Concatenation Problem

Question

Hi,
i'm having an issue with concatenating 4 string fields into 2 variables.  User fills out form LastName; FirstName; MI; Suffix (Jr., Sr., etc.).  i grab these with an onblur event and rebuild the names to a 'reverse name' and a 'full name'.  If the Suffix is empty (< 1) don't add commas or the Suffix.  If it has an entry add commas.  My problem is that it always adds commas.  i can't figure out why.
Code looks like this:
=================================
var vRevName = getField("revname");              //var p = getField("revname");
var vReqEmail = getField("reqemail");            //var q = getField("reqemail");
var vLname = getField("Lname");                  //var r = getField("Lname");
var vFname = getField("Fname");                  //var s = getField("Fname");
var vMI = getField("MI");                        //var t = getField("MI");
var vSuffix = getField("Suffix");                //var u = getField("Suffix");
var vRank = getField("Rank");                    //var v = getField("Rank");
var vFullName = getField("fullname");            //var w = getField("fullname");
//Create e-mail name from typed name
if (vRank.value != 'Ctr') {
   vReqEmail.value = vFname.value + '.' + vLname.value + '@abc.com';}
else {
   vReqEmail.value =  vFname.value + '.' + vLname.value + '[email protected]'[email protected]';}
//Create 'reverse' and 'full' name from typed name
if (vSuffix.length < 2) {
    vRevName.value = vLname.value + ', ' + vFname.value + ' ' + vMI.value + '., ' + vSuffix.value;
    vFullName.value = vLname.value + ', ' + vFname.value + ' ' + vMI.value + '., ' + vSuffix.value + ', ' + vRank.value;}
else {
    vRevName.value = vLname.value + ', ' + vFname.value + ' ' + vMI.value + '.';
    vFullName.value = vLname.value + ', ' + vFname.value + ' ' + vMI.value + ', ' + vRank.value;}
=================================
i've tried testing the vSuffix for blank, < 1, > 0, and every permutation i can think of but even with NO suffix i still get a vRevName and vFullName with commas where i don't want them.
vRevName = Hominygrits, Hojo B., , CMSgt
vFullName = Hominygrits, Hojo B.,
i'm sure it's something i'm overlooking, but can't see.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Dave

Answer 1

One may also need to deal with missing name fields or a no value field like the MI or Suffix and having to adjust for the missing not use the following separator for the missing data
This can be addressed by document level functions to concatenate the fields and add the separater as required. And then create a function to build the necessary strings form the forms fields.
// document level scripts
// Concatenate up to 3 strings with an optional separator where needed
function fillin(s1, s2, s3, sep) {
Purpose: concatenate up to 3 strings with an optional separator
inputs:
s1: required input string text or empty string
s2: required input string text or empty string
s3: required input string text or empty string
sep: optional separator string
returns:
sResult concatenated string
// variable to determine how to concatenate the strings
  var test = 0; // all strings null
  var sResult; // result string to return
// force any number string to a character string for input variables
  s1 = s1.toString();
  s2 = s2.toString();
  s3 = s3.toString();
// if sep is missing - null the sep parameter
  if (sep == undefined) sep = '';
assign a binary value for each string present
and adds this value to compute a value used to
determine which action to be taken.
The value is computed using a binary representation for present(1) and not present(0).
  if (s1 != "") test += 1; // string 1 present add binary value: 001
  if (s2 != "") test += 2; // string 2 present add binary value: 010
  if (s3 != "") test += 4; // string 3 present add binary value: 100
  /* return appropriate string combination based on
  calculated test value as a binary string
  switch (test.toString(2)) {
  case "0": // no non-empty strings passed - binary 0
     sResult = "";
  break;
  case "1": // only string 1 present - binary 1
     sResult = s1;
  break;
  case "10": // only string 2 present - binary 10
     sResult = s2;
  break;
  case "11": // string 1 and 2 present - binary 1 + 10
     sResult = s1 +  sep +  s2;
  break;
  case "100": // only string 3 present - binary 100
     sResult = s3;
  break;
  case "101": // string 1 and 3 - binary 1 + 100
     sResult = s1 + sep +  s3;
  break;
  case "110": // string 2 and 3 - binary 10 + 100
     sResult = s2 + sep + s3;
  break;
  case "111": // all 3 strings  - binary 1 + 010 + 100
     sResult = s1 + sep + s2 + sep + s3;
  break;
  default: // any missed combinations
     sResult = "";
  break;
return sResult;
function BuildNames() {
var vLname = this.getField("Lname").value;                  //var r = getField("Lname");
var vFname = this.getField("Fname").value;                  //var s = getField("Fname");
var vMI = this.getField("MI").value;                        //var t = getField("MI");
if (vMI != '') vMI +='.';  // add ".'
var vSuffix = this.getField("Suffix").value;                //var u = getField("Suffix");
var vRank = this.getField("Rank").value;                    //var v = getField("Rank");
var vReqEmail = '';            //var q = getField("reqemail");
var vFullName = '';
var vRevName = '';
// minimum field names for building concatenated strings
if(vRank != '' & vFname != '' & vLname != '') {
console.println(vRank + ' '  + vFname + ' ' + vMI + ' ' + vLname + ' ' + vSuffix);
//Create e-mail name from typed name
if (vRank != 'Ctr') {
   // First.Last
   vReqEmail = fillin(vFname, vLname, '', '.');
   // (First.Last)@abc.com
   vReqEmail = fillin(vReqEmail,'@abc.com', '', '');
   } else {
   // [email protected]
   vReqEmail =  fillin(vFname, vLname, '[email protected]', '.');
//Create 'full' name from typed name
// First MI Last
vFullName = fillin(vFname, vMI, vLname, ' ');
// (First MI Last), Suffix, Rank
vFullName = fillin(vFullName, vSuffix, vRank, ', ');
// Create RevName
// First MI   
vRevName = fillin(vFname, vMI, '', ' ');
// Last, (First MI), Suffix
vRevName = fillin(vLname, vRevName, vSuffix, ', ');
// (Last, First MI, Suffix), Rank
vRevName = fillin(vRevName, vRank, '', ', ');
// fill in fields with built strings
this.getField("reqemail").value = vReqEmail;
this.getField("fullname").value = vFullName;
this.getField("revname").value = vRevName;
return;
// end of doucment level scripts
Then one only needs to call the "BuildNames()" function in each of the input name and rank fields. The fields will fillin when the minimum amount of data is present and adjust for a missing MI. One would use the following scirpt in the "On Blur" action:
// fillin the name fields
BuildNames();