>Hi Barbara,
>
>Thought I would jump in here and ask a question about InputMask.
>
>Do you have an opinion about whether it is better to have a phone # field just store the digits (as if the
>field type were "N", or to store the formating characters in the field with the data?
>
>I have a client that needs to store phone #s from all over the world, so I have to apply a different InputMask
>during data entry, depending on what country they're in. I have no problem with that part of it. I'm trying
>to figure out whether I should have the field C(20) have an InputMask property alone which puts the "()-" in
>the data or should I have an InputMask property along with a Format property of "R" that strips the "()-" out
>of the data before storing it.
>
>I also have the same issue with Zip/Postal Codes.
>
>Any ideas?
>
>Bill

Bill, that's not an easy one. It depends on a lot of things:

Do your users mind entering format symbols themselves?

Do you ever need to search on a phone number/postal code/... where the formatting could make a major difference?

How many different versions of each do you have? US + Canadian Postal Codes? 10 different telephone formats? etc.

What I have done for my clients with international entries is have a standard format for US/Canadian phone numbers and remove it for all other countries (a blank country code is assumed by one client to be US, by another to be non-US with appropriate formatting). The same for the postal codes, except there are 3 choices - US, Canada, no formatting.

Then I store everything unformatted, so users can index/search on that data.

However, this is only my opinion. You may get other better suggestions.

Barbara