Data validation: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:29, 10 October 2007

Revision as of 21:49, 13 October 2007

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In [[computer science]], '''data validation''' is the process of ensuring that a program operates on clean, correct and useful data. It uses routines, often called called [[validation rule]]s, that check for correctness or meaningfulness of data that are input to the system.

The simplest data validation verifies that the characters provided come from a valid set. For example, telephone numbers should include the [[numerical digit|digit]]s and possibly the characters <tt>+</tt>, <tt>-</tt>, <tt>(</tt> and <tt>)</tt> (plus, minus and the parentheses). A more sophisticated data validation routine would check to see the user has entered a valid country code; the number of digits entered matches the convention for the country or area specified, etc.

Incorrect data validation can lead to [[data corruption]] or a [[software security vulnerability|security vulnerability]]. Data validation checks that the data are valid and sensible/reasonable before they are processed.

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*'''Hash totals'''

This is just a batch total done on one or more numeric fields which appears in every record , ''e.g.'', add the Telephone Numbers together for a number of Customers.

*'''Spelling check'''

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[[Category:Computer security]]

{{Comp-sci-stub}}