Field-Level Processing

Field-level processing involves the current field. Many events at higher levels affect what happens to fields, such as storing data in, or retrieving data from the database. This is normal, but you should not reverse this process in an attempt to influence higher-level processing from field level.

You can use field-level triggers to script behavior such as:

  • Temporarily converting the format of data in a field (formatToDisplay and formatFromDisplay triggers)
  • Encrypting and decrypting data when storing and retrieving data in a database (formatToDbms and formatFromDbms triggers)
  • Validating the content of modified fields (validate and validateKey triggers)
  • Responding to user requests, such as pressing a button, moving the cursor into or out of a field, starting to modify a field. In form components, such requests are often handled via structure editor functions. In dynamic server pages, they are handled by interactive triggers.

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