Post by Howard Metcalfe on Dec 13, 2006 14:49:06 GMT -5
Q: How does PAWriter detect and expand postal codes within the text of a place field?
A: PAWriter looks for two adjacent uppercase letters that match one of the entries in the State popup menu. It only considers two uppercase letters that are adjacent to "non-word" characters (i.e., characters that are not a lowercase letter, an uppercase letter, a digit or an underline) or adjacent to the beginning or end of the field. PAWriter then replaces the two uppercase letters with the full state, territory or province name.
Abbreviations for County (Co), Parish (Par), Township (Twp), Church (Ch) and Cemetery (Cem) when followed by a comma (or a period and a comma) are also expanded.
For example, if you enter "NE City, Otoe Co, NE", it will be expanded to "Nebraska City, Otoe County, Nebraska". Most importantly, the expanded place is the one that is saved in the data file and appears in reports.
This expansion also occurs when a place field is imported from a GEDCOM.
The expansion is a convenience for those using North American postal codes, since it only includes postal codes for the U.S., its possessions and Canadian provinces. Other place names will have to be spelled out in full to avoid any possible erroneous expansion. For example, Western Australia, abbreviated as WA, shoud be spelled out to avoid becoming Washington.
The only time a postal code will be displayed in a PAWriter window is when the place name needs to be abbreviated to fit on a line, such as in the box for a person in the main window. This occurs only in the last field of a place name and, for Canadian provinces, in the next to last field as well if needed to fit. (This may also occur in a few reports, such as a pedigree chart.)
A: PAWriter looks for two adjacent uppercase letters that match one of the entries in the State popup menu. It only considers two uppercase letters that are adjacent to "non-word" characters (i.e., characters that are not a lowercase letter, an uppercase letter, a digit or an underline) or adjacent to the beginning or end of the field. PAWriter then replaces the two uppercase letters with the full state, territory or province name.
Abbreviations for County (Co), Parish (Par), Township (Twp), Church (Ch) and Cemetery (Cem) when followed by a comma (or a period and a comma) are also expanded.
For example, if you enter "NE City, Otoe Co, NE", it will be expanded to "Nebraska City, Otoe County, Nebraska". Most importantly, the expanded place is the one that is saved in the data file and appears in reports.
This expansion also occurs when a place field is imported from a GEDCOM.
The expansion is a convenience for those using North American postal codes, since it only includes postal codes for the U.S., its possessions and Canadian provinces. Other place names will have to be spelled out in full to avoid any possible erroneous expansion. For example, Western Australia, abbreviated as WA, shoud be spelled out to avoid becoming Washington.
The only time a postal code will be displayed in a PAWriter window is when the place name needs to be abbreviated to fit on a line, such as in the box for a person in the main window. This occurs only in the last field of a place name and, for Canadian provinces, in the next to last field as well if needed to fit. (This may also occur in a few reports, such as a pedigree chart.)