Use of Soundex fields in access

[vonclausowitz]

Hi All,

I have database with names on which I want to use the soundex option.
So I have created two seperate fields for the Lastname and Firstname in
which
I save the Soundex version of a new name I save in the database.
I have the soundex code with the 6 numeric option. So I save for
example in the field
LastnameSE = 600192 and in the FirstnameSE = 545910.

Should these Soundex fields be numeric or text fields?

Marco

[jacksonmacd]

numeric
On 30 Jul 2006 03:30:55 -0700, vo***********@g mail.com wrote:

>Hi All,

I have database with names on which I want to use the soundex option.
So I have created two seperate fields for the Lastname and Firstname in
which
I save the Soundex version of a new name I save in the database.
I have the soundex code with the 6 numeric option. So I save for
example in the field
LastnameSE = 600192 and in the FirstnameSE = 545910.

Should these Soundex fields be numeric or text fields?

Marco

--
ja************* *@telusTELUS.ne t
remove uppercase letters for true email
http://www.geocities.com/jacksonmacd/ for info on MS Access security

[vonclausowitz]

Does it matter it is a text field?
Or do you have to make calculations on the fields?

Marco

jacksonmacd schreef:

numeric
On 30 Jul 2006 03:30:55 -0700, vo***********@g mail.com wrote:

Hi All,

I have database with names on which I want to use the soundex option.
So I have created two seperate fields for the Lastname and Firstname in
which
I save the Soundex version of a new name I save in the database.
I have the soundex code with the 6 numeric option. So I save for
example in the field
LastnameSE = 600192 and in the FirstnameSE = 545910.

Should these Soundex fields be numeric or text fields?

Marco

--
ja************* *@telusTELUS.ne t
remove uppercase letters for true email
http://www.geocities.com/jacksonmacd/ for info on MS Access security

[jacksonmacd]

I don't think you would do any calculations -- just comparisons. So if
the Soundex function that you are using returns a numeric value, then
you should store its results in a numeric field. If the soundex
function returns a text value, then store it in a text field. Access
would probably adapt automatically if you used the wrong type, but you
would just be asking it to do additional, unnecessary work.
On 30 Jul 2006 07:49:32 -0700, vo***********@g mail.com wrote:

>Does it matter it is a text field?
Or do you have to make calculations on the fields?

Marco

jacksonmacd schreef:

>numeric
On 30 Jul 2006 03:30:55 -0700, vo***********@g mail.com wrote:

>Hi All,

I have database with names on which I want to use the soundex option.
So I have created two seperate fields for the Lastname and Firstname in
which
I save the Soundex version of a new name I save in the database.
I have the soundex code with the 6 numeric option. So I save for
example in the field
LastnameSE = 600192 and in the FirstnameSE = 545910.

Should these Soundex fields be numeric or text fields?

Marco

--
ja************* *@telusTELUS.ne t
remove uppercase letters for true email
http://www.geocities.com/jacksonmacd/ for info on MS Access security

--
ja************* *@telusTELUS.ne t
remove uppercase letters for true email
http://www.geocities.com/jacksonmacd/ for info on MS Access security

[David W. Fenton]

vo***********@g mail.com wrote in
news:11******** **************@ b28g2000cwb.goo glegroups.com:

I have database with names on which I want to use the soundex
option. So I have created two seperate fields for the Lastname and
Firstname in which
I save the Soundex version of a new name I save in the database.
I have the soundex code with the 6 numeric option. So I save for
example in the field
LastnameSE = 600192 and in the FirstnameSE = 545910.

If it returns a number, it's not actually Soundex.

Should these Soundex fields be numeric or text fields?

I can't see that it makes much difference. The only reason to go
numeric is if there can be leading zeros.

--
David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/
usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/

[Bob Quintal]

jacksonmacd <ja************ ***@telus.netwr ote in
news:ok******** *************** *********@4ax.c om:

numeric

Never.

Soundex is an alpha-numeric code Therefore it must be stored in
a text field, if stored at all.

From http://vbnet.mvps.org/ and search for soundex.

Every Soundex code consists of a letter and three numbers, such
as B-536 (which also happens to represent names like 'Bender').

Secondly, unless you add, substract, multiply or divide a
number, it should be stored as a text string.

Thirdly, attributes such as soundex which can be readily
calculated should not be stored at all, but returned in a
function from the stored lastname or fisrtname when needed.

>
On 30 Jul 2006 03:30:55 -0700, vo***********@g mail.com wrote:

>>Hi All,

I have database with names on which I want to use the soundex
option. So I have created two seperate fields for the Lastname
and Firstname in which
I save the Soundex version of a new name I save in the
database. I have the soundex code with the 6 numeric option.
So I save for example in the field
LastnameSE = 600192 and in the FirstnameSE = 545910.

Should these Soundex fields be numeric or text fields?

Marco

--
ja************* *@telusTELUS.ne t
remove uppercase letters for true email
http://www.geocities.com/jacksonmacd/ for info on MS Access
security

--
Bob Quintal

PA is y I've altered my email address.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

[Lyle Fairfield]

Soundex is an alpha-numeric code Therefore it must be stored in

a text field, if stored at all.

Is this a good thing?

Am I correct that most common adaptations of the algorithm will produce

Fairfield -F614
Pharefield -P614

while if we used all numerics we would have
1614
for both?

I suppose that in the 19th century the F and P were very helpful for
manual or paper searches. But today, many Access users and developers
have progressed into the latter stages of the twentieth century.
Perhaps that alpha differentiation is no longer so helpful.

Of course, there may be some great reason for the initial alpha
character. I shall be happy to hear it.

[Bob Quintal]

"Lyle Fairfield" <ly***********@ aim.comwrote in
news:11******** **************@ p79g2000cwp.goo glegroups.com:

>Soundex is an alpha-numeric code Therefore it must be stored
in a text field, if stored at all.

Is this a good thing?

There are much better phonetic coding systems that have been
developed. But in any case something calculable should not be
stored.

>
Am I correct that most common adaptations of the algorithm
will produce

Fairfield -F614
Pharefield -P614

Yes. That is the definition of the Soundex code. But they have
their own names. You might argue that Soundex, like Kleenex, has
become a generic descriptor, but we're getting off the topic.

while if we used all numerics we would have
1614
for both?

Or adaptations that convert the Ph to an F, yielding F614 for
both variants. I'm sure you've seen Mark Twain's plan for the
improvement of spelling.
http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/87/2094.10.html

I suppose that in the 19th century the F and P were very
helpful for manual or paper searches. But today, many Access
users and developers have progressed into the latter stages of
the twentieth century. Perhaps that alpha differentiation is
no longer so helpful.

Of course, there may be some great reason for the initial
alpha character. I shall be happy to hear it.

Yes, so would I. However, it doesn't change my opinion that text
is the correct field type.

--
Bob Quintal

PA is y I've altered my email address.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

[vonclausowitz]

My soundex only returns numbers. I use the Daitch-Mokotoff algorithm, 6
character result

Marco

David W. Fenton schreef:

vo***********@g mail.com wrote in
news:11******** **************@ b28g2000cwb.goo glegroups.com:

I have database with names on which I want to use the soundex
option. So I have created two seperate fields for the Lastname and
Firstname in which
I save the Soundex version of a new name I save in the database.
I have the soundex code with the 6 numeric option. So I save for
example in the field
LastnameSE = 600192 and in the FirstnameSE = 545910.

If it returns a number, it's not actually Soundex.

Should these Soundex fields be numeric or text fields?

I can't see that it makes much difference. The only reason to go
numeric is if there can be leading zeros.

--
David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/
usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/

[Mike Gramelspacher]

In article <11************ *********@m73g2 000cwd.googlegr oups.com>,
vo***********@g mail.com says...

My soundex only returns numbers. I use the Daitch-Mokotoff algorithm, 6
character result

Marco

Marco,

Where can a person obtain a Visual Basic implementation of the Daitch-
Mokotoff algorithm? Most of what I do is genealogy related.

Mike Gramelspacher