delete an existing validator, click on the delete icon.

Custom Validators

Some examples below and at Github

Type	Expression
Account number (8 digits)	`^\d{8}$`
Credit card number (16 digits)	`^\d{16}$`
CVV number (3 or 4 digits)
First name longer than 1 character
Sort code (6 digits no hyphens)
UK postcode	^$\|([Gg][Ii][Rr] 0[Aa]{2})\|((([A-Za-z][0-9]{1,2})\|(([A-Za-z][A-Ha-hJ-Yj-y][0-9]{1,2})\|(([A-Za-z][0-9][A-Za-z])\|([A-Za-z][A-Ha-hJ-Yj-y][0-9]?[A-Za-z]))))\s?[0-9][A-Za-z]{2})
Republic of Ireland postcode	((?:^[AC-FHKNPRTV-Y][0-9]{2}\|D6W)[ -]?[0-9AC-FHKNPRTV-Y]{4}$)\|(^$\|([Gg][Ii][Rr] 0[Aa]{2}))