Hi,
I agree that RegEx is handy, but if you can avoid plugins, it might be
worth considering.
Designing the workflow as a service-call fixes the problem with having to
write the same workflow multiple times. It is almost the same syntax as
calling a filter plugin.
In this specific instance, where you have a specific set of characters to
match, I think that it would be better to skip the RegEx-plugin.
Best Regards - Misi, RRR AB, http://rrr.se
> I wrote the regex plugin because I had a set of requirements that workflow
> could not address. We would get bad characters, and I needed to whitelist
> the characters that could be used and where in the string they could be
> used. The Java regex capabilities were a good fit. They let you look
> for occurrence counts, use anchors, etc. In my case, I needed to
> whitelist
> the characters that were allowed in the string. I could not conceive a
> way
> of doing this in workflow, short of pulling evaluating each character in
> the string individually. This was inefficient and difficult to maintain,
> so I opted for the plugin.
>
> I started finding that there were many things I could do with the regex
> capabilities that workflow is just a pain in the rear to do. For example,
> if I want to allow phone numbers on one of several formats, or I want IP
> addresses to be valid and not have leading zeroes in the octets, or I want
> a valid email address format. For example:
>
> Email
> Address:
> ^[_A-Za-z0-9-]+(\.[_A-Za-z0-9-]+)*@[A-Za-z0-9]+(\.[A-Za-z0-9]+)*(\.[A-Za-z]{2,})$
> IP
> Address:
> ^([01]?\d\d?|2[0-4]\\d|25[0-5])\.([01]?\d\d?|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])\.([01]?\d\d?|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])\.([01]?\d\d?|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])$
> Letters a to z, A to Z, 0 to 9, (comma), and (dash) are
> allowed: ^[a-zA-Z0-9-,/\\]+$
> Letters a to z, A to Z, 0 to 9, space, and - are allowed but space is not
> allowed at the beginning or end of the string: ^[^ ][a-z A-Z0-9-]+[^ ]$
>
> Just to name a few. The way I wrapped the plugin, I have a repository of
> evaluations I can perform and I can reuse those wherever they are needed,
> and I can modify the evaluation and it is instantly used in all places
> that
> need to use that evaluation. In workflow, this would be problematic to
> maintain because it would mean modifying workflow in many places to
> account
> for a single evaluation I was doing in many places. It means finding all
> the places, making sure the workflow is modified properly, and that is
> just
> time consuming and the next poor sap who comes along doesn't have much of
> a
> chance of getting it right.
>
> Along this train of thought, it would be nice if I could define the
> pattern
> in the field properties, similar to the way $MENU$ works, but instead of
> using the menu for validation, use the regex from the repository. If that
> were the case, there would be no workflow to write to validate input, just
> define and reuse the regex.
>
> Axton Grams
>
> On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 3:24 AM, Misi Mladoniczky <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> You can do this with normal filters as well, even if it will be a little
>> bit slower.
>>
>> I like the Service functionality, and would create a simple
>> Display-only-form with two fields Dirty and Clean and two filters:
>>
>> FLTR 1:
>> Run If: ('Dirty' LIKE "[A-Za-z 0-9.,\?""!#$%^&*()_=+/;:<>|}{[`~-]%" OR
>> 'Dirty' LIKE "]%")
>> Set-Fields: Clean = $Clean$ + LEFTC($Dirty$, 1)
>>
>> FLTR 2:
>> Run If: ('Dirty' LIKE "_%")
>> Set-Fields: Dirty = SUBSTRC($Dirty$, 1)
>> Goto: 1
>>
>> Just call your Service with Dirty as input and Clean as output.
>>
>> Best Regards - Misi, RRR AB, http://www.rrr.se (ARSList MVP 2011)
>>
>> Products from RRR Scandinavia (Best R.O.I. Award at WWRUG10/11):
>> * RRR|License - Not enough Remedy licenses? Save money by optimizing.
>> * RRR|Log - Performance issues or elusive bugs? Analyze your Remedy
>> logs.
>> Find these products, and many free tools and utilities, at
>> http://rrr.se.
>>
>> > Thank you Axton! We'll give it a go.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
>> > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Axton
>> > Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 4:01 PM
>> > To: [email protected]
>> > Subject: Re: Cleaning Special Characters from a Character Field
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > ** Here is a very simple Java plugin to get you started (38 lines of
>> > code).
>> > The plugin accepts 2 parameters; a regex and a value, and returns
>> > true/false
>> > on whether the string conforms to the regex. You can extend or modify
>> > this
>> > to perform a conversion instead of doing a comparison.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > import java.util.ArrayList;
>> >
>> > import java.util.List;
>> >
>> > import java.util.regex.Matcher;
>> >
>> > import java.util.regex.Pattern;
>> >
>> > import java.util.regex.PatternSyntaxException;
>> >
>> > import com.bmc.arsys.api.ARException;
>> >
>> > import com.bmc.arsys.api.Value;
>> >
>> > import com.bmc.arsys.pluginsvr.plugins.ARFilterAPIPlugin;
>> >
>> > import com.bmc.arsys.pluginsvr.plugins.ARPluginContext;
>> >
>> > public class Regex extends ARFilterAPIPlugin {
>> >
>> > /**
>> >
>> > * @param context ARPluginContext provided by the plugin
>> > server.
>> >
>> > * @param arg1 Input parameters:
>> >
>> > * 1 - Regular Expression
>> > conforming to java.util.regex
>> >
>> > * 2 - String to evaluate
>> >
>> > * @return Boolean, does the string conform to the regular
>> > expression
>> >
>> > * 0 - False
>> >
>> > * 1 - True
>> >
>> > * @see java.util.regex.Pattern
>> >
>> > * @exception ARException handled by plugin server
>> >
>> > * @since 1.0
>> >
>> > */
>> >
>> > public List<Value> filterAPICall(ARPluginContext context,
>> > List<Value> arg1)
>> >
>> > throws ARException {
>> >
>> > // Create List of Values to hold response
>> >
>> > List<Value> results = new ArrayList<Value>();
>> >
>> > context.logMessage(context.getPluginInfo(),
>> > com.bmc.arsys.pluginsvr.plugins.ARPluginContext.PLUGIN_LOG_LEVEL_INFO,
>> > "Regex Plugin Called with parameters:" + arg1.get(0).getValue());
>> >
>> > context.logMessage(context.getPluginInfo(),
>> > com.bmc.arsys.pluginsvr.plugins.ARPluginContext.PLUGIN_LOG_LEVEL_INFO,
>> "
>> > Pattern: " + arg1.get(0).getValue());
>> >
>> > context.logMessage(context.getPluginInfo(),
>> > com.bmc.arsys.pluginsvr.plugins.ARPluginContext.PLUGIN_LOG_LEVEL_INFO,
>> "
>> > Value: " + arg1.get(1).getValue());
>> >
>> > // set up the pattern
>> >
>> > Pattern pattern = null;
>> >
>> > try {
>> >
>> > pattern =
>> > Pattern.compile(arg1.get(0).getValue().toString());
>> >
>> > } catch (PatternSyntaxException e) {
>> >
>> >
>> > context.logMessage(context.getPluginInfo(),
>> > com.bmc.arsys.pluginsvr.plugins.ARPluginContext.PLUGIN_LOG_LEVEL_INFO,
>> > "PatternSyntaxException at " + e.getIndex());
>> >
>> >
>> > context.logMessage(context.getPluginInfo(),
>> > com.bmc.arsys.pluginsvr.plugins.ARPluginContext.PLUGIN_LOG_LEVEL_INFO,
>> > "Pattern: " + e.getPattern());
>> >
>> >
>> > context.logMessage(context.getPluginInfo(),
>> > com.bmc.arsys.pluginsvr.plugins.ARPluginContext.PLUGIN_LOG_LEVEL_INFO,
>> > "Description: " + e.getDescription());
>> >
>> >
>> > context.logMessage(context.getPluginInfo(),
>> > com.bmc.arsys.pluginsvr.plugins.ARPluginContext.PLUGIN_LOG_LEVEL_INFO,
>> > "Message: " + e.getMessage());
>> >
>> > throw e;
>> >
>> > }
>> >
>> > // set up the value
>> >
>> > Matcher value =
>> > pattern.matcher(arg1.get(1).getValue().toString());
>> >
>> > // test the value against the pattern and get
>> the
>> > result
>> >
>> > boolean b = value.matches();
>> >
>> > int result = 0;
>> >
>> > if (b == false)
>> >
>> > result = 0;
>> >
>> > if (b == true)
>> >
>> > result = 1;
>> >
>> > context.logMessage(context.getPluginInfo(),
>> > com.bmc.arsys.pluginsvr.plugins.ARPluginContext.PLUGIN_LOG_LEVEL_INFO,
>> "
>> > Result: " + result);
>> >
>> > results.add(new Value(result));
>> >
>> > return results;
>> >
>> > }
>> >
>> > }
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Wed, May 16, 2012 at 2:10 PM, Jeff Lockemy (QMX Support Services)
>> > <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >
>> > **
>> >
>> > Thanks for the input guys.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > In reference to Axton's suggestion - I'm certainly not a Java guy, but
>> > might
>> > be able to find some internal resources to tap into on that front. In
>> the
>> > meantime, Jason's suggestion of a VB or batch file script might be
>> good
>> > quick and dirty solution to buy us more time to implement something
>> more
>> > elegant. Thanks again!
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Cheers,
>> >
>> > Jeff
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
>> > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jason Miller
>> > Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:58 PM
>> > To: [email protected]
>> > Subject: Re: Cleaning Special Characters from a Character Field
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > ** I agree. I haven't had a chance to write a plugin yet but we have
>> a
>> > few
>> > cases where we built DB functions or server side scripts (.vbs, .bat)
>> that
>> > we call from a Filter using Direct SQL or Run Process. It isn't as
>> > elegant
>> > as what Axton describes but is more or less the same concept; off load
>> the
>> > works to an external process on the server to do the work and give the
>> > result back to Remedy.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Jason
>> >
>> > On Wed, May 16, 2012 at 11:41 AM, Axton <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >
>> > ** I would not use client side technologies for data validation or
>> > sanitization; at some point someone or something will bypass it (api,
>> web
>> > service, import, workflow, etc.). I wrote a Java plugin that uses the
>> > java
>> > regex capabilities to do something similar. It relatively simple to
>> write
>> > and you can pass the regex parameters to the plugin; just figure out
>> what
>> > you want to give to the plugin and what you want to get back, then
>> fill
>> in
>> > the blanks with the Java.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/essential/regex/
>> >
>> > http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/util/regex/Pattern.html
>> >
>> > http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/util/regex/Matcher.html
>> >
>> > The following classes should have all you need:
>> >
>> > java.util.regex.Pattern
>> >
>> > java.util.regex.Matcher
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Axton Grams
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Wed, May 16, 2012 at 11:49 AM, Jeff Lockemy (QMX Support Services)
>> > <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >
>> > **
>> >
>> > Good Day Listers,
>> >
>> > I've been going round and round on this and I hope that someone has
>> some
>> > suggestions.
>> >
>> > I need to strip out special/non-standard characters in a character
>> field
>> > before passing it to a web service. I was thinking that running some
>> > JavaScript when the user submits the contents via the Mid-Tier might
>> be a
>> > decent approach. Not really knowing JavaScript, I dug around and
>> found a
>> > "removeSpecialChars" function on the web that I was trying to adapt,
>> but
>> I
>> > haven't had much luck.
>> >
>> > Based on examples that I found on the ARSList and BMC Community, I put
>> the
>> > function in the Web Footer Content of the form:
>> >
>> > <html>
>> >
>> > <script>
>> >
>> > function removeSpecialChars(strVal)
>> >
>> > {
>> >
>> > strVal = strVal.replace(/[^A-Za-z 0-9
>> > \.,\?""!#\$%\^&\*\(\)-_=\+;:<>\/\\\|\}\{\[\]`~]*/g, '') ;
>> >
>> > }
>> >
>> > </script>
>> >
>> > <body>
>> >
>> > </body>
>> >
>> > </html>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Then I tried several different Active Link Run Process commands to run
>> the
>> > function on submit or modify:
>> >
>> > javascript:window.F(536870913).S(removeSpecialChars($Character
>> Field$));
>> >
>> > javascript:window.F(536870913).S(new CharType(removeSpecialChars
>> > ("arid536870913").value));
>> >
>> > However, when I submit or modify the field contents, I always get the
>> > following error:
>> >
>> > Caught exception: Object doesn't support property or method
>> 'hasMessages'
>> >
>> > Now I'm wondering if JavaScript is really the best way to approach
>> this.
>> > If
>> > JavaScript is a good approach, then can anyone see what I am doing
>> wrong
>> > here? If it isn't, any suggestions of a better way?
>> >
>> > Thanks in advance.
>> >
>> > Respectfully,
>> >
>> > Jeff
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > _attend WWRUG12 www.wwrug.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"_
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > _attend WWRUG12 www.wwrug.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"_
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > _attend WWRUG12 www.wwrug.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"_
>> >
>> > _attend WWRUG12 www.wwrug.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"_
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > _attend WWRUG12 www.wwrug.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"_
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> _______________________________________________________________________________
>> > UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org
>> > attend wwrug12 www.wwrug12.com ARSList: "Where the Answers Are"
>> >
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________________________________________
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>
> _______________________________________________________________________________
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