Formating an address field

  • Thread starter Thread starter RL
  • Start date Start date
R

RL

I have downloads where the data is not entered correctly
such as the address. It is downloaded as 12345W Anywhere
St rather then 12345 W Anywhere St. I am using the
address field as a primay key so I dont get dups when i
Download. So I dont want to correct the data rather I
would want to see the data in the correct format in forms
and when printing. The name of the field is Address. Any
help or directing me to the correct news group would be
helpful. Thanks
 
I have downloads where the data is not entered correctly
such as the address. It is downloaded as 12345W Anywhere
St rather then 12345 W Anywhere St. I am using the
address field as a primay key so I dont get dups when i
Download. So I dont want to correct the data rather I
would want to see the data in the correct format in forms
and when printing. The name of the field is Address. Any
help or directing me to the correct news group would be
helpful. Thanks
Click to expand...

What's "Correct"? That very well could be 12345 Anywhere St.,
Apartment W. I once lived at 214A Duncan St (and I don't remember, but
there may well have been a 214E Duncan St). Maybe *you* as an
intelligent human can deduce that it's not; but it's asking a lot of a
non-intelligent, literal "minded" computer to draw the same
conclusion!

Using an address as a primary key is *EXTREMELY* risky, and will (if
it can be made to work at all) a great deal of processing. Consider

12345 W Main St.
12345 W Main
12345 Main St.
12345 Main Street
12345 W. Main St.

All the same address... maybe!
 
Thanks for the thought but I am dealing with a typo on
the data entry side, the address is only one of the
primary fields. So the question still remains how to
achive the goal.

Thanks Again.
 
Thanks for the thought but I am dealing with a typo on
the data entry side, the address is only one of the
primary fields. So the question still remains how to
achive the goal.
Click to expand...

Please explain what the goal IS.

You have an address

123EMaple

What is the correct address? 123 East Maple? or 123E Maple? Or perhaps
even 123 Emaple?

How can a computer program determine what is the correct address?
 
Thats the question...

If you create an analytical db to select the address, that would be
different. An analytical database would prevent you from having double
entries, and would also prevent you from typing the same address 10 or more
different ways. However, the amount of gain to your organization is
proportional to the size of your organization. You could possibly even use
maps.com or accumaps or whatever to verify you have the correct address
assuming the address was properly entered in the first place. Maybe do some
price comparisons for the best analytical db. The more accurate the db, the
more its going to cost.

Usually, your operational database would just access your analytical
database. Not the other way around, unless you were systematially going
down a street in a caravan with a geologist, and perhaps a civil engineer,
and even a socialologist verifying the analytical database. lol

Regards,
Marc N
 
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