Re: PostgreSQL Top 10 Wishlist

"rlee0001" <robeddielee(at)hotmail(dot)com> writes:
>> > example. For example:
>> > In: 123 456-7890
>> > Out: (123) 456-7890
>> > Stored As:
>> > PHONE = (Virtual Function, with Regexp input parser)
>> > AREA_CODE = 123
>> > PREFIX = 456
>> > SUFFIX = 7890
>> > It would be interesting. Combine with item 9 above and you can make
>> > "name" output in a structured format like "Last, First". Vb.Net's IDE
>> > does this in the properties list for nested properties.
>>
>> So, create a type that does that. PostgreSQL is extensible. It's got
>> data types for ISBNs, Internet addresses and even an XML document type.
>> Compared to that a simple phone number field would be trivial.
>
> Actually I might try to have a go at it just for fun at home. Here at
> work I just don't have the ability to create types (AFAIK).

The trouble with the phone number idea is that the above doesn't match
with any relevant standards.

The one thing that *would* match a standard would be ITU-T
Recommendation E.164: "The International Public Telecommunication
Numbering Plan", May 1997.

2.5. Telephone Numbers

Contact telephone number structure is derived from structures defined
in [E164a]. Telephone numbers described in this mapping are
character strings that MUST begin with a plus sign ("+", ASCII value
0x002B), followed by a country code defined in [E164b], followed by a
dot (".", ASCII value 0x002E), followed by a sequence of digits
representing the telephone number. An optional "x" attribute is
provided to note telephone extension information.

Thus, the structure would break the phone number into three pieces:

1. Country code
2. Telephone number
3. Extension information (optional)

My phone number, in EB164 form, looks like:
+01.4166734124

What you seem to be after, here, would confine your telno formatting
to telephone numbers for Canada and the United States, and would break
any time people have a need to express telephone numbers outside those
two countries.

It would be quite interesting to add an EB164 type, as it could
represent phone numbers considerably more compactly than is the case
for plain strings. The 20 digits permissible across 1. and 2. could
be encoded in... 68 bits.
--
output = ("cbbrowne" "@" "cbbrowne.com")
http://www3.sympatico.ca/cbbrowne/nonrdbms.html
"It is easier to optimize correct code, than correct optimized code"
-- Yves Deville