FileMaker Pro Custom Functions

/* SmarterProper is designed to handle names better than the standard Proper function. It returns text with the first letter of each word capitalized - like Proper does - but unlike Proper, it also: (1) keeps any letters in the middle of words capitalized (if they were preceeded by a lowercase character in the original); (2) capitalizes letters after an apostrophe (for names like O'Malley) - but only if the remaining text is longer than one character (to correctly format words like Didn't and It's); (3) capitalizes the first letter of the second part of a hyphenated name; (4) capitalizes letters after any prefixes you specify (e.g., Mc, Mac). Syntax: SmarterProper( inText; prevCase; textSoFar; prefixList ) inText = the original text prevCase = a number representing the case of the preceeding character (for recursion); it should be set to 2 to capitalize the first character of the text, or 0 if you want the first character of the text to be lowercase textSoFar = the text string at this piont in the recursion; it should be set to empty when the function is called prefixLIst = list of prefixes that should be followed by a capital letter (a return-delmiited list) Examples: SmarterProper ( "MACDONALD"; 2; ""; "Mc¶Mac" ) returns MacDonald SmarterProper ( "LaMond"; 2; ""; "Mc¶Mac" ) returns LaMond (rather than Lamond) SmarterProper ( "o'shea"; 2; ""; "Mc¶Mac" ) returns O'Shea SmarterProper ( "SMITH-THOMAS"; 2; ""; "Mc¶Mac" ) returns Smith-Thomas */ Let ( [ firstChar = Left ( inText; 1 ); newText = Right ( inText; Length ( inText ) - 1 ); textSoFar = textSoFar & firstChar; /* newCase is the value for prevCase passed to the next recusion - it should be set to 2 (= capitalize) if the current character is a space, if the current character is an apostrophe followed by more than one character, or if textSoFar is found in the prefixList (i.e. that the text at this point in the recursion is on the list of prefixes the user wants to be followed by a capital letter) */ newCase = Case ( prevCase = 0 and IsEmpty ( textSoFar); 0; firstChar = " " or firstChar = "-" or not IsEmpty ( FilterValues( textSoFar; prefixList ) ); 2; firstChar = "'" and Length ( inText ) > 2; 2; firstChar = "'" and Middle ( inText; 2; 1 ) = " "; 2; Exact ( firstChar; Upper ( firstChar ) ) ) ] ; Case ( Length ( inText ) < 1; inText; /* if char is a space, just leave it as such */ firstChar = " "; firstChar & SmarterProper ( newText; newCase; textSoFar; prefixList ); /* note: prevCase should be 2 when the function is called if you want the initial character to be capitalized */ prevCase = 2; Upper ( firstChar ) & SmarterProper ( newText; 1; textSoFar; prefixList ); /* if the character is capitalized and previous character was not, leave it capitalized */ prevCase = 0 and newCase = 1 ; Upper ( firstChar ) & SmarterProper ( newText; newCase; textSoFar; prefixList ); /* otherwise the character should be lowercase */ Lower ( firstChar ) & SmarterProper ( newText; newCase; textSoFar; prefixList ) ) )
 Then copy & paste into FileMaker Advanced's Edit Custom Function window.