Pre-Parser module: Format phone number field

[invectus]

Hi there,

I'm hoping this is easy to accomplish. Unfortunately, my hands are still dirty with tones of PHP beginner lessons and I still need some basic help sorting things out.

I have a web form that collects personal data such as names and phone numbers.

I would like to be able to reformat the data entered in the phone number field when it's not formated the standard way.

Here's how it should be entered: (555) 555-5555. If the user fails to enter it that way, the Submission Pre-Parser module should correct it.

I don't want to overload the page with javascripts/jquery to create an automatic mask. I can't use CSS styles either, because I'm using them for something else.

Any help will be appreciated.

[Ben]

Hey Invectus,

Sure, no problem! Users can enter the characters in any old way, so you need to think up all the different scenarios.

I'd approach it like this:
1. Strip out all non-numeric characters
2. Depending on the length of the string, do different things. If it's exactly 10 characters, you know the user conscientiously entered the area code + full phone number. If it's 11, they entered the long distance "1" as well. If it's only 7 chars, they omitted the area code.

If it's something else...??? Who knows! Users will ALWAYS find a way to screw it up, so we need to take care of those cases too.

Here's some code you can enter into your Submission Pre-Parser rule:

PHP Code:

$phone = $_POST["phone"];
$phone = preg_replace("/\D/", "", $phone);
$num_chars = strlen($phone);

$formatted_phone_num = "";
if ($num_chars == 10) {
    $formatted_phone_num = "(" . substr($phone, 0, 3) . ") " . substr($phone, 3, 3) . "-" . substr($phone, 6, 4);
} else if ($num_chars == 11) {
    $formatted_phone_num = substr($phone, 0, 1) . " (" . substr($phone, 1, 3) . ") " . substr($phone, 4, 3) . "-" . substr($phone, 7, 4);
} else if ($num_chars == 7) {
    $formatted_phone_num = substr($phone, 0, 3) . "-" . substr($phone, 3, 4);
} else {
    $formatted_phone_num = $phone;
}

$_POST["phone"] = $formatted_phone_num; 


That will take care of those scenarios I mentioned, and if the phone number is a non-standard length, it'll just leave it alone. You WILL need to update the $_POST["phone"] key with whatever your phone number field is called.

Hope this helps!

- Ben

[invectus]

Hey Invectus,

Sure, no problem! Users can enter the characters in any old way, so you need to think up all the different scenarios.

I'd approach it like this:
1. Strip out all non-numeric characters
2. Depending on the length of the string, do different things. If it's exactly 10 characters, you know the user conscientiously entered the area code + full phone number. If it's 11, they entered the long distance "1" as well. If it's only 7 chars, they omitted the area code.

If it's something else...??? Who knows! Users will ALWAYS find a way to screw it up, so we need to take care of those cases too.

Here's some code you can enter into your Submission Pre-Parser rule:

PHP Code:

$phone = $_POST["phone"];
$phone = preg_replace("/\D/", "", $phone);
$num_chars = strlen($phone);

$formatted_phone_num = "";
if ($num_chars == 10) {
    $formatted_phone_num = "(" . substr($phone, 0, 3) . ") " . substr($phone, 3, 3) . "-" . substr($phone, 6, 4);
} else if ($num_chars == 11) {
    $formatted_phone_num = substr($phone, 0, 1) . " (" . substr($phone, 1, 3) . ") " . substr($phone, 4, 3) . "-" . substr($phone, 7, 4);
} else if ($num_chars == 7) {
    $formatted_phone_num = substr($phone, 0, 3) . "-" . substr($phone, 3, 4);
} else {
    $formatted_phone_num = $phone;
}

$_POST["phone"] = $formatted_phone_num; 


That will take care of those scenarios I mentioned, and if the phone number is a non-standard length, it'll just leave it alone. You WILL need to update the $_POST["phone"] key with whatever your phone number field is called.

Hope this helps!

- Ben

As always Ben, very helpful advice and I like the logic behind it.

It worked like a charm.

Thanks a bunch buddy.

Cheers,

Invectus