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BlackBerry App World™ Development

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Developer
MauriceRice
Posts: 325
Registered: 03-17-2011
My Carrier: Telus
Accepted Solution

Invalid characters in app name

Looks like the apostrophe and some other common punctuation marks are invalid in an app's name. "What is up" does not have the same ring to it as my app's current name - "What's up".

 

I can't make any changes to the description or upload my new "featured" image until I change the name of my app. 

Here is the new error message I get when I try to do so:

 

The following characters are invalid: \/"*<>[]{}$%^=,~?|&;#

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Developer
peter9477
Posts: 3,824
Registered: 12-08-2010
My Carrier: none

Re: Invalid characters in app name

I suspect a simple bug. Notice that the list of characters given does NOT include the apostrophe?

I would certainly agree that the apostrophe should be considered valid in a name. Of the other possibilities, it would have been nice to see the ampersand (&) and colon (:smileyhappy: available as well, and possibly the comma (,).

But definitely the apostrophe should not be rejected. It's the only one that is actually part of English words themselves, and shouldn't be considered mere punctuation. Heck, I just used it twice in one sentence without even thinking about it.

Peter Hansen -- (PlayBook and dev-related blog posts at http://peterhansen.ca.)
Author of White Noise and Battery Guru | Get more from your battery! Power, voltage, life.
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Developer
MauriceRice
Posts: 325
Registered: 03-17-2011
My Carrier: Telus

Re: Invalid characters in app name

By golly, you're right. I just "thought" I saw the apostrophe in the list - my eyesight ain't what it used to be!

 

But as you point out some of these characters are relatively common in product names. I can understand restrictions in file names but this policy seems very strange to me. Is this a new thing for app names or is it brand new? Anyway, I submitted a support request - I hope this bug is resolved soon.

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Developer
MauriceRice
Posts: 325
Registered: 03-17-2011
My Carrier: Telus

Re: Invalid characters in app name

I can't make any changes to graphics, description etc. until this problem is fixed (and I certainly don't want to have to change the name!)

 

Yesterday, I used the BlackBerry App World vendor support form. to report my problem  They are usually quite respnsive but I have heard nothing.. I suppose that there may be a spike in volume of problems due to releasing the new portal.  Is there another channel for reporting my situation?

 

 

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Developer
Ebscer
Posts: 430
Registered: 08-31-2009
My Carrier: Verizon

Re: Invalid characters in app name

Just list it as "Whats up" and keep your graphics, and descriptions all as they currently are.


Read my thoughts on BlackBerry Development at news.ebscer.com
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Developer
MauriceRice
Posts: 325
Registered: 03-17-2011
My Carrier: Telus

Re: Invalid characters in app name

I had considered that but I'd rather not change the name unless RIM decides to permanently ban the apostrophe. It is definitely a bug because the apostrophe is not even included as an invalid character in the error message that pops up. Anyway Mark Sohm now is aware of the problem and with any luck the problem will be resolved soon.

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Developer
Concession
Posts: 20
Registered: 03-06-2011

Re: Invalid characters in app name

I'm having the same problem. except the character it won't let me use is a colon ":"

It's quite annoying that I can't update my app without changing its name. Colons are pretty useful for subtitles

ie:
Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
My App: This is what it does  

Modern Combat 2: Black  Pegasus HD

Samurai II: Vengence

 

Hope this bug gets fixed soon.

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Administrator
MSohm
Posts: 11,465
Registered: 07-09-2008
My Carrier: Bell

Re: Invalid characters in app name

The App World team is aware of this issue and is working on a fix. We hope to have it in place soon.
Mark Sohm
BlackBerry Development Advisor

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New Contributor
willjo
Posts: 6
Registered: 12-03-2011
My Carrier: uk

Re: Invalid characters in app name

My Product "Menu+" has the same problem, today I had been change the "Menu+" to "Menu Plus".
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Developer
Concession
Posts: 20
Registered: 03-06-2011

Re: Invalid characters in app name

Any timeline for a fix for this problem to be implemented?

In the meantime, It's kinda fun to watch apps change their names to work around it.

For example, Gameloft's "Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD" is now "Asphalt 6 Adrenaline HD"
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