Limiting Text to a Text Dlist Item

[Danno]

I got a request to add a text item to a dlist and to restrict it to a maximum of 200 characters. I am not sure that this is even possible as I thought it you were stuck with the defaults when using a text formatted dlist item.

I should add this is for Contributor and I am using version 10.1.

Can it be done?

[ericlfg]

Hey Danno,

I'm not aware of any way to restrict the input length...  if you find a way, definitely post it up :)

[Danno]

Hi Eric,

That is pretty much the answer I was expecting  :D

Cheers!

[lav4you]

Hi Danno,

As per IBM Cognos Documents following limits apply for text fields

Limits For Text Formatted Cells

The data entry limit for text formatted cells for IBM® Cognos® Planning Analyst, IBM Cognos Planning Contributor, and the IBM Cognos Planning Analyst Add-in for Microsoft® Excel is 32K (32,767 characters). Note however that in some cases, further limits are imposed by the datastore provider.

For IBM Cognos Planning Contributor Add-in for Microsoft Excel, the maximum number of characters is 911. Special characters, such as Returns and Tabs, are not supported. If you need to copy and paste multiple paragraphs of text into a cell from another document, ensure that you remove the returns after each paragraph before you copy and paste text into a cell. Otherwise, Contributor Add-in for Microsoft Excel will truncate the incoming text after the first paragraph.

For annotations, the maximum number of characters is 3844 characters. For attached documents, the maximum number of characters in the comments section is 50 characters.

View Publish

SQL Server = unlimited
UDB = unlimited
Note that the publish views cast down to a varchar: SQL = 8000, UDB = 1500 (that is you only see 8000 characters in the SQL view)
Oracle = 4000 characters

Table-only Publish

Table-only publish varies by format
Text fields (epReportingText)
SQL Server = 8000
UDB = unlimited
Oracle = 4000

Regards,
Jitesh

[Danno]

Thanks Jitesh, that wasn't what I was asking. I was wanting to know if there is a way to limit the amount of text a user can enter into a text field and the answer is no  :)

[pricter]

Have you tried a validation?

A good example of how to create one (not exactly your case) but I think it would a good startup point I found
it on
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/data/library/cognos/modeling/design/page527.html

[lav4you]

Hi Danno,

I misunderstood your qustion ;D
No, There is no limit for user text input.
As Pricter suggested you can introduce validation. but so far what I understand thats not ur requirement.

[Danno]

I have looked at validation. It is great for limiting a range of numbers or setting caps on values but from what I can tell it doesn't allow you to determine the length of some text and set a limit. That was actually the first thing I looked at. Thanks though :)

[pricter]

I do not have planning infront of me so I do not know if this works
And a D-List item that produce 1 or 0 based on the length of the text item.
And then create a validation based on the new data item.
Its just a idea.

[Danno]

I will try that. Thanks Pricter