How to Clear the Text of MaskedEdit Control w/o Clearing Mask

Last reviewed: June 21, 1995
Article ID: Q117263

The information in this article applies to:

- Professional Edition of Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows,

  version 3.0

Traditionally, to clear the text of a MaskedEdit control, you would set the control's Mask Property to an empty string, and then set its text property to an empty string:

   MaskedEdit1.Mask = ""
   MaskedEdit1.Text  = ""

Here's a better method. Modify the Mask property according to the following steps. Then assign the Mask property to the text property of the MaskedEdit control:

Replace Every occurrence of the pound sign (#) or question mark (?) in the Mask string with an underscore (_). The underscore is the default value for PromptChar.
Retain the literal characters and any spaces in the Mask string in their original positions.

For Example, if the Mask property has this value:

   (###) ###-#### Ext(#####)

and the PromptChar value is an underscore (_), use the following piece of code to clear all the text and set the focus back to the MaskedEdit control:

   MaskedEdit1.Text = "(___) ___-____ Ext(_____)"
   MaskedEdit1.SetFocus

Additional reference words: 3.00 formatted format MaskEdit Masked Edit
KBCategory: kbprg
KBSubcategory: PrgCtrlsCus

THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

Last reviewed: June 21, 1995
© 1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use.