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Field Splitting

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    #16
    Re: Field Splitting

    I also tested the name splitting code from the genie and found it did not split 176 test names properly when splitting title, first name, middle initial and last name. Jim

    Comment


      #17
      Re: Field Splitting

      I know this is doable as I used to import all sorts of strange names and addresses, but there was usually a pattern as the data was from Excel and straight CSV.
      Problem is that the app is in the vault ( a redundant Win98 machine in the loft).
      I'll see if I can dig the logic out, but it is definitely doable.
      See our Hybrid Option here;
      https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


      Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
      You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

      Comment


        #18
        Re: Field Splitting

        OK, I did not go any of the above routes.
        I added 6 fields to a table;
        FullName, Prefix, First, Middle, Last, Suffix.

        FullName is what you get inserted, I set a few up, Sir Edward Giles MMS, Sir Edward Guthrie Giles MMS
        In the Prefix and First, I used a Calculated Field, word(FullName,1) and word(FullName,2)
        In the Last and Suffix I used word(FullName-1) and -2)

        The Middle was a slight hitch, so I used this logic;
        IF(WORD(NAME,3)=LAST,"",WORD(NAME,3)) So If the Middle and Last name are the same, the middle is ""
        This allows for a middle initial or a full middle name. The same logic can be used in the event that there is no Prefix or Suffix.

        As regards the Mac, Mc, De' ( I had a client whose name is De'Ath. Letters were addressed to a Mr Death), Peter Wayne's book explains how to handle all that.

        Not perfected by any means but a Q&D option.

        Sir Edward Giles Bart came out as Prefix, First, Middle(blank) Last, Suffix
        Sir Edward Guthrie Giles MMS came out as Prefix, First, Middle, Last, Suffix
        See our Hybrid Option here;
        https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


        Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
        You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

        Comment


          #19
          Re: Field Splitting

          Ted, we are splitting names of engineers from all nationalities. With anything from a single word name to an initial.
          This is a partial list of variations we have. Also Consider Middle Eastern and Oriental names.
          RAVICHANDRAN V
          D V
          ERIC SPALTER II
          JOHN H BYRNE JR
          KOK SONG FONG MD
          BJAWARL SINGH PHD
          SIR WILLIA LUTHER III
          GUY DENT ADAMS, JR.
          TSGT MILLER
          R MORGAN BURROW JR
          LOUIS R DU TREIL SR

          KOK SONG FONG MD
          KOK SONG - First name
          FONG - Last name
          MD - Suffix

          TSGT Miller
          TSGT - Title or Prefix
          Miller - Last name

          Louis R Du Treil Sr
          Louis - First name
          R - Middle Initial - placed with first name.
          Du Triel - last name
          Sr - Suffix

          R MORGAN BURROW JR
          R MORGAN - First name
          Burrow - Last Name
          JR - Suffix

          Jim
          Last edited by NerdJim; 02-27-2018, 10:05 AM. Reason: Added test names.

          Comment


            #20
            Re: Field Splitting

            Then it's not possible without knowing all the possible combinations.
            A friend with a name Siu Prechard Jagi (first name) Depak (last name) will not split because it is not possible to define the string segments.
            In addition, some countries have the last name first.

            May I suggest that you ask the people sending data in to define the name structure, you could send them an Excel sheet to fill in properly.
            If you want a web application to allow them to register and enter the correct format (for them anyway) I will be pleased to assist.

            Silly question. Why do you need to split the names up in the first place? Is using the whole name you are presented with not an option?
            See our Hybrid Option here;
            https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


            Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
            You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

            Comment


              #21
              Re: Field Splitting

              Ted, some of our names come in split as prefix, first name, last name and suffix then we get some names that come in as full name or last name, first name etc. And we do not always get to define our incoming format.
              I thought using something like this:

              Prefix = iif(inlist2(ut(word(Fullname, 1)), "TSGT,SSGT,SGT,REV,MDM,MS,MR,MRS,MISS,HON, SEN,DR,LT,PROF,SIR"), ut(word(Fullname, 1)), "")

              Suffix = iif(inlist2(ut(word(Fullname, -2, " ", 2)), "PH D,P E"),ut(word(Fullname, -2, " ", 2)), iif(inlist2(ut(word(Fullname, -1)), "SR,PE,MD,JR,PHD,III,II,L,G,CEM,MMS"), ut(word(Fullname, -1)), ""))

              Firstname = iif( inlist2(ut(word(Fullname, 1)), "TSGT,SSGT,SGT,REV,MDM,MS,MR,MRS,MISS,HON, SEN,DR,LT,PROF") .AND. W_COUNT(Fullname) > 1 .AND. ATC(",", Fullname) = 0, WORD(Fullname, 1), iif( ( (w_count(Fullname) < 3 .or. (.not. inlist2(ut(word(Fullname, 1)), "TSGT,SSGT,SGT,REV,MDM,MS,MR,MRS,MISS,HON, SEN,DR,LT,PROF")) ) .and. ATC(",", Fullname)>0 .and. w_count(Fullname) = 3), "", word(Fullname, 2)) )

              Firstname = iif(w_count(Fullname) < 3, "", iif(len(word(Fullname, 2)) = 1 .or. (len(word(Fullname, 2)) = 2 .and. right(word(Fullname, 2), 1) = "."), word(Fullname, 2), iif(len(word(Fullname, 3)) = 1 .or. (len(word(Fullname, 3)) = 2 .and. right(word(Fullname, 3), 1) = "."), word(Fullname, 3), iif(len(word(Fullname, 4)) = 1 .or. (len(word(Fullname, 4)) = 2 .and. right(word(Fullname, 4), 1) = "."), word(Fullname, 4), ""))))

              Lastname = ut(word(Fullname, (w_count(Prefix) + w_Count(Firstname) + 1), " ", (w_count(Fullname) - w_count(Prefix) - w_count(Firstname) - w_count(Suffix) ) ) )

              Might Work if adapted properly.
              Jim

              Comment


                #22
                Re: Field Splitting

                Originally posted by NerdJim View Post
                Prefix = iif(inlist2(ut(word(Fullname, 1)), "TSGT,SSGT,SGT,REV,MDM,MS,MR,MRS,MISS,HON, SEN,DR,LT,PROF,SIR"), ut(word(Fullname, 1)), "")
                That's OK until someone has a firstname of "SEN". I can't imagine any way to automate the split of a random string of words into fixed fields. Garbage in, garbage out springs to mind.

                Comment


                  #23
                  Re: Field Splitting

                  Not heard that GIGO saying in a long time Jon!
                  Jim, I think you are on a hiding to nothing really as you cannot control the input stream.
                  Even if you tried to do it visually, you could fail as you do not know if the first and last names are reversed.
                  I can think of a number of variations on the prefix, like Mister, Lord, Mistress, Lady, Professor Emeritus - the list is almost endless.
                  There are many combinations of prefixes and even more suffixes, so unless you take some form of control over the incoming data you are stuffed (an English expression).

                  If this is for a mailing list then the way people enter the data is probably the way they would like it repeated, hence the suggestion to leave it as it is.
                  If it is for classification purposes, then I give up. You might get close, but a lot of visual examination will be needed.
                  See our Hybrid Option here;
                  https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


                  Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
                  You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Re: Field Splitting

                    Having seen your sample data list from post #19, I am curious why you need to split this data at all? Which I think was also Ted's question.
                    Robin

                    Discernment is not needed in things that differ, but in those things that appear to be the same. - Miles Sanford

                    Comment


                      #25
                      Re: Field Splitting

                      Originally posted by MoGrace View Post
                      Having seen your sample data list from post #19, I am curious why you need to split this data at all? Which I think was also Ted's question.
                      Great question. Might be creating problems going down the wrong path.
                      This issue is a technical issue.
                      What is the application level issue/feature that you are dealing with?
                      Last edited by Al Buchholz; 03-03-2018, 03:39 PM.
                      Al Buchholz
                      Bookwood Systems, LTD
                      Weekly QReportBuilder Webinars Thursday 1 pm CST

                      Occam's Razor - KISS
                      Normalize till it hurts - De-normalize till it works.
                      Advice offered and questions asked in the spirit of learning how to fish is better than someone giving you a fish.
                      When we triage a problem it is much easier to read sample systems than to read a mind.
                      "Make it as simple as possible, but not simpler."
                      Albert Einstein

                      http://www.iadn.com/images/media/iadn_member.png

                      Comment


                        #26
                        Re: Field Splitting

                        Because someone BEFORE ME thought this was a great idea and now my task is to convert all of our old alpha4 databases to alpha5 anywhere. Since we are starting to replace some of our older windows 7 computers with windows 10 machines. Plus some of our names come pre-split, some reversed etc. So I was trying to be a little more versatile to be consistent. Most of our prefixes have been limited to the list I supplied in my prefix split and the same is true for our suffix split I have found a limited number of suffixes in our data. I had used textsearch to allow for flexible lists when inlist2 was suggested earlier in this thread.
                        In most of the data I scanned for prefix we had one sen., one hon., some dr and 1 rev. plus a few military prefixes nothing else out of the ordinary. It is the rest that is a pain in the neck.
                        Also our previous database programmer supplied a last name, first name converter that used the previous split name protocol.
                        The first name splitter I supplied was influenced by the alpha name splitting genie for first name and middle initial.

                        Jim
                        Last edited by NerdJim; 03-04-2018, 12:14 AM.

                        Comment


                          #27
                          Re: Field Splitting

                          Aaaah! You were volunteered then!
                          It all makes sense now.
                          Given that you have a head start on a less than perfect data set, perhaos running it and then a visual check of a representative set?
                          You might be able to use a Summarise operation to identify all the options.
                          See our Hybrid Option here;
                          https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


                          Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
                          You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

                          Comment


                            #28
                            Re: Field Splitting

                            I have read through this thread and while it is an interesting challenge, I don't see that there is a reference to whether this task is processing few individual records, or whether this task is attempting to handle the parsing of 10,000 records. If this is processing individual records, I do this all the time with a user interface dialog that has the user presented with each discrete component of the input data, and the user selects each of the components of the input string to become properly allocated to an output string. This works beautifully for individual or small number of records. It is not for mass processing. What is the need?
                            Mike W
                            __________________________
                            "I rebel in at least small things to express to the world that I have not completely surrendered"

                            Comment


                              #29
                              Re: Field Splitting

                              I am actually working with a 30,000 record database that was designed around a 120,000 record database. adding data to up to 30,000 or more records at a time. My last append was almost 7,000 records. At some point this will end up being converted to SQL. Right now I am just trying to give users an interface they are used to here.
                              Jim
                              Last edited by NerdJim; 03-05-2018, 10:08 AM.

                              Comment


                                #30
                                Re: Field Splitting

                                Originally posted by NerdJim View Post
                                Right now I am just trying to give users an interface they are used to here.
                                Jim
                                Ah, that is what we need to understand so we can give you some ideas on how to accomplish that. ie the application level needs.
                                Al Buchholz
                                Bookwood Systems, LTD
                                Weekly QReportBuilder Webinars Thursday 1 pm CST

                                Occam's Razor - KISS
                                Normalize till it hurts - De-normalize till it works.
                                Advice offered and questions asked in the spirit of learning how to fish is better than someone giving you a fish.
                                When we triage a problem it is much easier to read sample systems than to read a mind.
                                "Make it as simple as possible, but not simpler."
                                Albert Einstein

                                http://www.iadn.com/images/media/iadn_member.png

                                Comment

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