`validatesFormatOf()`

Description

Validates that the value of the specified property is formatted correctly by matching it against a regular expression using the regEx argument and/or against a built-in CFML validation type (creditcard, date, email etc) using the type argument.

Function Syntax

validatesFormatOf([ properties, regEx, type, message, when, allowBlank, if, unless ])

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`properties`	`string`	No		Name of property or list of property names to validate against (can also be called with the `property` argument).
`regEx`	`string`	No		Regular expression to verify against.
`type`	`string`	No		One of the following types to verify against: `creditcard`, `date`, `email`, `eurodate`, `guid`, `social_security_number`, `ssn`, `telephone`, `time`, `URL`, `USdate`, `UUID`, `zipcode` (will be passed through to CFML's `isValid` function).
`message`	`string`	No	`[property] is invalid`	Supply a custom error message here to override the built-in one.
`when`	`string`	No	`onSave`	Pass in `onCreate` or `onUpdate` to limit when this validation occurs (by default validation will occur on both create and update, i.e. `onSave`).
`allowBlank`	`boolean`	No	`false`	If set to `true`, validation will be skipped if the property value is an empty string or doesn't exist at all.
`if`	`string`	No		String expression to be evaluated that decides if validation will be run (if the expression returns `true` validation will run).
`unless`	`string`	No		String expression to be evaluated that decides if validation will be run (if the expression returns `false` validation will run).

Examples

<!--- Make sure that the user has entered a correct credit card --->
<cfset validatesFormatOf(property="cc", type="creditcard")>

<!--- Make sure that the user has entered an email address ending with the `.se` domain when the `ipCheck` methods returns `true` and it's not Sunday, also supply a custom error message that overrides the Wheels default one --->
<cfset validatesFormatOf(property="email", regEx="^.*@.*\.se$", if="ipCheck()", unless="DayOfWeek() IS 1" message="Sorry, you must have a Swedish email address to use this website")>