[FX.php List] [OFF] levenshtein and related methods for user helper

[david weiner]

Yes Troy, that's exactly what I was thinking of. We do a thing we call  
the Quick Find in just about every FM job where we index every word  
and every letter in sequences so you get a matrix for the entry:
Orchid Flower
Orchid Flowe
Orchid Flow
Orchid Flo
Orchid Fl
Orchid F
Orchid  (with space)
Orchid (without space)
Orchi
Orch
Orc
Or
O

and then I suppose you can run your matches against that and other  
similar criteria like username and ask if they want to add a new  
cultivar or edit an existing one.

Just random thoughts, but if you use the Filemaker end for other stuff  
I thought this kind of functionality might be helpful anyway and you'd  
get more mileage for your effort.

- David


On Apr 22, 2009, at 1:01 PM, Troy Meyers wrote:

> David,
>
> I've considered some sort of AJAX-type interface, perhaps like type- 
> ahead, that could aid in spelling. I think the user must always be  
> able to enter things that wouldn't be known by a type-ahead method,  
> though, because often the donor is just referring to a plant tag  
> that arrived with the plant years ago, frequently misspelled or  
> partly obliterated.
>
> I haven't tried to go up the AJAX learning-slope yet, though.
>
> Maybe you are suggesting something like this? The Missouri Botanical  
> Garden has an interface like this that I envy. Take a look at:
> http://www.tropicos.org/
> Start typing, in the Quick Name Search: box, something like this:
> Cischweinfia popowiana
> ...and you can see how it helps. I'd like that. They have a huge  
> list of recognized botanical name, obviously, and have some nice  
> code for accessing it. Just to clarify the amount of data involved,  
> they cover more or less ALL plant species. Here, we only do orchids,  
> and there are about 80,000 of them (depending on if you are a lumper  
> or splitter) and generally numerous synonyms for each.
>
> Is this like what you were suggesting?
>
> Actually, one more comment about that, I don't want to make it TOO  
> easy for a donor to select a previous registration. I want them to  
> put some thought into it when they decide if it's previously  
> registered or not. If a previously registered plant is sort of  
> chosen for them by the interface, then it'd be likely that hurried  
> or lazy donors might go with the choice even if it's actually a  
> different plant of the same species, something we certainly do NOT  
> want them to do.
>
> -Troy
>
>
>> Hi Troy,
>>
>> I haven't thought this through completely, but it might be faster to
>> develop and maybe have more use depending on how you use the  
>> Filemaker
>> interface, to build dynamic match lists in filemaker that then are
>> carried over to php. For instance, it's not that hard to build a
>> similar items kind of list based on known criteria in filemaker that
>> could be part of your entry screen so you would build in a kind of
>> navigation tool that does some proactive error checking on data  
>> entry.
>>
>> - david
>
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