Adding names to datalists

As part of datalist management, system administrators might need to add names to datalists as an interim update to the datalist in between periodic refreshes. Because datalists are memory-resident, you can add names to a datalist at any time, even while active searches are accessing the datalist. If an active search is in progress when names are added, the new names can be accessed during subsequent searches on the datalist.

Before you begin

  • The datalist must be configured with the add flag in the IBM® NameWorks configuration file. If not, an error is generated when you try to add names to the datalist.
  • You must know the name of the datalist. (Use the getDatalistNames() method to return a list of all active datalist names.)
  • The name must already be parsed into given name and surname fields. You can use the analyzeForSearch() method to parse the name into fields and classify it, which provides the information you need to add the name to a datalist.
  • If you already have culture information for each name field (given name and surname), you can add the culture code to name as well.

About this task

To add a name to an existing datalist, use the addName() method of the Scoring class of IBM NameWorks and pass the following values:

  • The name of the datalist.
  • The given name and surname values to add to the datalist.
  • The original name parse, the original script for the name (if not expressed in the Roman alphabet), or both. Passing both indicates that this addition should be flagged as an alternate parse for the original name or script.
  • Any supplemental data to be associated with the new name record (This information is a key value to identify additional or supplementary data related to a name, such as a date of birth or a driver's license number. It typically allows more complete information to be retrieved about a matched name. Supplemental data can be used in post-search filtering and weighting. It is also used when updating or deleting names from datalists. All name records that share the same supplemental data are updated or deleted.)
  • The culture codes for the given name and surname (If you do not have these culture codes, pass the value of -1. This value signals the method to classify the culture of the given name and surname name fields first.)

Results

The addName() method adds the name and associated information to the indicated datalist. Passing a value of -1 as a culture code instructs IBM NameWorks to decide the most appropriate culture code automatically for the name.