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The problem here is that you might need more than one "name" like string. One goes into the address of an envelope, but if the letter starts with "Dear" or "He
by hibbelig 7y ago
The problem here is that you might need more than one "name" like string. One goes into the address of an envelope, but if the letter starts with "Dear" or "Hello", then what follows is usually a different name.
And you can't extract any piece of the "envelope" name to give you the "hello" name: For a person named John Smith, in some cultures it's normal to say "hello John", in others it's "hello Mr. Smith", in still others it's "hello Smith".
And of course, the full name could be "John Smith" or "Smith John" depending on culture. And then there are cultures that have more than one "word" to a name, but there is no family name.
- rdiddly 7y agoOne solution to the "hello name" would be to ask for it separately. Every time you're tempted to parse or rearrange a name, just don't, and ask the user instead, and make a new column or field to put it in. Now that's a paradigm that might stand a chance of winning database. Although ironically your correct rendering of everyone's name will doubtless create mismatches with all the officially sanctioned incorrect renderings by other inferior mortals out there.
- hibbelig 7y agoRight. For each purpose, add a new field and ask the user. I wonder how many fields would be the end result. I have no idea.
- rdiddly 7y agoSeems like even in the most varied case there wouldn't be more than about three: full legal name, brief-but-formal name such as Mrs. Smith or Dr. Jones or Lawrence, and informal name such as Larry.
- rswail 7y agoFor all correspondence with a business, I don't need a "Hello Fred" or "Dear Fred" or "Dear Mr Fred Example". They should stop with the BS and just state my name: Fred Example, Congratulations! You have won a lifetime supply of...