possibly an initial, smaller form in which the user enters what they think
their company is (e.g., 'Lilly', 'Eli Lilly', etc). they then click submit
and
you run a search using LIKE and OR's in your WHERE clause on each discrete
word
to see if you already have that company in your db and, if so, the spelling.
bring that data back to the user to populate a drop down on the main form or
even as a list with checkboxes
on another initial page (where they would confirm/select their company
name). and then
be taken to the main form with their company name pre-populated.
if you did this from day one, then you could force all users to adopt a
single
spelling of their company name. but since you have myriad existing spellings
in your db, you could assign a company id to each related group of company
spellings
to keep track of that company's iterations...
also, if you have repeat users, you could use that initial page to also
capture and search for their first and last name (in addition to their
company)
to see if they are already in your db. and if they are, either pre-populate
the form
with their existing data and allow them to edit or take them to a separate
page entirely.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Erika L Walker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "CF-Community" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2001 11:06 AM
Subject: OT: Data Integrity - Q of the Day
> Here's a question that's been bothersome for some time.
>
> We have an interface where participants register for meeting. There is a
> form they fill out with basic information, including the pharmaceutical
> company they are associated with.
>
> We use drop downs where we can to keep data as constant as possible, but
we
> cannot use dropdowns for the company they are with as there are far too
many
> to compile and list.
>
> And therein lies our problem. Users from one company can have a half dozen
> different ways to spell their company name.
>
> There is an admin search page where an administrator can search for
> registered users by several different criteria, one of which is the user's
> company name. I dynamically build a drop down for this field on the search
> page by pulling all distinct company names from the db. Of course, there
are
> several different variations of the company name in the dropdown, which
> makes it very cumbersome.
>
> Has anyone had to deal with this? If so, how did you deal with it? And/or
> does someone have an idea on how to go about dealing with it?
>
>
> Erika
> (with a *K*)
>
>
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at
http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at
http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm
Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
