Data update validation

[Lars Bencze]

NOTE TO ALL READERS: This article is NOT orthodox usage of OnDemand. Be warned.

Hey, we have an unfortunate situation where some documents residing in CMOD needs to have their metadata corrected. This is done (by a few privileged users) using the built-in "Update Fields..." functionality in the OnDemand Client.

This of course has multiple impact, one being the discrepancy incurred between CMOD-stored metadata and DB-stored metadata.
The one I wish to ask about however is the risk of PEBKAC ("Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair" ;) ) i.e. "human error" during data entry.

Has anyone implemented a well-functioning solution to validate the new data entered by these individuals? Like with a simple data mask, length check etc.

We currently do not have IBM Content Navigator in place, and I am reluctant to suggest a web service using the ODWEK Java API for handling this instead, due to that the size of such a project might be tough to squeeze in before the end of this year.
All suggestions welcome!

PS: Oh, by the way, we are NOT looking for a DDE/OLE solution.

[Justin Derrick]

Hi Lars.  :)

The only thing you can really do in this situation is rely on CMOD to send back an error message when you submit bad data (too long, wrong data type, etc.).  In terms of writing something to do data verification, you could do something basic at the server command line, but that probably involves almost as much effort as writing something with the ODWEK Java API.

-JD.

[Lars Bencze]

Yeah, I figured. But sometimes some of you wizards out there have something up your sleeve that I haven't thought of yet, so I thought "well, no harm in asking". :)
Thanks JD!