A telephone number field is like a single-line-text field except it limits the characters entered to numeric digits, and it formats the value as a social security number. An example of a valid telephone number would be (800)-555-2345.
Entry:
To enter a value, select the entire value, then start entering the characters from left to right. Note that only numeric characters will be accepted. As you enter the characters from left to right you will notice that after the third character the program automatically inserts a parenthesis and a dash and moves the cursor to the right of it.
Note that when a field is first activated the entire value will be selected by default. So usually you will not need to select the entire value before entering the new value.
The entire value is selected if all of its characters are highlighted in blue. To select the value when it is not currently highlighted just double click inside the field. You can also select the value using the keyboard by first pressing the Home key, then pressing the Shift + End key combination.
To replace the current value first select the entire value, then enter the new value as instructed above.
To change only a single character in the value, position the cursor to the left of that character, then enter the new character over it. The cursor can be positioned using either the arrow keys or a mouse click.
To empty the value, select the entire value, then press the Backspace key or the Delete key.
To restore the original value use Undo command on the Edit menu, or by pressing the Ctrl+Z key combination. This undo will revert back to the original value. Use undo again to restore the new value.
If this field is calculated then you will not be able to edit it directly. A calculated field has a different color than an entry field. When active a calculated field is gray and does not accept entries, while an editable field is white and does accept entries. For more information on editing calculated fields click here.
Note: If more text is entered than will fit in the field it may run off into other fields.
Navigation:
To move to the next field on this page press either the Tab or the Enter key. For more on navigating the fields of a page click here.
Available operations:
If the Drill Down button is enabled for this field then pressing this button will take you to the field from which the active field’s value is calculated. For more information on the drill down operation click here.
If the Drill Up button is enabled for this field then pressing this button will take you to the summary field where this field’s value is carried. For more information on the drill up operation click here.
It is rare that a telephone number field will have field worksheets available to define its value. But if the Add Field Worksheet button is enabled then this field has worksheets that can be attached to build its value. And if field worksheets are available for the active field, they will also be shown in the Attachments List part of the Table of Contents pane.
If a worksheet is already attached for this field then pressing the Add Field Worksheet button will inform you of this and will ask if you want to open that worksheet, and pressing the Drill Down button will take you directly to this worksheet.
Grid row operations:
If this field is in a grid row, then the row operation buttons will be enabled on the Field Actions toolbar shown along the right of the screen. These buttons provide quick access to all grid row operations such as:
For more information on working with grids click here.
Field Formatting:
A telephone number field also has all of the appearance options of a single-line-text field. You can specify its font and underline or bold it. You can change the horizontal and vertical alignment of the text within the field, and more. For more information click here.
Other:
This topic is shown when the More button is pressed on the Brief Help pane. It is also shown when a field on the page is clicked with the Help Cursor.
If the Brief Help pane is not showing then you should open and review its text for two reasons. 1) There may be custom instructions for this field that are shown only in the Brief Help pane. 2) The Brief Help pane will show text that describes the state of the active field, while the help system can not detect a field’s state.