Title Case Adjustment

[steigrafx]

I'm using title case for a name field. The only problem is some names don't format properly. For example: Baldwin-jones, Mcdonald, O'neal.

Is there any way to "adjust" the field to force uppercase after a hyphen, an apostrophe, or an Mc?

Thanks,

Kevin

[mleering]

Hi Kevin;

while it's entirely possible to accomplish this,

I don't think it will be a simple task.

The way that I would envision it being accomplished would be by using a custom function (requires Pro Advanced), and an auto-enter calculation.

The custom function that I'm envisioning would be a recursive function that recurses x number of times.

X would be equal to the sum of PatternCount ( _text ; "Mc" ) + PatternCount ( _text ; "-" ) + PatternCount ( _text ; "'" ).

On each iteration of the recursion, you would need to find out (using the Position function) which character shows up first within your text string ("Mc" or "-" or "'"), and once you've determined that, I would use the Upper() function on the character immediately following said character.

Perhaps there's a more elegant way to do this, but this is what came to mind for me.

Regards

Matt

[Raybaudi]

Try this as an auto-enter calculation for that field:

Substitute (

Proper (

Substitute ( Self ;

[ "-" ; "- §" ] ; [ "'" ; "' §" ] ; [ "Mc" ; "Mc §" ] ) ) ;

[ "- §" ; "-" ] ; [ "' §" ; "'" ] ; [ "Mc §" ; "Mc" ]

)

[mleering]

Daniele - That's much simpler!

)

Edited October 29, 2010 by Guest

[comment]

I'd suggest you look at Universal Capitalizer here:

http://www.foundationdbs.com/downloads.html

[Lee Smith]

Hi Kevin,

This is a problem with many new developers. You need to have separate fields for your names (i.e. last, first, middle, titles, etc.) so as not to have users entering the names as you have discovered.

The Best example file on how to parse out the various types of names is one By: Lynne Bradford Which I posted originally in Here and was modified and by Fenton and posted Here

HTH

Lee

[Lee Smith]

Hi comment,

I forgot about that one.

Lee

[LaRetta]

Just my opinion ...

If data is entered by the person themselves LEAVE IT ALONE. If data is entered by Users, hold them accountable (they should ask how to spell and be very careful there are no typos when entering). If data is brought in from external sources outside your control, use a universal capitalizer.

Why? Look at my name (and I am not at all alone). A computer simply can't catch all the options of capitalization and you are messing with people's names. Even comment isn't capitalized (even though I capitalize it out of respect). If it was his real name then I would always leave it uncapped. My name is changed all the time by computers to be Laretta and that is NOT my name. People's names is the single MOST IMPORTANT connection you have with them. It must be right and capitalization is as important as spelling.

I probably feel this way mostly because of my name; however, I have seen many other names mangled because of a computer's attempts on them.

[steigrafx]

Thank you all for your help. I'm going to try the universal Capitalizer.

And LaRetta, the people's names I'm talking about don't care if their names aren't perfect...they're all dead. I work in a Surrogate's Court in New York. The reason I'm looking for a way to fix the names is because the data is being entered by our court attorneys, and they're terrible typists -- some never use the shift key!

Again, thank you all and have a great weekend.

Kevin

[bcooney]

But, their ancestors care! Sorry, I dabble at genealogy and have seen my family's various surnames garbled in every census.

[LaRetta]

Hi Kevin, ah, that's okay ... at least you spelled my name right when you responded.

If those attorneys are too lazy to properly capitalize then they are too lazy to spell correctly as well. Seriously. Your attempts will probably correct more mangled names (improperly capitalized) than you will 'un' correct in situations such as mine; I'm addressing the data-entry level.

It is no different that if someone's name is Cindie and everyone says, "ah, it doesn't matter ... I'll spell your name Cindy." Or, "I'll call you Mike even though your name is Michael and you've made it clear that your name is NOT Mike."

I can see it now: a computer (programmed by someone attempting to correct poor data entry) will correct my name and, when my death is published in the obituary the final insult will print Laretta. Or some capitalization programs see the capital 'R' and turn my name into two names La Retta. Then I get mail as Dear Ms. Retta because another programmer thought they were clever enough to split middle/last. Good grief.

As Barbara implies as well, just because someone might be dead doesn't mean their name is no longer important. Ask Stephen (the owner of this website) how he feels when people call him Steven. Those attorneys should be held accountable or at least reminded of the importance of entering people's names - particularly those that have died.

I suppose I'm just old school but our name is about the only thing that is truly ours even when we finally leave this earth. It should be important enough to EVERYONE to spell someone's name properly simply out of respect and whenever possible, ask someone how to spell it and if they say it has a capital 'R' then type it that way and don't let a computer change it again. Even if I type my own name in website (for instance), it'll come through as Laretta. I, like Barbara, see mangles of names all the time. Computers should NOT be fixing names - human should enter them properly simply because it is respectful.

Okay, now I'm done. :laugh2:

[Rick Whitelaw]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is "§"?

RW

[comment]

their ancestors care!

Well, speaking of precision...

[comment]

what is "§"?

It's "any character that you are sure will not appear in the processed text".

[bcooney]

Ah! That is, their descendants care.

[LaRetta]

LOL! Who is to say that their ancestors (also) don't roll over in their graves every time their living son or daughter's names are misspelled. :girlgiggle: I had asked my mother to change my name so I wouldn't stand out and be different. She took great offense. :crazy2:

Edited October 29, 2010 by Guest

[comment]

Who is to say that their ancestors (also) don't roll over in their graves

I have no knowledge in this matter. However, I thought Barbara was speaking of herself - which raises an interesting question:

Barbara: where exactly are you writing from???

[steigrafx]

I don't disagree with you at all, LaRetta. But in our case it's not really that important since this database is internal only. We have a different database for our clerks, and that's where all the paperwork is generated from. And yes, the clerks are held accountable for their data entry. BTW, although my wife's name is Mary Ann (first name), she constantly receives mail addressed to Mary.

You're probably wondering why we have two different databases. It's not my doing. That decision was made by one of our judges. She's very secretive about her court attorneys' statistics -- no one is allowed to know what the other is doing. So secretive, that she doesn't want any of that information in our working database. She's afraid someone on the staff will be able to view something they shouldn't. Where I work, logic does not apply.

She never consulted the IT department when she got this brilliant idea to separate the legal statistics from our working database. Instead, she asked her secretary, and thus was born the original Quattro Pro statistics files. A total nightmare. At least I'm getting them off of a spreadsheet and onto a database.

It's a slow process. When she feels comfortable in FileMaker, I'll try to convince her to let me import the data into our working database (Advanced DB-Master) so everything will be consolidated.

Thanks again for your comments, and have a nice weekend LaRetta, Loretta, La Retta, Ms. Retta, La, or whatever name you're answering to today.

Kevin

[LaRetta]

Oh that's a good one, Kevin! You have a good weekend as well.

Speaking of attempts to keep things secret ... When I was young, I worked for a District Attorney who told me that I should type the documents but not know what I was typing - to see but not to look. He went further to say that I should type individual letter characters but not actually see whole words. Oh brother - it's one thing to hold people to secrecy; it's another to expect impossibilities. ROFLMAO!!

lA rETTA

[LaRetta]

Now that brought a belly laugh, Michael!! Thanks for that!

Baaaaaarrrrrrrbbbbaaaarrrraaaaa ... come into the light so we can seeeeeeee youuuuuuu.

Yeah, it' a slow (free and lazy) weekend with nothing to do and it couldn't get any better.

[bcooney]

Thanks guys, I needed that laugh!

Hey, you don't know how hard it is to type when you're semi-transparent!

[comment]

True, but it's a dry heat.

[bcooney]

True. The worst part is that I'm surrounded by people who insisted on using repeating fields and meaningful keys.