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GROUPING NAMES TOGETHER

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    GROUPING NAMES TOGETHER

    Ladies or Gentlemen:

    I have a series of names I am working with in Alpha 5v5. I have accomplished grouping all the people who live together at the same address. Their names appear in a vertical line. One name listed at a time. How can I get the names to appear in a horizontal line like this:
    John Smith, Sarah Conway, Liz Brothers, Julie Ike?

    Instead this is what I have:
    John Smith
    Sarah Conway
    Liz Brothers
    Julie Ike

    Thanks for any assistance.
    Janet

    #2
    RE: GROUPING NAMES TOGETHER

    Before we go any further, if this is possible, what would the group look like if there are more names than would fit on one line?

    John Smith, Sarah Conway, Liz Brothers, Julie Ike, Tom Clancy, Ernest Hemmingway, Selwyn Rabins, Edward Larrabee

    Should the line break at the end of a name and include a comma? Should the line wrap, as in a RTF field?

    Are you printing portrait or landscape mode?
    There can be only one.

    Comment


      #3
      RE: GROUPING NAMES TOGETHER

      Stan,
      If there names were to go into two lines, it would look just like the example you sent me below.

      Your example:
      John Smith, Sarah Conway, Liz Brothers, Julie Ike, Tom Clancy, Ernest Hemmingway, Selwyn Rabins, Edward Larrabee


      Question:Should the line break at the end of a name and include a comma? Should the line wrap, as in a RTF field?

      Answer: there should be comma's between each name. I do not know how to create line breaks, nor do I know whata RTF field is.I am learning this program by winging it.

      Question: Are you printing portrait or landscape mode?
      Answer: Landscape mode

      Thanks,

      Janet

      Comment


        #4
        RE: GROUPING NAMES TOGETHER

        are all of the names in their own record?

        i.e is John Smith record 1
        Sarah Conway record 2
        Liz Brothers record 3
        Julie Ike record 4

        ??


        if so, then the problem of putting them all on one line if your report is doable, but requires some advanced xbasic knowledge. you would need to create a User Defined Function.


        the following example works for the customer table in the sample alphasports app that ships with a5.

        it groups the names by the bill_state_region field.

        you would need to start by creating a user defined function called Names() that has this code:

        function names as c (state as c )
        list = table.external_record_content_get("customer","alltrim(firstname)","","bill_state_region=" + quote(state))
        list = stritran(alltrim(list),crlf(),", ")
        names = list
        end function


        you could then test your UDF in the interactive window as follows:


        ?names("ny")
        = "Evan, Bryan, Michael, Ronald, Tom, Jeffrey, John, Thomas"

        ?names("xy")
        = ""

        ?names("ca")
        = "Willy, Yvonne, Joan, Leonard, Peter, James"


        once you have your UDF working, then go back to your report and create a calculated field that uses the UDF.

        it sounds complicated, but if you have some basic xbasic skills it is really easy. if you have trouble, ask an a5 consultant to help you.

        Comment


          #5
          RE: GROUPING NAMES TOGETHER

          Follow Selwyn's advice if you can, he is the expert.

          I'm thinking you have many records in your table, name, address, etc. and you have designed a report that groups the records together by address. Now instead of five lines on a report for five people at the same address, you would rather have one line listing all five people.

          "Should the line wrap, as in a RTF field?" - A Rich Text Field will retain its formatting as in a word processor, where a line might break between the first and last names instead of after the comma.

          I don't know if either option is possible, but I will investigate.
          There can be only one.

          Comment


            #6
            RE: GROUPING NAMES TOGETHER

            If your table is arranged as I thought with multiple records (1 per person) for each address, your request for all names associated with the same address to appear on the same line is possible to accomplish.

            Would you furnish:

            your table name

            your name field(s) names - is the person's name all in one field "name", or do you have "firstname", "middle initial", and "last name" fields, etc - I'll assume all these are character fields

            your address field(s) names that make up your grouping qualification - preferably in the form of the expression that defines your group, and their type

            I have designed a UDF to put the names together in one string, but it will be easier to give you the function and how to call it with your field names in place than to try to explain how to make the substitution.
            There can be only one.

            Comment


              #7
              RE: GROUPING NAMES TOGETHER

              Here's an example of what I think you want.

              One table, many names, some with same address.

              Report of names, grouped by address.

              In the group header, not the detail section, a string of names appears, then the address follows.
              Detail section has been removed because all the information you want pertains to the group, not the individual records.

              If you want to examine how this was done, look at the "them3" field on the report (it is a calculated field) and the function namestr() which returns the list of names to the calculated field at the proper time.

              The calculated field will build the names string for people who have the same street number, street name, and zip code.

              The function has the limitation of ignoring anyone over 100 people at the same address. Should be sufficient.

              Download the attachment to a new directory, double click to expand it.
              There can be only one.

              Comment


                #8
                RE: GROUPING NAMES TOGETHER

                Thanks for the info. Stan, I will give it a try. Janet

                Comment


                  #9
                  RE: GROUPING NAMES TOGETHER

                  Dear Stan,
                  Question:your table name
                  Answer:Directory

                  Question:your name field(s) names - is the person's name all in one field "name", or do you have "firstname", "middle initial", and "last name" fields, etc - I'll assume all these are character fields
                  Answer: Field name is all in one field "name" as character fields.Fullname is the name of the field listed under Detail Section.

                  Question:your address field(s) names that make up your grouping qualification - preferably in the form of the expression that defines your group, and their type
                  Answer: Living_Add="SMJ, North Hall, 6th Floor"
                  Label : SMJ, North Hall, 6th Floor

                  There are 10 different groups with 10 different address.
                  Thanks again, Janet

                  Comment


                    #10
                    RE: GROUPING NAMES TOGETHER

                    Janet,

                    Added a table with your structure as best I understand. Take a look at the "Where" report based on the "Directory" table.

                    Download the attachment but do not expand the archive to the same directory holding your development work. Create a new folder so that you do not overwrite existing "directory" table.
                    There can be only one.

                    Comment

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