Name Object:Config Example

From Melissa Data Wiki
Revision as of 16:45, 19 February 2014 by Tim (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

; mdName.cfg – the NameObject configuration file

; If you’ve ever wanted to change the behavior of how the NameObject parses, genderizes,
; or creates salutations for certain names, you’ll need to understand how to edit the
; mdName.cfg file. This file is used to add, change or remove entries from the API’s
; stock name tables compiled into the distributed mdName.dat file.

; For detailed definitions and usage see the actual config file, or the documentation


; The content of this file can be used as the actual mdName.cfg file. Just save the
; unformatted text and rename to mdName.cfg. Alternately, you can just cut and paste
; the below examples into the actual file. Any line beginning with semi-colon is a
; comment, and has no effect on processing. The uncommented lines are actual
; examples of the respective name type.


; [Prefix] - List of name prefixes.
; Format is <Prefix>, <Sex>, <Dual Expansion>, <Case>
; Proprietary prefixes can cause names to be split incorrectly and name patterns to be
; misidentified.

; example – change ‘zm phil jackson’ to ‘Zen Master Phil Jackson’ (even though he isn’t) [Prefix] zm,M,,Zen Master Mr and Mrs,,Mr ans Mrs,Mr ans Mrs


; [FirstName] - List of first names (used for name splitting, genderizing). ; Format is <First Name>, <Sex>, <Misspelling>, <Rank>, <Case> ; Adding entries in this section helps split and or case uncommon or international names ; that are new to existing census or database lists.

[FirstName] Timotee,7,x,,Timotee Deshawn,7,x,,DeShawn -HARDY

; [FirstNameFix] - List of misspelled first names and their corrections. ; Format is <Misspelling>, <Correction> ; Why not just make a spelling correction above, in the [FirstName] <Case> parameter ? ; Because, sometimes we want the FirstName additions to help in splitting, but aren’t sure of a ; name correction (maybe ‘Mr. Timotee Smith’ is his correctly spelled name). ; Setting the FirstNameSpellingCorrection property tells the NameObject to also use these ; entries to correct misspelled names

[FirstNameFix] Timotee,Timothy


; [LNPrefix] - List of last name prefixes ; Format is <Last Name Prefix>, <Case> ; This example will help identify the ‘Ze’ in ‘Frank Ze Bond’ as part of the last name, ; not a middle name

[LNPrefix] ze,Ze


; [LastName] - List of last names. ; Format is <Last Name>, <Rank>, <O-Name>, <Case> ; Adding entries here is useful for special casing Last Names. It can also be used to identify ; solitary “O’s” as an indicator of an Irish Last name. Now an example like “joe o jeep” is ; assumed you want to parse this name as “Joe O’Jeep” but “Joe Ojeep” should not be parsed ; as an Irish Name. If you wanted to add an Irish last name by flagging the solitary “O” and ; a concatenated string like “Joe O Spence” and “Joe Ospence” as “Joe O’Spence” add it as ; below…

[LastName] Legrandless,,,LeGrandless ojeep,,X,Ojeep ospence,,X,O’Spence


; [Suffix] - List of name suffixes. ; Format is <Suffix>, <Prefix>, <Salutation Remove>, <Dual Name Remove>, <Case> ; Chances are, with mostly full name formats, unrecognized suffixes can get split ; into the Last Name component. By adding an entry here, we will now correctly split ; a record like ‘John Smith, Grand Poohbah

[Suffix] grand poohbah,GrP,,,Grand PoohbaH


; [DualIndicator] - List of dual name connectors. ; Format is <Dual Name Connector>, <Delete> ; the practical example ‘Trustee for’ is already in the distributed data file, so a less probable ; example: ‘john smith married susan jones’

[DualIndicator] married


; [Suspect] - List of suspicious words & phrases. ; Format is <Word/Phrase>, <Indicator> ; these words still get parsed, but the error code will identify them as vulgar, a company identifier ; or suspect. There may even be a pre-existing entry which you may later determine to be ; a real name. Example: my new boss is ‘Fred Scat’. Ouch. ; NOTE: no <case> parameter for this table

[Suspect]

frakkin,V shoes,C joe the plumber,S -scat ABC,C ZZX,C DUZ,C




; When an input name is flagged with a [Suspect] company indicator, you may choose ; to pass that input into the StandardizeCompany method. The following two table ; overrides allow you to apply special casing to the returned company.


; [Acronym] - These entries (4 letters or less) are NOT Acronyms and will be proper cased ; when passed through the StandardizeCompany method ; Format is <Lookup> ; <Lookup> = A short word that you do not want uppercased like an Acronym

; example. The following may actually represent a company name, not an acronym ; like ‘Duz Brothers Inc’, so we don’t want it all capitalized

[Acronym] DUZ

; [Company] - Words and phrases from company names that do not follow common casing rules. ; Format is <Company>, <Case> ; <Company> = The lookup word which requires special casing ; <Case> = The way this lookup word should be cased

; example: These entries should be identified as Companies in the [Suspect] section (see above) ; When the StandardizeCompany method is called, the following substitutions should be made ; when the identified company is actually ‘ABC ZZx’, not ‘Abc Zzx’ [Company] ABC,ABC ZZX,ZZx


; [DualPattern] - List of dual name patterns. ; This one is much more advanced than the others, and should not be edited without ; contacting support. While editing the other above entries would affect that particular word, ; editing here could negatively affect your entire process.

; Format is <Pattern>, <Counts>, <Name Types>, <Split Type>

; P?&P?,> >,1,1 already exists and helps split ‘Mr. Smithhh and Mrs. Smithhh’ ; or ‘Mr. Johnnn Smithhh & Dr. Maryy Lynne Smithhhh’ ; ?F&?PF,,6,2 already exists and helps split ‘Smithhhh, John and Dr. Mary’



; Although you may not find the examples here impractical, test them out on sample data ; to see how this alternate config file changes NameObject results. And if you ever come up with ; common edits we have over-looked, please let us know, we are always trying to make the ; API even more accurate.