Thanks All

I did this mess when I didn't know better and now I have to decide
the best way to fix it.

Thanks again
Marc

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Alastair Burr 
  To: RBASE-L Mailing List 
  Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 12:43 PM
  Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: Can you insert a blank space in text?


  And if you use two columns you could use a third to identify those with 
brackets and those with spaces...

  So many choices, so little time!
  Regards,
  Alastair.

    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: James Bentley 
    To: RBASE-L Mailing List 
    Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 12:27 AM
    Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: Can you insert a blank space in text?


    Marc,

    Razzak has several examples for FORMS and REPORTS that use format values to 
deal with your problem.
    An additional alternative to consider is to store the Area Code in one 
field and the rest of the number in another.

    Jim Bentley
    American Celiac Society

    Marc <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 
      Hi Alastair

      I was trying to save work and save the numbers as 9184451555
      then in some reports put in ( ) and in others  918 335 1555.
      I didn't want to have to strip out the ( ) for the report that I
      couldn't have ( ).

      That has come back and bit me, so now I am thinking about
      storing the numbers 918 335 1555.

      I never made the users enter the area code if they didn't want to
      in fact I never did in my area if it was the same as mine.  This
      "flexibility" will just cause another problem down the road.

      thanks for the thoughts
      Marc



        ----- Original Message ----- 
        From: Alastair Burr 
        To: RBASE-L Mailing List 
        Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 1:07 PM
        Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: Can you insert a blank space in text?


        Marc, you've had some good suggestions for formatting your telephone 
numbers but, maybe, you need to take a further step back and consider how you 
want to store them:

        Because they're telephone _numbers_ it is natural to think of then as 
numbers rather than as text in the first place.

        Here, in the UK, there seems to be a few attempts to use characters in 
some numbers - I would hardly call it a trend yet. Should that sort of thing 
catch on you may find storing text is easier.

        Then again, the numbers seem to get longer as the years go by and 
numbers get used up. If they just stick a zero in front of all current ones 
then you have a problem if you're not storing as text. If, as they did with 
London number a few years back, they change some codes you may not be able to 
easily update your data...

        One way to cope might be to store your numbers as text with a comma 
between area code and number. You might even want to include an international 
code as well separated by another comma. When you use your data you can then 
use SRPL to replace the comma(s) with a space or SSUB to extract the components 
(assuming your delimiter character is a comma). You could even store the 
components in reverse order and extract them in reverse order so that you don't 
store something like: ,123,4567 but have: 4567,123 or 4567,123,44 instead. All 
it takes is a slightly longer variable definition or two on your forms and 
reports. You might also want to verify area codes which then becomes easy(ier).

        Of course, if you've only got a small number of telephone numbers 
you've already got your solution and you can just hit the delete button on this.

        Good luck,
        Regards,
        Alastair.


          ----- Original Message ----- 
          From: Marc 
          To: RBASE-L Mailing List 
          Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 4:40 PM
          Subject: [RBASE-L] - Can you insert a blank space in text?


          Hi

          I store my phone numbers like
          9183351555
          9183352225

          I am thinking about using a format in forms like this
          918 335 1555
          But If I change the format to that the phone numbers do not
          display correctly, I guess because they are stored 9183351555

          So, how do you update the phone numbers to add the proper spaces?
          And if some of the numbers are 3352244 without the 918 would that
          mess things up?

          Thanks
          Marc




    Jim Bentley
    American Celiac Society
    [EMAIL PROTECTED]
    tel: 1-504-737-3293 


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