Error with field formatter on new record creation

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1

On v7.12.0.6, I have recently noticed a strange error. I think it may have something to do with the Schema Config bug in 7.12.0 and subsequent SQL fix written by @jason_m for us, but I’m not sure.

When we attempt to create a CE record manually from the CE form, upon trying to save a record, we get this error:
"exception": "FormatMismatch", "message": "value '\[0-9\\\\\\\\-\]{3}.:####' doesn't match formatter /^\[0-9\\\\-\]{3}.$/:####"
Specify 7 Crash Report - 2026-06-26T14_05_26.763Z.txt (693.4 KB)

The field formatter Regex is the same as it’s always been, I have not edited it recently (at least, not wittingly). I do notice that the field formatter menu in schema config has two fields now (I don’t recall it having 2 before). That blank field for “value” is empty in our field formatter records, but they cannot be saved/updated because it is a required field.

Screenshot 2026-06-26 at 10.12.03 AM
Screenshot 2026-06-26 at 10.12.03 AM1048×1328 142 KB

UIFormatters.xml (8.0 KB)

It took us a while to notice this because we only create CE records using the full field formatter when we make new collections in the field, and I usually pre-assign numbers for my own collecting.

Any ideas? I’ve been messing around with it for a few minutes and haven’t been able to get it working.

2

Hey Nate,

This looks like Data in fields with Regex formats changes appearance in 7.12+ · Issue #8129 · specify/specify7 · GitHub, which will be fixed in v7.12.0.7 by PR #8152.

The error message

"value '[0-9\\\\\\\\-]{3}.:####' doesn't match formatter /^[0-9\\\\-]{3}.$/:####\"

indicates that there are ^ and $ characters in the format that aren’t in the field’s value.

When I add the same format to a local database on v7.12.0.6, the XML editor reveals that those characters are included in the format although not shown in the visual editor.

Field Format in XML Editor
Field Format in XML Editor966×250 41.4 KB

To work around this, you can correct the format definition with the XML editor. The format will be enforced as expected so long as you can avoid the visual editor. See Field Formatting and Auto-Numbering: Example #3 and Regular Expression Formatter Setup: Example Implementation 2 for guidance on what the value and pattern attributes expect.

If you’re interested, there is a branch of v7.12.0.6 with just the fix in PR #8152 added that we can direct you to.

3

Ah, I didn’t realize it had been written up! Editing the XML solved this. Thanks!