RE: Help with address labels please

[Eric Rhee <erhee@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I am frustrated by this also.  What I have done, after creating my list is
to output the file using the Innovative label version, export to Excel,
choose comma delimited, add a column, move the last name into the column,
delete the now empty column. We have no company names in our patron
database. I would venture that most libraries don't and come to think of it
the label version shouldn't invert those anyway should it?? and they
wouldn't be comma delimited anyway.  Jr.  and Sr. have ' .' so delimiting by
comma doesn't snag them, nor are hyphenated names affected. Still, it is
convoluted and I follow a written sequence of about 20 steps so I don't
loose my place!  I will be happy to mail a copy  of my Excel steps as I
don't think I kept an electronic version.   We always scan it manually just
to be safe since we do it for fund raising purposes. I would highly
recommend this quality control step as I am constantly amazed at the
creativity of my staff despite the fact that we have trained them and have a
convention for inputting. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Zhou, Don [mailto:dzhou@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 12:11 PM
To: IUG INNOPAC List
Subject: RE: Help with address labels please


Bob and Melora:

Actually, there is a way to do it in perl to only flip the patron name
field.  In Innovative, patron name(both first and last name) is exported
as one field, and the last name is separated by comma, basically what
you need to do is to separate the first comma from the rest of the name.
Sr. Jr are exceptions to the rule which can be easily dealt with.
Company names are harder. 

I think what Bob is talking about is the problem when the data string is
first being accepted and translated by PW. But if you break it up in two
processes since you already have it in text file and you still want to
use PW, this is the way to go: process with perl and then run it through
PW using the init files, or as suggested by one message, using mail
merge, or do it purely in perl to format.


Don Zhou
William Mitchell College of Law

-----Original Message-----
From: innopac-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:innopac-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob Rasmussen
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 1:22 PM
To: IUG INNOPAC List
Subject: Re: Help with address labels please

On Thu, 29 Apr 2004, Norman, Melora wrote:

> Hello.  We have created a text file with patron addresses.  We have
> purchased and installed Print Wizard. We have the laser label stock we
want
> to use. Now, can somebody possibly help us print the actual labels to
a
> laser printer?  I've searched the archives and web site and can't find
a
> how-to.

I have also had some private communication with Melora, but will address
some issues on-list in the interest of general exploration.

The organization is extracting the appropriate information for
name-and-address labels, I believe with "Create Lists". They sent me a
sample of what gets delivered via FTS mail.

First, there may be an issue of layout. Print Wizard (PW) is able to
position the lines of text in any regular label layout. We include
sample
"init files" that do this for various label stock. Melora, if you're
having trouble with this, let me know.

Another issue, that has been mentioned on-list before, is the name
format.
The data coming from III is in "Last, First" format. They would like it
in
"First Last" format. This has proved problematic.

I first set out to use PW's regular expression replacement capability to
rearrange the name, by dividing the line where the comma appeared.
Although I succeeded in doing that, it messed up other things. For
instance, the input
   Rasmussen, Bob
   10240 SW Nimbus, Suite L9
   Portland, OR 97223
would come out
   Bob Rasmussen
   Suite L9 10240 SW Nimbus
   OR 97223 Portland

That is, replacements would take place on every line, not just on the
name
line. PW simply has no capability of distinguishing one line of the
label
from another.

Furthermore, my associate who has wrangled names before points out that
it
is not very reliable to simply switch at the comma. Names don't all work
the same. There could be "Rasmussen Software, Inc." or "Blow, Joe, Jr.",
etc. I suspect, therefore, that it is not a good idea to try to
rearrange
names with a simple replacement operation.

Regards,
....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.

personal e-mail: ras@xxxxxxxxxx
 company e-mail: rsi@xxxxxxxxxx
          voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time)
            fax: (US) 503-624-0760
            web: http://www.anzio.com
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