Posted by Scott Marquardt on 09/25/05 04:14

Scott Marquardt opined thusly on Sep 24:
> John Bell opined thusly on Sep 24:
>> Hi
>>
>> If you are not writing a new interface then you are probably better using a
>> fixed notation. Such as InvoiceNumber/VendorAcronym/Status. If each part is
>> a fixed length then you don't need a separator, but it may help the users
>> differentiate the different parts. I would have expect that you can
>> determine the fact that an invoice is a referral by a different means.
>
> Well, we could get into "I would have expected" exchanges, or we can skip
> the stuff I already know -- and posted in the original post. With all due
> respect, "duh."
>
> Good grief. Outta here.

John., I'm going to apologize for a short temper there. It was born of
impatience.

My principal interest was in hearing how anyone else might PARSE the field
to recover the data. Erland's trigger idea isn't bad for WHAT I do with it.

"Invoice for 1/2 inch puce widgets and a can of beans, 100-3123@WidgetMart"

"Refund for can of beans, 100-3123&WidgetMart"

The second one would need to be tagged as a referral to the first one. But
if that's my basic technique, they're parse out the same way.

--

Scott

[Back to original message]