>I don't know, I'd set a MaxLength that matched the field's length, and there's no need for an Inputmask and Format, since "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" is perfectly permissable and does the job. If it's unbound, I'd initialize it to =SPACE(15). It works fine for me. If the entered value is in the table, INDEXSEEK() returns .T., and if not, .F. - I did make sure to SET EXACT ON for the data session, since SET EXACT is scoped to the datasession.
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>If this is being used for an identity, then (IMO) it shouldn't be permitted as an editable item for an existing record; it'd be found if it didn't change or if it matched some other record's value for the field. Reality, I think you need to rework the logic for this fundamentally, since it's clearly not going to do what you want in an edit mode IAC; INDEXSEEK() finds the original value jsut like it finds the valuye of another key, and it doesn't tell you if the record pointer had to change to get there.

Ed,
Hope you caught my reply about FILTER doing me in. I do agree about making this uneditable for an existing record, and will change it accordingly. Are you saying I only need "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" in the Format property? And blow away the Input Mask? I still need to allow anything, including 0-9, - , *, etc. This input and display formatting has always been a confusing issue for me since the 2.X days. The Help and the Hacker's Guide aren't very informative either. I seem to get a solution that works only through a lot of trial and error. Thanks again.

Jim