NAME

ckdate, errdate, helpdate, valdate - prompts for and validates a date

SYNOPSIS

ckdate [-Q] [-W width] [-f format] [-d  default]  [-h  help]
[-e error] [-p prompt]
[-k pid [-s signal]]

errdate [-W] [-e error] [-f format]
helpdate [-W] [-h help] [-f format]
valdate [-f format] input

DESCRIPTION

ckdate prompts a user and validates the response. It defines, among other things, a prompt message whose response should be a date, text for help and error messages, and a default value (which will be returned if the user responds with a carriage return). The user response must match the defined format for a date. All messages are limited in length to 70 characters and are formatted automatically. Any white space used in the definition (including newline) is stripped. The -W option cancels the automatic formatting. When a tilde is placed at the beginning or end of a message definition, the default text will be inserted at that point, allowing both custom text and the default text to be displayed. If the prompt, help or error message is not defined, the default message (as defined under NOTES) will be displayed. Three visual tool modules are linked to the ckdate command. They are errdate (which formats and displays an error message), helpdate (which formats and displays a help message), and valdate (which validates a response). These modules should be used in conjunction with FML objects. In this instance, the FML object defines the prompt. When format is defined in the errdate and helpdate modules, the messages will describe the expected format. The options and arguments for this command are:

-Q         Specifies that quit will  not  be  allowed  as  a
           valid response.
-W width   Specifies that prompt, help  and  error  messages
           will be formatted to a line length of width.
-f format  Specifies the format against which the input will
           be  verified.  Possible formats and their defini-
           tions are:
           %b  =  abbreviated month name
           %B  =  full month name
           %d  =  day of month (01 - 31)
           %D  =  date as %m/%d/%y (the default format)
           %e  =  day of month (1 - 31; single digits are preceded by a blank)
           %h  =  abbreviated month name (jan, feb, mar)
           %m  =  month number (01 - 12)
           %y  =  year within century (e.g. 89)

           %Y  =  year as CCYY (e.g. 1989)
-d default Defines the default value as default.
           The default does not have to meet the format criteria.
-h help    Defines the help messages as help.
-e error   Defines the error message as error.
-p prompt  Defines the prompt message as prompt.
-k pid     Specifies that process ID pid is to be sent a signal if the user chooses
           to abort.
-s signal  Specifies that the process ID pid defined with the -k option
           is to be sent signal signal when quit is chosen.  If no signal is
           specified, SIGTERM is used.
input      Input to be verified against format criteria.

EXIT CODES

0 = Successful execution
1 = EOF on input
2 = Usage error
3 = User termination (quit)
4 = Garbled format argument

NOTES

The default prompt for ckdate is:

    Enter the date [?,q]:
 The default error message is:

   ERROR - Please enter a date, using  the  following  format:
   <format>.
The default help message is:

Please enter a date, using the following format: <format>. When the quit option is chosen (and allowed), q is returned along with the return code 3. The valdate module will not produce any output. It returns zero for success and non-zero for failure.