English Name Sanitiser (Commercial Module)

[netcarver]

Please note: This post refers to a commercial package for PHP that includes a module for ProcessWire.

If you have to deal with name data on a day-to-day basis then you know what a mess people can make of typing names. If your business prides itself on good formatting – for stationary, labels, email or nametags – then the English Name Sanitiser package for PHP & Processwire can help you keep things well formatted.
 

Background

 
About five years ago I got involved with selling books online via various storefronts such as Amazon, Play, Abebooks and Alibris. Day after day we'd get orders from customers and, quite frankly, the formatting of the Ship-to name field was a mess. A big mess. Some people typed "jenny smith", others "JANE DOE", some "jASON yARDLEY" and still others would write "No invoice" after their name. A few actually formatted their names right.
 
As a business that prided itself on neat formatting of our postage labels - and because dealing with customers and the local post-office about missing parcels is a pain - I decided to start sanitising incoming names to not only make them look good to the customer when they received them but also to make the names and addresses as clearly and unambiguously readable as possible for postal workers.
 
I initially thought that it would be an easy problem to fix - just run each name through mb_convert_case() but it turned out to be a more difficult than anticipated as PHP's methods of converting case handles several situations in a pretty unsatisfactory manner; names like McGregor or O'Donnel, company names and names with missing spaces following punctuation ("john h.jones" etc.) Here's a quick comparison of how PHP and the NameSanitiser do with some problem names...

 

(The whole list is available under the "Tell Me More" button on QBox.co)

Over four years later I've decided to release the English Name Sanitiser as a commercial offering that makes it easy to format English names (it includes a PW Textformatter.) The package itself includes a stand-alone sanitisation file that you can use in other PHP projects so it is in no way limited to just PW installations.

 

Licenses are available for individual sites, developers or agencies/institutions and, as I still sell books via Amazon and use this package in my sales system, it is being actively maintained.

 

Visit QBox.co now to learn more.

[adrian]

Great work Steve - this is one of my pet peeves too - I can never understand people's laziness when it comes to typing their name correctly. I have a couple of different stores that would definitely benefit from this!

[apeisa]

Steve, great idea. I am wondering why not release this also as non pw class? I think the current market for this is very small if thinking only ProcessWire.

[netcarver]

@adrian

Thanks! Good to know I'm not the only one who likes names well formatted.

@apeisa

Thanks Antti. Actually, the sanitiser is already a stand-alone PHP class. The package being sold on QBox.co includes a PW Textformatter which makes it really easy to use in your PW projects.

[netcarver]

It is with regret that, due to the new draconian EU VAT laws that are coming into force from 1st January 2015, I will cease to trade digitally from QBox.co from the 20th December until I can see a clear way forward through this mess.

Let me assure existing customers that I continue to develop and support this module and you will continue to receive updates whenever they are released.

I'm currently considering my options about how to go forward with this. I can still sell to anyone outside the EU directly - just send me a private message via the forum and I'll do my best to accommodate you. For folks in the UK and the EU I may have to revert to selling my code as a paper printout mailed to your physical location and everyone who purchases the listing/license getting free access to online erratta (in installable format.) Whatever I do I'll have to make some changes to my processes so QBox will be closed over the Christmas/New Year period at the very least.

If you are interested in getting this as an instant digital download before the changes come into force, please order before the 20th December as if, and when, I do start selling this product again the price will be higher and it will probably be less environmentally friendly too.

[netcarver]

Updated the last post to change the date to the 20th Dec. - no need to act quite so soon.