Using Regular Expressions in Dynamics AX

Development, Dynamics AX, Dynamics AX 2009

When working with strings, ex. replacing text, validating content or simply checking for existence, It can sometimes be a good idea to consider using Regular Expressions (RegExp), insted of using ordinary string manipulation methods.

X++ itself does not seem to support Regular Expressions, but we can use the .NET functionality.

Below is an example method of how to validate that an email address is written in a proper format.

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Static Server boolean validateEmail(EMail   _eMail)
{
    Str MatchEmailPattern =
    @"^[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,4}$";
    System.Text.RegularExpressions.Match myMatch;
    ;
 
    myMatch = System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex::Match(
    _eMail, MatchEmailPattern);
    return(myMatch.get_Success());
}

It simply returns true if the input is a properly formatted email.

To replace text in a string you could do something like this:

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static void Job1(Args _args)
{
    Str EmailPattern =
    @"\b[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,4}\b";
    Str ReplacedText;
    ;
 
    ReplacedText =
    System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex::Replace(
    "My email address is: example@haxx.net",
    MatchEmailPattern,"blabla@haxx.net");
 
    print ReplacedText;
    pause;
 
}

This will replace ALL found email addresses.

Below is an example of how to “find” all matches.

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static void Job6(Args _args)
{
    Str MatchEmailPattern =
    @"\b[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,4}\b";
    System.Text.RegularExpressions.Match myMatch;
    ;
 
    myMatch = System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex::Match(
    "Your email: youremail@host.net, and my"
    +"email: myemail@anotherhost.com", MatchEmailPattern);
 
    while (myMatch.get_Success())
    {
        print myMatch.get_Value();
        myMatch = myMatch.NextMatch();
    }
 
    pause;
}

Notice the difference between the RegExp pattern in this example and the first example.

The first pattern checks if the input is valid.

And this pattern checks for ALL valid matches.

For more information about regular expressions visit:
www.regular-expressions.info

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6 thoughts on “Using Regular Expressions in Dynamics AX”

  4. Could run server side Ax2009 to be assured .NET framework is there
    e.g. class1 with validateEMail and main method for test

    static server boolean validateEmail(EMail _eMail)
    {
    Str MatchEmailPattern = @”^[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,4}$”;
    System.Text.RegularExpressions.Match myMatch;
    boolean ret;
    ;
    // InteropPermission to execute COM/DLL object server side
    // Design priciple to have inside outermost exception handling structure try-catch-ttsscope to control state
    // new InteropPermission(InteropKind::ComInterop).assert();
    new InteropPermission(InteropKind::ClrInterop).assert();

    try
    {
    myMatch = System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex::Match(_eMail, MatchEmailPattern);
    ret = myMatch.get_Success();

    }
    catch (Exception::Error)
    {

    }

    // Design priciple to have inside outermost exception handling structure try-catch-ttsscope to control state
    CodeAccessPermission::revertAssert();

    return ret;
    }

    public static void main(Args args)
    {;
    Info(strFmt(“%1”, class1::validateEmail(“nn@dr.dk”)));
    Info(strFmt(“%1”, class1::validateEmail(“nn@@dr.dk”)));
    }

    Reply

  5. match() function still works in AX 2009.

    first I tried proper RegExp with it, but it was complaining. than I came across this webpage and understood that it has its own crippled RegExp-like syntax. But for simple things it’s good enough.

    Thanks.

    Reply

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