In conjunction with formats, OpenROAD provides input masking. Input masking helps to ensure that end users always enter a valid character in a field that has a format specified. If the end user enters a character that is invalid for the field's format, the machine beeps and the end user cannot leave the position or field until a correct entry is made.

For numeric and date fields, the validity of the end user's entry is checked when the end user attempts to leave the field. If the field has input masking enabled (turned on), then the validity is checked as the data is entered. Inappropriate keystrokes cause the machine to beep, and the incorrect values are not accepted. Similarly, input masking can also be enabled for varchar fields when using data format templates.

Input masking is an optional feature for numeric, date, and varchar entry fields. That is, you can specify a format template for a numeric, date, or varchar field without enabling the input masking feature.