Fix the checking of flags values in the settings tab

Changes:
- Accept setting an empty flags-type value in the settings tab
  if the variable specification permits it
- Don't accept substrings of flag values
  E.g. with values: 'one,two,three', 'hree', 'w', etc. used to
  be accepted. Not any more
- Don't accept flags with random pattern-matching special characters
  E.g. with values: 'one,two,three', 'on.', '(o)[n]e*' etc. used
  to be accepted. Not any more.