Android c2dm registration id format

Question

I suspect I am going to feel really stupid after posting this but here goes. I have two main questions:

1) What is an appropriate regex to use for the registration id? Currently I have the following but I have not been able to find any docs to support whether this is sufficient:

'/^[a-z0-9_-]{40,255}$/i'

2) Is it "valid" for a regID to contain "--"? I know that android can't go worrying about what every language - in this case mysql - uses for comments, etc. but this caught me a little off guard. Up to this point I had always flagged that in my sanitizer(s) because of the possibility of being used for sql injection.

Wyandotte

Like Seva Alekseyev says, the format of the C2DM registration ID can change at any time, so using a regex for this would not necessarily be the best solution. If your only worry is storing in MySQL, there's no need to do this validation. Instead consider mysqli_prepare() or mysqli_real_escape_string() for your MySQL statements to avoid SQL injection. Personally I prefer mysqli_prepare() over mysqli_real_escape_string(). – Pernod

I think you got the best possible answer you need to accept it – Rossini

@dilip - Sorry, I have been away. Accepted – Wyandotte

Answer 1

The format of the registration ID is an implementation detail. Google might change it anytime without any notice. Why do you want to validate it? If storing in MySQL is a concern, use mysql_real_escape_string() just in case, or mysqli::real_escape_string() with mysqli on PHP, or parameters.

It's like people's names. You might think it's all alphabetic, then O'Neil comes along. Escape it just in case.

Boarder

Exactly. Escape the inputs properly and there is no SQL injection to worry about. – Syllabify