We use a predictive dialer on a regular basis, so I can speak with experience on this.
Unless you use very exacting formatting on data input you will need to do a validation prior to sending the number to the dialer. Aside from format you never know when a user is going to put in something like x12 or (cell) etc Some people make a number invalid by changing the area code to 999 or 000 or fill in a no phone number field with all zeros etc. so you have to look for those also. What I do is to first strip the number of all none integer digits by passing it through a short loop that looks at each digit and only allows the correct ones to be dialed or placed in the list. Then check it for length according to your local dial plan, if length not equal to 10 digits or not equal to 7 then reject Then if appropriate check against allowed area codes/time zones. Depending on your list you may also want to filter out country codes. Depending on you use of the numbers you may have to screen out cell numbers, but that's a separate process where you have to validate the number against outside lists. Whatever product you use to do the dialing can either add the prefixes you may need like a 1 or if on a pbx dial 9 first. Most can also tell if local or not and use the area code. I believe most of the country is moving to 10 digit dialing. Mark Lindner Lindner & Associates PC 400 Hunnewell St, Needham MA 02494 PO Box 920435 Needham MA 02492 0005 781 247 1100 Fax 781 247 1143 EFAX 857 366 9691 Toll Free 888 658 4269 Direct 781 247 1160 THIS IS A COMMUNICATION FROM A DEBT COLLECTOR -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of William Stacy Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 9:19 AM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: telephone number formatting Some good points, along with the other responses. For now I'm keeping it simple. Recognizing that different users will input different formats based on readability and custom for their area, I'm just going to keep it simple and leave the phone #s in a simple 15 char text column, along with a similar text column that will contain an "as dialed" string for the autodialer. my own database has about 20,000 phone numbers in it, mostly formatted as xxx.xxx.xxxx or just xxx.xxxx for local numbers. it should be easy to strip those dots out for those conforming rows. the rest will have to be done manually. thanks bill On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 8:08 AM, Hans Manhave <[email protected]> wrote: North East Texas here, we dial 10 digits if it is local . Several area codes in the local calling area cause this. We do add the 1 in front if it is outside the local area. Something to unlearn when visiting areas of the country where they can dial just the seven digits. Also a good idea to be ready for an area code change/addition at a future point. Hans From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of William Stacy Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2011 2:01 PM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - telephone number formatting Am restructuring my telephone number table so that just in case there is a way to direct dial from an Rbase 9.1 application. I'd want it to be consistent with whatever kind of dialers there are, which means like a 10 integer string for a cell phone in the USA, adding a 1 if it's a land line in the usa dialing to another usa long distance, or a 7 int. string if it's a local call, and something else for each if it's an overseas call. What else is there? Has anyone tackled this question? i'm thinking a tel column that is a text type of at least 11 chars (any longer ones in existence, esp foreign?) I would think that such an autodial column would have to have no hyphens, parens, etc. Thanks. Bill -- William Stacy, O.D. Please visit my website by clicking on : http://www.folsomeye.net -- William Stacy, O.D. Please visit my website by clicking on : http://www.folsomeye.net
