Zoho Deluge: Proper Case for Names

: Joel Lipman; Zoho; 13 July 2023; Hits: 2008

What?
This is an open article without any completion in mind; to set the proper case of a name, as in capitalize the first letter, lower case the rest but then with exceptions.

Why?
Some of the Zoho Apps are incredibly case-sensitive and consider some records containing people's names as duplicates, when actually they are the same entity but may have uppercased a letter in their name while the other entry does not...

This article is a start and adaptation of my previous article Convert to Proper Case in T-SQL which I had previously used for the migration of a HR system. This is intended to work using Zoho Deluge.

How?
There are a number of combinations that I won't have thought of but the below code sufficed for my current task, common English and some European names:

copy raw

//
// set first and last name
v_FirstName = "BILLIE-JO";
v_LastName = "MCDONALD-O'LEARY ii OF CAMBRIDGE-worcester-OXFORD";
//
// let's deal with double or triple barrelled first names
v_FirstName = v_FirstName.replaceAll("-", " :|JOEL|: ", true).proper();
v_FirstName = v_FirstName.replaceAll(" :|JOEL|: ", "-", true);
//
// Names starting with Mc, O', D', I'
l_ExceptionPrefixes = {"Mc", "O'", "D'", "I'"};
//
// deal with double barrelled surnames
l_FormattedLastName = List();
l_LastNameParts = v_LastName.toList("-");
for each v_LastNamePart in l_LastNameParts
{
	//
	// default to proper
	v_LastNamePart = v_LastNamePart.proper();
	//
	// if exception prefixes
	for each v_Prefix in l_ExceptionPrefixes
	{
		if(v_LastNamePart.indexOf(v_Prefix)==0)
		{
			v_LastNamePart = v_LastNamePart.replaceFirst(v_Prefix,v_Prefix + " :|JOEL|: ", true).proper();
			v_LastNamePart = v_LastNamePart.replaceAll(" :|joel|: ", "", true);
		}
	}
	//
	// add back to our hyphen separated list
	l_FormattedLastName.add(v_LastNamePart);
}
v_LastName = l_FormattedLastName.toString("-");
//
// affix exceptions
l_Exceptions = {" II", " III", " the ", " de ", " of ", " van "};
for each v_Exception in l_Exceptions
{
	v_LastName = v_LastName.replaceAllIgnoreCase(v_Exception, v_Exception, false);
}
//
// join all together
v_FullName = trim(v_FirstName + " " + v_LastName);
info v_FullName;
//
// yields: Billie-Jo McDonald-O'Leary II of Cambridge-Worcester-Oxford

//
// set first and last name
v_FirstName = "BILLIE-JO";
v_LastName = "MCDONALD-O'LEARY ii OF CAMBRIDGE-worcester-OXFORD";
//
// let's deal with double or triple barrelled first names
v_FirstName = v_FirstName.replaceAll("-", " :|JOEL|: ", true).proper();
v_FirstName = v_FirstName.replaceAll(" :|JOEL|: ", "-", true);
//
// Names starting with Mc, O', D', I'
l_ExceptionPrefixes = {"Mc", "O'", "D'", "I'"};
//
// deal with double barrelled surnames
l_FormattedLastName = List();
l_LastNameParts = v_LastName.toList("-");
for each v_LastNamePart in l_LastNameParts
{
//
// default to proper
v_LastNamePart = v_LastNamePart.proper();
//
// if exception prefixes
for each v_Prefix in l_ExceptionPrefixes
{
if(v_LastNamePart.indexOf(v_Prefix)==0)
{
v_LastNamePart = v_LastNamePart.replaceFirst(v_Prefix,v_Prefix + " :|JOEL|: ", true).proper();
v_LastNamePart = v_LastNamePart.replaceAll(" :|joel|: ", "", true);
}
}
//
// add back to our hyphen separated list
l_FormattedLastName.add(v_LastNamePart);
}
v_LastName = l_FormattedLastName.toString("-");
//
// affix exceptions
l_Exceptions = {" II", " III", " the ", " de ", " of ", " van "};
for each v_Exception in l_Exceptions
{
v_LastName = v_LastName.replaceAllIgnoreCase(v_Exception, v_Exception, false);
}
//
// join all together
v_FullName = trim(v_FirstName + " " + v_LastName);
info v_FullName;
//
// yields: Billie-Jo McDonald-O'Leary II of Cambridge-Worcester-Oxford