Phone number format change...

microsoft.public.windows.server.scripting

16 Jan 2007 4:06 PM

kage13

Hello all,

This is my first post in the scripting newsgroup, mainly b/c I am being
thrust into the role of scriptor with absolutely ZERO scripting knowledge.

Anyway, I've been asked to change the format of the phone numbers from
xxx/xxx-xxxx to (xxx) xxx-xxxx. Does anyone know of a way to accomplish this
efficiently? Also please keep in mind that the phone numbers are not all the
same b/c some are direct numbers and others are the main number with the
user's extension following.

TIA,

Ken

16 Jan 2007 4:16 PM

Andrew Watt [MVP]

On Tue, 16 Jan 2007 08:06:02 -0800, kage13
<kag***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

Show quoteHide quote

>Hello all,
>
>This is my first post in the scripting newsgroup, mainly b/c I am being
>thrust into the role of scriptor with absolutely ZERO scripting knowledge.
>
>Anyway, I've been asked to change the format of the phone numbers from
>xxx/xxx-xxxx to (xxx) xxx-xxxx. Does anyone know of a way to accomplish this
>efficiently? Also please keep in mind that the phone numbers are not all the
>same b/c some are direct numbers and others are the main number with the
>user's extension following.
>
>TIA,
>
>Ken

Ken,

Regular expressions is likely the way to go.

To offer any more specific advice it would be helpful to know how the
data is held. Text files? RDBMS? Something else?

How many variants are there for the existing number format?

Andrew Watt MVP

16 Jan 2007 4:42 PM

kage13

Andrew,

Currently I believe that the phone numbers are manually entered into AD once
a phone number has been assigned to a user.
I would 'assume' that our phone system would be able to provide some sort of
text file or spreadsheet of user /phone number associations that could be
used as an input file.
More info. for you is that we have over 2800 users and about 15 locations,
all of which have their own phone system since we are not using VoIP yet.
I guess what I'm after is, is there a way to only script the format change
regardless of the data contained in the field?

TIA.

Show quoteHide quote

"Andrew Watt [MVP]" wrote:

> On Tue, 16 Jan 2007 08:06:02 -0800, kage13
> <kag***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >Hello all,
> >
> >This is my first post in the scripting newsgroup, mainly b/c I am being
> >thrust into the role of scriptor with absolutely ZERO scripting knowledge.
> >
> >Anyway, I've been asked to change the format of the phone numbers from
> >xxx/xxx-xxxx to (xxx) xxx-xxxx. Does anyone know of a way to accomplish this
> >efficiently? Also please keep in mind that the phone numbers are not all the
> >same b/c some are direct numbers and others are the main number with the
> >user's extension following.
> >
> >TIA,
> >
> >Ken
>
> Ken,
>
> Regular expressions is likely the way to go.
>
> To offer any more specific advice it would be helpful to know how the
> data is held. Text files? RDBMS? Something else?
>
> How many variants are there for the existing number format?
>
> Andrew Watt MVP
>

16 Jan 2007 4:56 PM

Andrew Watt [MVP]

When you use regular expressions it's crucial to know what the
structure of the existing data contained in the field is.

I'm pretty sure that one way to do this would be to use Windows
PowerShell *assuming* that the machines have (or can have) .NET
Framework 2.0 installed. Some of the others who hang out on the
microsoft.public.windows.powershell newsgroup would be better equipped
to advise you on the details. If your machines are old (i.e. pre-XP or
Windows Server 2003) using PowerShell is potentially problematic.

Others on this newsgroup may be able to advise you about alternate
approaches.

Whichever scripting technique you use getting the regular
expression(s) just right is crucial.

Andrew Watt MVP

On Tue, 16 Jan 2007 08:42:01 -0800, kage13
<kag***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

Show quoteHide quote

>Andrew,
>
>Currently I believe that the phone numbers are manually entered into AD once
>a phone number has been assigned to a user.
>I would 'assume' that our phone system would be able to provide some sort of
>text file or spreadsheet of user /phone number associations that could be
>used as an input file.
>More info. for you is that we have over 2800 users and about 15 locations,
>all of which have their own phone system since we are not using VoIP yet.
>I guess what I'm after is, is there a way to only script the format change
>regardless of the data contained in the field?
>
>TIA.
>
>"Andrew Watt [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 16 Jan 2007 08:06:02 -0800, kage13
>> <kag***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>
>> >Hello all,
>> >
>> >This is my first post in the scripting newsgroup, mainly b/c I am being
>> >thrust into the role of scriptor with absolutely ZERO scripting knowledge.
>> >
>> >Anyway, I've been asked to change the format of the phone numbers from
>> >xxx/xxx-xxxx to (xxx) xxx-xxxx. Does anyone know of a way to accomplish this
>> >efficiently? Also please keep in mind that the phone numbers are not all the
>> >same b/c some are direct numbers and others are the main number with the
>> >user's extension following.
>> >
>> >TIA,
>> >
>> >Ken
>>
>> Ken,
>>
>> Regular expressions is likely the way to go.
>>
>> To offer any more specific advice it would be helpful to know how the
>> data is held. Text files? RDBMS? Something else?
>>
>> How many variants are there for the existing number format?
>>
>> Andrew Watt MVP

16 Jan 2007 6:20 PM

Richard Mueller [MVP]

You also need to specify which attributes in AD are to be modified. User
objects have the following telephone number attributes, corresponding to
fields on the "Telephones" tab in ADUC:

ADUC field   AD user object attribute
----------   ------------------------
Home         homePhone
    Other    otherHomePhone
Pager        pager
    Other    otherPager
Mobile       mobile
    Other    otherMobile
Fax          facsimileTelephoneNumber
    Other    otherFacsimileTelephoneNumber
IP Phone     ipPhone
    Other    otherIpPhone

The "other" attributes are multi-valued. All accept any string values.

A VBScript program could read and modify any of these, given the rules for
converting from the existing values to the new. To modify the attributes for
all users, I would use ADO to retrieve the Distinguished Names of all users,
and the relevant phone number attributes. In the loop that enumerates the
resulting recordset (one row for each user), convert the numbers. If any
numbers need modification, bind to the user object, assign the new values,
and save the changes.

--
Richard
Microsoft MVP Scripting and ADSI
Hilltop Lab web site - http://www.rlmueller.net
--

Show quoteHide quote

"Andrew Watt [MVP]" <SVGDevelo***@aol.com> wrote in message
news:tm0qq2tuccvnf821ka1eemqdlinh0lv0hd@4ax.com...
> When you use regular expressions it's crucial to know what the
> structure of the existing data contained in the field is.
>
> I'm pretty sure that one way to do this would be to use Windows
> PowerShell *assuming* that the machines have (or can have) .NET
> Framework 2.0 installed. Some of the others who hang out on the
> microsoft.public.windows.powershell newsgroup would be better equipped
> to advise you on the details. If your machines are old (i.e. pre-XP or
> Windows Server 2003) using PowerShell is potentially problematic.
>
> Others on this newsgroup may be able to advise you about alternate
> approaches.
>
> Whichever scripting technique you use getting the regular
> expression(s) just right is crucial.
>
> Andrew Watt MVP
>
> On Tue, 16 Jan 2007 08:42:01 -0800, kage13
> <kag***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >Andrew,
> >
> >Currently I believe that the phone numbers are manually entered into AD
once
> >a phone number has been assigned to a user.
> >I would 'assume' that our phone system would be able to provide some sort
of
> >text file or spreadsheet of user /phone number associations that could be
> >used as an input file.
> >More info. for you is that we have over 2800 users and about 15
locations,
> >all of which have their own phone system since we are not using VoIP yet.
> >I guess what I'm after is, is there a way to only script the format
change
> >regardless of the data contained in the field?
> >
> >TIA.
> >
> >"Andrew Watt [MVP]" wrote:
> >
> >> On Tue, 16 Jan 2007 08:06:02 -0800, kage13
> >> <kag***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> >Hello all,
> >> >
> >> >This is my first post in the scripting newsgroup, mainly b/c I am
being
> >> >thrust into the role of scriptor with absolutely ZERO scripting
knowledge.
> >> >
> >> >Anyway, I've been asked to change the format of the phone numbers from
> >> >xxx/xxx-xxxx to (xxx) xxx-xxxx. Does anyone know of a way to
accomplish this
> >> >efficiently? Also please keep in mind that the phone numbers are not
all the
> >> >same b/c some are direct numbers and others are the main number with
the
> >> >user's extension following.
> >> >
> >> >TIA,
> >> >
> >> >Ken
> >>
> >> Ken,
> >>
> >> Regular expressions is likely the way to go.
> >>
> >> To offer any more specific advice it would be helpful to know how the
> >> data is held. Text files? RDBMS? Something else?
> >>
> >> How many variants are there for the existing number format?
> >>
> >> Andrew Watt MVP