Introduction

This knowledge article describes the additional front-end validation requirements applied to inbound transaction data submitted to the production environment. These validations help ensure data quality and prevent the transmission of sensitive or improperly formatted information.

Overview

As of late January 2013, additional front-end validation was introduced for specific API fields. Beginning January 2013, all values submitted to the production environment—regardless of connection method—must pass the validation rules outlined below.

Customer Name, Suffix, Title, and Ship-To Name

1. May start with a letter, number, or question mark (?).
2. Subsequent characters may include any of the following:

• Letters
• Numbers
• Question mark (?)
• Dash (-)
• Single quote (')
• Period (.)
• Comma (,)
• Forward slash (/)
• At sign (@)
• Ampersand (&)
• Parentheses ( or )
• Exclamation point (!)
• Plus sign (+)
• Colon (:) (applicable to Ship-To Name only)

Customer Email

1. Must be a valid email address format (for example, <string>@<string>.<string>) and must adhere to the standard format recommendations in RFC 5322.
2. Phone numbers or Social Security numbers will be blocked.

Company Name and Ship-To Company Name

1. May start with a letter, number, or question mark (?).
2. Subsequent characters may include any of the following:

• Letters
• Numbers
• Apostrophe (')
• Period (.)
• Comma (,)
• Forward slash (/)
• Ampersand (&)
• At sign (@)
• Question mark (?)
• Parentheses ( )
• Dash (-)
• Pound sign (#)
• Exclamation point (!)
• Plus sign (+)

Customer Phone Number

1. Must be a valid phone number format.
2. May contain any of the following characters:

• Numbers
• Letters
• Dash (-)
• Parentheses ( )
• Plus sign (+)
• Comma (,)
• Asterisk (*)
• Period (.)
• Pound sign (#)
• Forward slash (/)

The phone number must contain a minimum of 6 digits and a maximum of 32 digits. Non-digit characters are not counted.

• Passes minimum digit validation:
  • 1-800-709-ABCD is evaluated as 1800709
• Fails minimum digit validation:
  • 1-800-8AB-LISE is evaluated as 18008
  • 418-GO4-LISE is evaluated as 4184
  • 1-800-LISE is evaluated as 1800

Merchant Reference Number, Order Number, Customer Email, and Comments

• Phone numbers and Social Security numbers will be blocked.

Company Name, Ship-To Company Name, Customer Account ID, and Subscription Title

• Phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and email addresses will be blocked.