Telephone number and address verification

Question

Hi all!

I'm wondering if anyone has used this program to verify telephone numbers or addresses that have been submitted - just to make sure that what we're putting in that we think is a telephone number/ address actually is.

I've been thinking about the process to use, and I've come up with 2 options for the telephone number verification, but I'm not sure how to implement them. First, I thought that I'd be able to keep a database of all known numbers and cross-check any numbers that come into the system to see if they're present in this list. I also thought that I'd be able to run the specific number through a set of rules that all telephone numbers in the United States follow (10 digits, area code can't begin with a 0 or 1, etc.). But I'm not sure how to cross-check a number against a database or send a number through a set of validation rules.

I'd really appreciate any insight to this! Thanks so much!

haddock · Answer

Hi there, In RM you can do this by using a filter that applies a parsing rule, in the form of what is called a "regular expression". Regular expressions are strings that act as templates. Libraries of strings for parsing telephone numbers already exist, and tools for making your own are available ( I use RegexBuddy ); doing Regexes without such assistance can be a little brisk ;D Anyways, here's an example to show how easy this is, once you've got your Regex sorted out... Have fun!