Using Phonetic Matching to move Excel Data into a Database

Abstract

String and Name matching applications can provide powerful capabilities for
easily identifying records belonging to specific individuals. This can prove
very useful in moving legacy data such as in Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets
into an existing database. In Visual FoxPro, you could use either the
SOUNDEX() or the DIFFERENCE function for this purpose. This article
demonstrates a brief application of the DIFFERENCE command and its use in
matching names to retrieve account IDs from a Visual FoxPro Table. It also
demonstrates how data previously stored in an Excel spreadsheet is moved
into tables in a Visual FoxPro Database.

Introduction

Many situations can occur in real-life applications that will require string
matching. For examples, you may know the name of a person but not the
unique Account ID of the person. Making an exact match of the first name or
any other names for that matter may not work especially in countries where
there is no standard name spelling! For example, in Ethiopia, the same name
could be spelt in three different ways. Take the following examples:

Helena and Helina

In this situation, you can use string matching to find out if names are
phonetically similar so that you could then use decide is you had found the
right person. Using Visual FoxPro’s DIFFRERENCE command, you can
determine if two words sound the same. This function powerfully rescued us
in just one such situation with consistently 98% of above accuracy!

In our integrated Schools Management System application, End-of-Year

master marks lists prepared in Excel needed to be imported into the Marks
list table. These master Marks list did not contain column for Student IDs. A
sample of the master marks list is shown later under the section Our
Database later in this article.

This meant that the only way to match a mark entry on the spreadsheet to
the correct student record in the system is by matching the names. It was not
practical to make the teachers update the spreadsheet because of the sheer
number of homerooms and number of students involved. Moreover, because
most of the teachers knew Ms Excel and had already prepared their roasters
using Excel, this presented the most effective way to get the data directly
from the Excel spreadsheet into FoxPro database.

So how will this work; step-by-step? Lets see how:

 1. Step 1: You will need to declare and initialize variables that you will be
using in your code. We declared the following variables:

* Declare Variables used

LOCAL oEx AS Object,cSex as Character,intTerm as Integer,intAge as
Integer,cBatchCode as Character
LOCAL cMsg as Character,ws AS Object,intCols AS Integer
LOCAL intRows as Integer ,cFile AS Character,intCnt as Integer
LOCAL intStudsInClass as Integer,cCurrName as Character

LOCAL nScore ,nExamTotal ,nExamAvg

lOCAL intRankInClass as Integer,cBehaviour as Character,intDaysAbs as
Integer,cDropOut as Character,cPromoted as Character
LOCAL cDetained as Character
LOCAL cRC as Character
LOCAL intRecNumb as Integer
LOCAL cFirstName AS Character
LOCAL cLastName as Character
LOCAL cStudName as Character
LOCAL intNoOfStuds as Integer
LOCAL cRFirstName as character
LOCAL cRMiddleName as Character
LOCAL intFirstRank as Integer
LOCAL intSecRank as Integer
LOCAL cCourseName as Character
LOCAL cParamCode as Character
LOCAL nParamVal1 as Number
LOCAL cParamVal2 as Character
LOCAL cBatchCode as Character
LOCAL nTotPossMarks as Number
LOCAL lCurricular as Logical
LOCAL cStudCode as Character

SET EXACT ON

DIMENSION arrSubjs(22,1)

STORE 0 TO
intRows,intCols,intCnt,intStudsInClass,intTerm,intAge,intRecNumb,nScore
,nExamTotal,nExamAvg,intRankInClass,intDays
STORE 0 TO intFirstRank,intSecRank,nParamVal1,nTotPossMarks
STORE "" TO
cFile,cMsg,cCurrName,cSex,cBatchCode,cRC,cDropOut,cPromoted,cDetained,c
Behaviour,cFirstName,cMiddleName,cStudName
STORE "" TO
cFirstName,cLastName,cRFirstName,cRMiddleName,cBatchCode,cParamVal2,cSt
udCode

These variables are used to hold data obtained from the Excel
spreadsheet so that these can be evaluated prior to conversion. The
variable oEX is used to hold the reference to the Microsoft Excel object,
cFileis used to obtain the name, path and location of the Microsoft
Excel file to be processed. The Variable intRows represents the total
number of rows in the excel spreadsheet while intCols represents the
total number of columns to be processed. Another most important
variable here is the array variable arrSubjs declared with the
DIMENSION command. This will be used to hold subject header detail
read back from the spread sheet. This will then be later appended from
to the cursor TSubjs using the APPEND FROM ARRAY command. Of
course, you will naturally have to create an interface so that users can
enter the academic year to be processed and the grace and class to be
processed. Our interface looks something like fig 1.

Fig 1: the End of Term Report form that users may use to enter the data
they want. The Grade to be processed is entered in the starting grade
(spnStartGrade) field. The specific section in the Class field (txtClass).
The academic year is entered in the Academic Year fields
(txtAcdStartYear and txtAcdEndYear) and the user simply clicks the

import excel spreadsheet button. The finished form when run

should look as in Figure 2:
 Fig 2. An example of the End of Term Report window when run with
data entered for Grade 10C. For more information on the tables and
fields being processed, see our Database later in this article

2. Step 2: Because the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet is already created and

saved in the Microsoft Excel 2007-2003 format, we will need to open
the file and create an Automation object from it using Visual FoxPro’s
GetObject() Function as in the following line of code:
* Obtain the file name and path to be processed...Excel Files only
cFile = GETFILE("XLS","Enter Excel file to import","Excel
Roaster")
THISFORM.lblStatus.Caption = "*** Now obtaining headers from
spreadsheet...Please Wait***"
oEX = GETOBJECT(cFile)

In this case, the GETFILE() function displays the open file dialog box so
that the user can select an Excel file. The GetObject() function opens
the file and creates an Excel automation object from it. The reference
to the object is stored to the object variables oEX! Now that we have
an object variable to this line of code, we can set and obtain property
values for the object just as we would with any other object.
3. Step 3: We need to determine the subjects that will be processed. This
is important because different school years will take different subjects.
The fifth row on the spreadsheet as shown contains the list of subjects.
Since Students can be graded only for subjects that have already been
defined in the schools management system database, we will need to
read these back from the spreadsheet and then obtains the correct
subject IDs from the Subjects table within the application system. Also,
we will check the teacher’s timetable defined in the system to enable
us obtain the name and ID of the teacher taking the subject for the
defined school year. In the piece of code shown below, a FOR…
ENDFOR loop is the principal and fastest loop that could have been
used to iterate the cells of the Excel Spreadsheet. In each iteration
through the loop, the array, arrSubjs is updated with the value returned
from the Excel Spreadsheet. You can create a temporary table to hold
the list of subjects by entering the following code:

* Now Determine the subjects you will be processing and then read
* them from the Excel Spreadsheet into the Array and then create a
cursor with them
FOR intCols = 7 TO 28 && These columns contain Column Numbers
and Dates

cMsg = oEX.ActiveSheet.Cells(4,intCols).Value
IF RTRIM(UPPER(cMsg)) <> "T REMARK"
*intCnt = intCnt = 1
*DIMENSION arrSubjs(intCnt,1)
 arrSubjs(intCols - 6 + 1,1) = cMsg
*arrSubjs(intCnt,1) = cMsg
ENDIF
ENDFOR
* Create a cursor and put the subjects you found into them to make it
easier to process
CREATE CURSOR TSubjs (CourseCode c(20),TotPossMarks N(3,2),Curricular
L,CourseName c(50),EmployeeCode c(15),EmployeeName c(50))
SELECT TSubjs
APPEND FROM ARRAY arrSubjs

USE sYSUBJECTS IN 0
USE AdmTeachSubj IN 0
SELECT TSubjs
GO TOP
SCAN
SELECT SySubjects
GO TOP
LOCATE FOR ALLTRIM(UPPER(SySubjects.CourseName)) =
ALLTRIM(UPPER(TSubjs.CourseCode))
IF FOUND()
REPLACE TSubjs.CourseCode WITH SySubjects.CourseCode
REPLACE TSubjs.CourseName WITH Sysubjects.CourseName
REPLACE TSubjs.TotPossMarks WITH SySubjects.TotPossMarks
REPLACE TSubjs.Curricular WITH SySubjects.Curricular
ENDIF
SELECT AdmTeachSubj
GO TOP
LOCATE FOR ALLTRIM(UPPER(AdmTeachSubj.CourseCode)) =
ALLTRIM(UPPER(TSubjs.CourseCode)) ;
AND AdmTeachSubj.Grade = THISFORM.spnStartGrade.Value ;
AND AdmTeachSubj.Class = THISFORM.txtClass.Value ;
AND AdmTeachSubj.CurrYear = THISFORM.txtAcdStartYear.Value AND
AdmTeachSubj.NextYear = THISFORM.txtAcdEndYear.Value
IF NOT FOUND()
THISFORM.lblstatus.Caption = "*** Stop Error-Subject: " +
RTRIM(TSubjs.CourseCode) + " has not been defined for Grade: ";
+ ALLTRIM(STR(THISFORM.spnStartGrade.Value)) +
THISFORM.txtclass.Value
*strMsg = "This subject has not been defined for this
class!"
*MESSAGEBOX(strMsg,MBINFO,chrProgTitle)
*RETURN
ELSE
REPLACE TSubjs.EmployeeCode WITH AdmTeachSubj.EmployeeCode
REPLACE TSubjs.EmployeeName WITH AdmTeachSubj.EmployeeName
ENDIF

SELECT TSubjs
ENDSCAN
USE IN SySubjects
USE IN AdmTeachSubj
 4. Step 4: Create a temporary cursor into which you will then read-back
the records from the Excel spreadsheet. The versatile CREATE CURSOR
statement achieves this because it allows you to define the exact fields
to be contained in the temporary table as well as their attributes. Once
you have created the temporary table, you can perform all types of
operations with it such as APPEND (add new records), DELETE
(remove existing records), LOCATE (Search for and match
existing records) and so on. We have used a CREATE CURSOR
instead of a CREATE TABLE because Visual FoxPro removes the
temporary table once you have finished using it – beautiful is it not?
This was created with the following commands:

* Now Begin the Actual Process of reading the data from the array into
the system
* 1) Create a Cursor to hold the records you are reading back
CREATE CURSOR TStudMarks(BatchCode c(20),StudCode c(20),StudName c(20),;
Sex c(1),BirthDate D,Age I,Grade I,ClassCode c(1),AcdStartYear
I,AcdEndYear I,Term I,;
CourseCode c(10),CourseName c(25),Employeecode c(15),EmployeeName
c(50),TotPossMarks N(3,2) DEFAULT 100,Curricular L,;
ExamMark N(3,2) DEFAULT 0,ExamAvg N(3,2),Behaviour c(1),NoOfStuds
I,RankInClass I DEFAULT 0,GradeCode c(2),;
NoteCode c(2),PromStatus c(10),DaysAbs I DEFAULT 0)

5. Step 5: The second step is to create a temporary cursor that contains

relevant records from the students master table already in the
application database. Notice how the richness of the Microsoft Visual
FoxPro Language and its tight coupling with data achieves this with a
simple SELECT INTO CURSOR statement and the COUNT function
elegantly returns the total number of students in the cursor. The total
number of records returned must match the Grade, Class, and
Academic Year that you entered in the data collection form. This will
also enable us compute the total number of records to be processed.
This was achieved with the following piece of code:

* Compute the Total number if students in the class

* We need a list of Student Names to use to parse
cMsg = "SELECT Distinct
StudentCode,FirstName,MiddleName,StudentName,BirthDate FROM AcdStudents
WHERE AcdStudents.Grade = " +
ALLTRIM(STR(THISFORM.spnStartGrade.Value));
+ " AND AcdStudents.Class = '" + THISFORM.txtClass.Value + "' AND
(AcdStudents.Status = 'ADMITTED' OR AcdStudents.Status = 'Active' OR
AcdStudents.Status = 'SUSPENDED') INTO CURSOR TStuds"
&cMsg
SELECT TStuds

* Calculate the total number of students in the table

* This helps us determine the total number of excel rows
* that we shall have to loop through to read exam grade mark details
COUNT TO intStudsInClass
IF intStudsInClass <= 0
cMsg = "There are no students in this class!"
MESSAGEBOX(cMsg,MBINFO,chrProgtitle)
RETURN
ENDIF
intNoOfStuds = intStudsInClass
intStudsInClass = intStudsInClass * 4 && For example, 4 Quarters in the
master marks list for each student

6. Step 6: Read the records from the Excel Spreadsheet and update the
TStudMarks Cursor created earlier. Once you have populated this table,
you can update the Students master marks list table. This was
achieved with the following piece of code:

FOR intRows = 5 TO intStudsInClass && The total number of rows will

equal total number of records you expect to process
FOR intCols = 1 TO 35 && No of columns in the Worksheet
DO CASE
CASE intCols = 1 && This is the S/No column...we are
not interested
LOOP
CASE intCols = 2 && This is the name column...if the
name has changed then we are processing for a new person...make sure of
this
cMsg = oEX.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,2).Value
&& We assume that Column 2 is always the name
IF ISNULL(cMsg)
LOOP
ENDIF
THISFORM.lblStatus.Caption = "Now processing
records for " + cMsg
IF NOT ISBLANK(cMsg) && Row is not blank
IF ALLTRIM(UPPER(cMsg)) <>
ALLTRIM(UPPER(cCurrName))
* we are procerssing for someone
new...get the name so that we can update the database with it
cCurrName = cMsg
cSex =
oEx.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,3).Value && We assume that Column 3 is
always sex on the spreadsheet
IF UPPER(ALLTRIM(cSex)) = "SEX"
&& This must be a header row
intCols = 35
LOOP
ENDIF
 intTerm =
oEx.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,5).Value && We assume that column 4 is
Age and 5 is always the quarter
nTotal =
oEX.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,28).Value && Total Column is 28
nExamAvg =
oEX.Activesheet.Cells(intRows,29).Value && Exam Avg is 29
intRankInClass =
oEx.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,30).Value && Student's Rank is column
30 on the Excel Spreadsheet
cBehaviour =
oEx.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,31).Value
intDaysAbs =
oEx.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,32).value
cPromoted =
oEx.Activesheet.Cells(intRows,33).Value
cDetained =
oEX.Activesheet.Cells(intRows,34).Value
cDropOut =
oEx.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,35).Value
* We are not interested in the
Yearly Averages
IF TYPE('intTerm') = 'C'
IF ALLTRIM(UPPER(intTerm)) =
"AV." && This is the Av eraging row...ignore it
LOOP
ENDIF
IF ALLTRIM(UPPER(intTerm)) =
"QUARTER" && This is a page Header Row
intCols = 35
LOOP
ENDIF
LOOP
ENDIF && IF intTerm
ENDIF && If
Alltrim(Upper(cMsg))
LOOP && Go back to to so we can increment
to next col
ENDIF
CASE intCols > 5 && We are beginning to process the
actual subject data
* 1) We need to obtain the subject name from
the Subject cursor...
* Since the subjects were stored according to
Column number order, this should be easy
* to enable us do this, we have to determine
the record number in the TSubjs cursor.
* this is important because when we read back
the column headers, we did not
* discriminate between a subject Header column
and a T-ReMark Column in which
* case inside the cursor, Record one, contains
a valid Subject Header 'Amharic'
* but record 2 contains T Remark (not a subject
but the teacher's remark on the
* students performance on the Amharic Subject),
Record 3 Contains 'English', a
 * valid subject header and record 4 again
contains T-Remark and so on.
* Please note that the approach below is done
to help you understand how the
* record numbers are computed. but a better way
to compute the position of
* a valid subject header in the table is the
formular used below the SELECT TSubjs
* command but commented out
SELECT TSubjs
IF intCols % 2 = 0
* This is an even number...Add 1 to it to
obtain the record number
intRecNumb = (intCols % 6) + 1
ELSE
intRecNumb = (intCols % 6)
ENDIF

GO intRecNumb && Move to the specified

record
cCourseCode = TSubjs.CourseCode
cCourseName = TSubjs.CourseName
cEmployeeCode = TSubjs.EmployeeCode
cEmployeeName = TSubjs.EmployeeName
nTotPossMarks = TSubjs.TotPossMarks
lCurricular = TSubjs.Curricular
IF TYPE('cCoursecode') = "L"
IF cCourseCode = .F.
* This is not a sibject
LOOP
ENDIF
ENDIF
IF intCols >= 6 AND intCols <= 28
* obtain the Term for the record you are
creating
intTerm =
oEx.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,6).Value && We assume that column 4 is
Age and 5 is always the quarter
IF TYPE('intTerm') = 'C'
IF ALLTRIM(UPPER(intTerm)) =
"AV." && This is the Av eraging row...ignore it
LOOP
ENDIF
IF ALLTRIM(UPPER(intTerm)) =
"QUARTER" && This is a page Header Row
intCols = 35
LOOP
ENDIF
LOOP
ENDIF && IF intTerm

* 2) Now Obtain Score and subject

information for that subject
nScore =
oEX.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,intCols).Value
* 3) Now obtain the remark code
 intCols = intCols + 1
cRC =
oEX.Activesheet.Cells(intRows,intCols).Value
intRankInClass =
oEx.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,30).Value
IF ISNULL(intRankInClass)
intRankInclass = 0
ENDIF
intDaysAbs =
oEx.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,31).value
IF ISNULL(intDaysAbs)
intDaysAbs = 0
ENDIF
ENDIF
IF intCols > 28 && This is a totls column, we
must go to
LOOP && next row
to read info for another term/quarter
ENDIF
IF intCols = 28 && this is the total column
*nTotal =
oEX.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,28)
ENDIF
IF intCols = 29 && This is the students exam
average
*nExamAvg =
oEX.Activesheet.Cells(intRows,29)
ENDIF
IF intCols = 30 && Rank in Class
*intRankInClass =
oEx.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,30)
ENDIF
IF intCols = 31 && Conduct
*cBehaviour =
oEx.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,31).Value
ENDIF
IF intCols = 32 && Number of days absent this
quarter
*intDaysAbs =
oEx.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,32).value
ENDIF
IF intCols = 33 && Promoted Clumn
*cPromoted =
oEx.Activesheet.Cells(intRows,33).Value
ENDIF
IF intCols = 34 && Detained Column
*cDetained =
oEX.Activesheet.Cells(intRows,34).Value
ENDIF
IF intCols = 35 && This is the Drop Out Column
*cDropOut =
oEx.ActiveSheet.Cells(intRows,35).Value
ENDIF
* We will now append the record to the
TStudMarks Cursor
SELECT TStudMarks
APPEND BLANK
 cBatchCode = "NEW" + ALLTRIM(STR(RECCOUNT()))
REPLACE TStudMarks.BatchCode WITH cBatchcode
REPLACE TStudMarks.StudCode WITH cStudCode
REPLACE TStudMarks.Studname WITH cCurrName
IF UPPER(ALLTRIM(cSex)) = "F"
REPLACE TStudMarks.Sex WITH "FEMALE"
ELSE
REPLACE TStudMarks.Sex WITH "MALE"
ENDIF
REPLACE TStudMarks.Age WITH intAge
REPLACE TStudMarks.Grade WITH
THISFORM.spnStartGrade.Value
REPLACE TStudMarks.ClassCode WITH
THISFORM.txtClass.Value
REPLACE TStudMarks.AcdStartYear WITH
THISFORM.txtAcdStartYear.Value
REPLACE TStudMarks.AcdEndYear WITH
THISFORM.txtAcdEndYear.Value
REPLACE TStudMarks.Term WITH intTerm
REPLACE TStudMarks.CourseCode WITH cCourseCode
REPLACE TStudMarks.CourseName WITH cCourseName
REPLACE TStudMarks.Employeecode WITH
cEmployeeCode
REPLACE TStudMarks.EmployeeName WITH
cEmployeeName
REPLACE TStudMarks.TotPossMarks WITH
nTotPossMarks
REPLACE TStudMarks.Curricular WITH lCurricular
REPLACE TStudMarks.ExamMark WITH nScore
REPLACE TStudMarks.ExamAvg WITH nExamAvg
REPLACE TStudMarks.Behaviour WITH cBehaviour
REPLACE TStudMarks.NoOfStuds WITH intNoOfStuds

REPLACE TStudMarks.RankInClass WITH intRankInClass

REPLACE TStudMArks.DaysAbs WITH intDaysAbs
* REPLACE TStudMarks.GradeCode WITH cGradeCode
REPLACE TStudMarks.NoteCode WITH cRC
IF cPromoted = "Y"
REPLACE TStudMArks.PromStatus WITH "PROMOTED"
ELSE
REPLACE TStudMArks.PromStatus WITH "REPEATED"
ENDIF
ENDCASE
ENDFOR
ENDFOR
SELECT TStudMarks && Make TStudMarks the current active work area
GO TOP

The above piece of code is a rather long piece of code is it not? So

what is happening here? There are two loops that guarantee that we
shall obtain all the information we need. The first or outer loop is the
intRows loop that counts up to intStudsInClass. This allows us to loop
through all rows in the spreadsheet. A second loop nested within this
loop is the intCols loop that ensures that we loop through all columns
in the spreadsheet so that the mark entry details for all subjects
 isread-in. A DO CASE…ENDCASE structure lets us decide what column
we are processing! If the value of intCols is 1 (one) then this is the No
(Serial No) column field in the spreadsheet, we do not need this so use
the LOOP clause of the FOR NEXT…ENDFOR loop to cause the loop to
iterate prematurely, thus incrementing intCols to 2 (two). If the value
of intCols is 2 (two) then we reading the name of the student. Because
each student will have four rows (four terms) of student marks, it is
important to determine if we have started processing a new student so
as to acquire the valid information (term, quarter, etc) from the
spreadsheet and this is what the next few statements do. We are not
interested in the average row so we will make the loop repeat again.
Now that we have determined the student being processed, we need to
determine the exact columns being processed and subject columns
begin from column 6 (CASE intCols > 5). The current column being
processed determines the subject we are reading back. For example, if
you are processing Column 6 or 7 then we can obtain the subject name
by moving to record 1 on the TSubjs cursor created earlier. If intCols is
8 or 9 then we must move to record 3 in TSubjs cursor. This is how we
achieve this (as already shown on the code sample above):
SELECT TSubjs
IF intCols % 2 = 0
* This is an even number...Add 1 to it to
obtain the record number
intRecNumb = (intCols % 6) + 1
ELSE
intRecNumb = (intCols % 6)
ENDIF

The subject headers are in the cursor TSubjs. TSubjs contains all
entries on Row 4 beginning from Column 6 to column 27. If you
examine the code that created and populated the cursor, you will
notice that the code does not discriminate between an actual subject
header or what is a teacher remark (though it out to). This means that
your TSubjs cursor looks like this:
RecNo CourseCode
1 Amharic
2 T Remark
3 English
4 T Remark
5 Math
6 T Remark
7 Biology
8 T Remark
9 Chemistry
10 T Remark
11 Physics
 12 T Remark
13 History
14 T Remark
15 Geography
16 T Remark
17 Computer
18 T Remark
19 Civics
20 T Remark
21 H & PE
22 T Remark

This table shows that each subject has two entries! The subject itself
and its teacher remark (T Remark) code. In the above piece of code,
we use the modulus (% OR MOD) function that returns a remainder. So
if the value of intCols % 2 is zero (0) then we need to add one to the
value returned to obtain the right subject header in the TSubjs cursor
else we shall use the value returned as it is. The statement GO
intRecNumb moves us to the correct row in the TSubjs cursor so that
the correct data is retrieved and stored in memory variables such as
cCourseCode, cCourseName, etc for easy usage,

The next statement will process all rows between columns 6 and 28
(intCols >=6 AND intCols <= 28). It will read back the score for each
subject from the Excel spreadsheet, storing the value obtained in the
memory variable nScore and the exam ranking for each student,
storing it in the memory variable intRankInClass and so on!

Once the relevant information has been read back, the lines SELECT
TStudMarks, APPEND BLANK and those that follow it will populate the
TStudMarks cursor. This is the first step – populating the TStudMarks
cursor with the records found in the Excel Spreadsheet. The next step
shall be to populate TStudMarks cursor with the correct ID’s and Birth
Dates from the TStuds cursor that contains a list of students drawn
from the Students Master List table AcdStudents. Step 7 covers how to
perform this action,

7. Step 7: Obtain the Student IDs from the Students Master Table. As you
will notice, the Excel spreadsheet does not have a column for Student
ID! So we need to use phonetic matching (names that sound the same)
to match the names obtained from the spreadsheet to the names
contained in the Students Master table for the students of the specified
grade and class. Phonetic Matching helps us achieve this by using the
DIFFERENCE command that returns a number between 1 to 4 to
indicate the level of similarity of pronunciation between two words. The
 higher the number returned, the greater the similarity in
pronunciation. This was achieved using the following code:

* Now process the students record by matching first and last names
THISFORM.lblStatus.Caption = "Now matching names and Student
IDS...Please wait!"

**** This code was designed to help us find student ID codes by

phonetic matching
**** i am commenting is out because we have decided to add a column for
Student ID
**** to the Ms excel Data Grid Object
SCAN
cStudName = UPPER(RTRIM(TStudMarks.StudName))
intCol = RAT(cStudName,CHR(32),1)
cFirstName = LEFT(cStudName,intCol)
cLastName = RIGHT(cStudName,LEN(cStudName) - intCol)
* Now Match the record in the Students master table
THISFORM.lblStatus.Caption = "Now matching " + cStudName
SELECT TStuds
GO TOP
SCAN
cRFirstName = UPPER(RTRIM(TStuds.FirstName)) + " " +
UPPER(RTRIM(TStuds.MiddleName))
intFirstRank = DIFFERENCE(cStudName,cRFirstName)
cMsg = "Comparing " + cStudName+ " to " + cRFirstName + " With
this result rank: " + ALLTRIM(STR(intFirstRank))
THISFORM.lblStatus.Caption = cMsg
IF intFirstRank >= 3
cMsg = TStuds.StudentCode
SELECT TStudMarks
REPLACE TStudMarks.StudCode WITH cMsg
REPLACE TStudmarks.BirthDate WITH TStuds.BirthDate
cRFirstName = ""
cRMiddleName = ""
cMsg = ""
EXIT
ENDIF
ENDSCAN
ENDSCAN

SELECT TStudMarks && Make TStudMarks the current active cursor

In the above piece of code, the intFirstRank >=3 determines if we accept

a match or not. If you wanted a match that is as close as possible, you
could use the value 4, being the highest value returned by the
DIFFERENCE function.

8. Step 8: Update the Students Marks List table on your master database
with the details that you have collected into the temporary cursor
TStudMarks. You can do this with the following piece of code:
* Now that we have matched the ID's, we need to update the
* For each record in the cursot, find the matching record
* in the AcdStudMark table. if the record exists then a mark
* entry already exists...make changes to it else just create it
THISFORM.lblStatus.Caption = "Now preparing to update master marks
list...Please wait!"
cBatchCode = ""
IF NOT USED("AcdStudMarks")
USE AcdStudMarks IN 0
ENDIF
SELECT TStudMarks
GO TOP
SCAN
cMsg = "Now updating " + TStudMarks.StudName + " - " +
TStudMarks.courseCode + " Term " + ALLTRIM(STR(TStudMArks.Term))
THISFORM.lblstatus.Caption = cMsg
SELECT AcdStudMarks
GO TOP
LOCATE FOR ALLTRIM(AcdStudMarks.StudentCode) =
ALLTRIM(TStudMarks.StudCode) ;
AND ALLTRIM(AcdStudMarks.CourseCode) =
ALLTRIM(TStudMArks.CourseCode) ;
AND AcdStudMarks.Grade = TStudMArks.Grade ;
AND AcdStudMarks.Class = TStudMArks.ClassCode;
AND AcdStudMarks.AcdStartYear = TStudMarks.AcdStartYear ;
AND AcdStudMarks.AcdEndYear = TStudMarks.AcdEndYear;
AND AcdStudMarks.Term = TStudMarks.Term
IF NOT FOUND() && Record does not exist in the Marks Entry
table...create it
STORE "" TO cParamCode,cParamVal2,cBatchCode
STORE 0 TO nParamVal1

* Generate a New BatchCode

cParamCode = "AcdStudMarkNo"
nParamVal1 = 0
cParamVal2 = ""
lAnswer =
THISFORM.CMSysParm21.GetParameter(cParamCode,nParamVal1,cParamVal2,chrP
rogTitle)
IF NOT lAnswer
THISFORM.lblstatus.Caption = "*** Stop Error-Error
occurred generating mark entry number ***";
+ " for student: " + RTRIM(AcdStudSubj.StudentCode) +
"!***"
ROLLBACK
strMsg = "Error occurred generating mark entry
number!"
MESSAGEBOX(strMsg,MBEXCLAMATION,chrProgTitle)
RETURN
ENDIF
cBatchCode = ""
cBatchCode = ALLTRIM(chrBranchCode)
cBatchCode = ALLTRIM(cBatchCode) +
ALLTRIM(STR(MONTH(datSystDate)))
 cBatchCode = ALLTRIM(cBatchCode ) +
ALLTRIM(STR(DAY(datSystDate)))
cBatchCode = ALLTRIM(cBatchCode) +
ALLTRIM(STR(YEAR(datSystDate)))
cBatchCode = ALLTRIM(cBatchCode) + ALLTRIM(STR(nParamVal1))
SELECT AcdStudMarks
APPEND BLANK
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.BatchCode WITH cBatchCode
ENDIF
* Record exists in the Marks entry table...save changes to it
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.StudentCode WITH TStudMarks.StudCode
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.StudentName WITH TStudMarks.StudName
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.Sex WITH TStudMarks.Sex
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.BirthDate WITH TStudMarks.BirthDate
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.Age WITH TStudMarks.Age
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.Grade WITH TStudMarks.Grade
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.Class WITH TStudMarks.ClassCode
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.AcdStartYear WITH TStudMarks.AcdStartYear
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.AcdEndYear WITH TStudMarks.AcdEndYear
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.Term WITH TStudMarks.Term
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.CourseCode WITH TStudMarks.CourseCode
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.CourseName WITH TStudMarks.CourseName
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.EmployeeCode WITH TStudMarks.EmployeeCode
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.EmployeeName WITH TStudMarks.EmployeeName
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.ExamMark WITH TStudMarks.ExamMark
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.Examavg WITH TStudMarks.ExamAvg
replace AcdStudMarks.Behaviour WITH TStudMarks.Behaviour
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.NoOfStuds WITH TStudMarks.NoOfStuds
REPLACE AcdStudMarks.DaysAbs WITH TStudMarks.DaysAbs

ENDSCAN

THISFORM.lblstatus.Caption = "*** Process Complete ***"

Our Database:

If you want this little system to run then you will also have to reconstruct the
database. We created a Visual FoxPro Database (you could call it any name
and then added the following tables to it:
SyGradeCodes is the table that holds the list of school grades managed by
your school. SyGradeCodes is a part of your data environment.
SyTeacherNotes is a table that holds standard Teacher remark codes. These
should general contain the same codes as those entered on the T Remark
fields on the spreadsheet. These will be verified during the conversion. We
did not add this table to the data environment but instead opened it with a
USE Statement. The SySubjects table holds the list of subjects being taught
to students. When we read a subject name from the Excel spreadsheet, we
check this table to obtain its CourseCode, Total possible marks (TotPossMarks)
and whether or not it is a curricular subject (Curricular). We did not add this
table to our data environment but just used a Use statement as the need
arose.
These tables should be added to your form’s data environment. AcdStudents
is the Students Master Table. AcdStudMarks holds the students school grade
marks for every term. AdmTeachSubj is the teacher’s timetable, used to verify
the name and ID of the teacher taking a specified subject for the given term
(required information on a Report Card printed from the system). We also
have the following tables:

The sample spreadsheet from which the data was imported looks like this:
Conclusion:

After building the form shown above, simply drop a command button onto the
form and then copy and paste all of the code examples shown in this article.
Of course, you would need to build the associated tables as well.

The objective of this article has been to demonstrate the integration and
conversion of existing date in Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets into tables in a
Microsoft Visual FoxPro database where exact matching keys don t exist with
a fair degree of accuracy by using the DIFFERENCE function provided by VFP.
We recognize that the richness of the Visual FoxPro Language means that this
could be achieved in many different ways; yet this little write-up contributes a
little to the literature on this subject. User friendliness can be employed with
this sample in many ways. For example, you may want to give your users the
ability to define the structure of their master marks list excel spreadsheet
(after all the format may not remain the same for ever) and the format may
differ from one school to the other) and so on.

The Visual FoxPro Programming language is rich and its database engine very
powerful thus allowing you to build the most robust applications quickly. The
phonetic matching capabilities using the DIFFERENCE function provides a
powerful avenue to integrate existing software and convert existing data from
those formats (in this example, Microsoft Excel) into the application system.
Careful selection of the commands and functions to use can allow you to
build the most powerful and fastest ‘pure fox’ applications.