Parse Fullname into first last

[aldipalo]

Ok, so I got my first paying gig to design a Contact Management System for a large condominium Association. I need to parse the fullname field into FirstName and LastName. That's simple enough if the data is the same, but, of course it's all over the place. Here's a quick sample:

Allen, Craig

Kirmayer, Kurt & Gertrude

Lane, Jessica & Hunt, Bill & Nancy

Platz, Dorcus & Sunjay Bedi

Joseph, Drs. Jacob & Alice

Nessim, Dr. Wagih

Banister, Bruce W. & Karen E.

Harter, Beryl A.

Okash, Michael/Katherine

Athanasiou, M/M Nicholas

Joyce, Joseph, Nancy, & Steven

Bassali, Dr. Botros & Saod

Dickson,David & Kathy/Ipach,Ron & Cyndi

Help! Anyone know of a good CF or can someone come up with a reasonably good calc. If I have spend too much time on this it may be cheaper to tell the client to retype the data.

TIA for all your help.

Al

[Vaughan]

"I got my first paying gig to design a Contact Management System"

A CMS is a big job for a first gig. Like, really big. My organisation has spent 4 years and ~$100K on their custom CRM done in FMP.

"Anyone know of a good CF or can someone come up with a reasonably good calc..."

It won't help much because in your case there is inconsistent data entry that compounds the normal confusion with names. In your sample given, one line of data can contain more than one name, so the process will need to create multiple records as well as parse the names out. About all that can be concluded is that the first comma from the left delimits a surname (but there can be multiple surnames).

I hope you're charging by the hour and not fixed price. :)

[aldipalo]

I said first paying gig, not, first design. I've been designing CRM's on Dbase and Lotus Approach as well as FM for years. Since 1981 actually, just not for someone else. I actually feel (And so do the people who use it) my latest design, using FM, is the best one yet. And I credit 90% of that to all the great help I've gotten from this forum. I also ran a web design and hosting company for 8 years. So, now, in my later years I've figured I'd take on something I really love to do.

This is a small system so I'm not worried about it.

I found some CF's on Brian Dunnings site by Fabrice Nordman. Before, Between and After. I'll play with that for a while and see if I can get it parsed. Otherwise they'll have to rekey the data.

And yes, by the hour. Btw, what's the going rate these days. I figured $75.00 - $100.00/hr. Am I off?

[mr_vodka]

I figured $75.00 - $100.00/hr. Am I off?

Rates are not an exact science. I tend to adjust my rate with the type of project that it is. I have seen rates from $20 - $300 / hr.

Hmmmm perhaps I should start charging more... :)

Edited June 20, 2008 by Guest
typo

[aldipalo]

$300/hr. I always wanted to charge like a Lawyer! :)

[Fenton]

This is a (very) old file, by Lynne Bradford, which has some ability to separate names. It also allows you to enter some of your own parameter data. It is heavily based on repeating fields and stored calculations. So do not put it IN your file, put only the names in it, and try and clean them up.

You will need to get them into some kind of usable format first. Perhaps with FileMaker Text functions, or with a Text Editor, or both. There is nothing I've seen that could accurately parse all the examples you posted correctly. But a dedicated little FileMaker file could get them closer.

I added a (somewhat lame) addition to Lynne's original file, to separate basic "spouse" names:

Joe & Mary Smith

BTW, the Middle Name field will often show you the screw ups.

NameParseLynn.fp7.zip

[aldipalo]

Thanks Fenton. I'll give it a whirl over the weekend.