AFD Products: Postcode Manual

AFD Postcode Manual: Find Box and Lookup

FIND BOX & LOOKUP

Postcode Lookups

At the 'Find' box you may enter a simple lookup request - yet powerful search facilities are also available to you - so most address lookups can be done here.

Enter your lookup request, then click the Lookup button - use the shortcut key [Alt]+L - or simply press [Enter]. If your lookup request includes a postcode this is detected, and AFD Postcode will automatically carry out a lookup for you without the need to click Lookup.

Note that only the Lookup Button can be used with the Find Box - the Search Button is used with other searches on the Search Tab (see below).

using the Find Box & Lookup

Please note: AFD Postcode does not contain organisation or property information but allows you to provide this information for any address which you lookup. If you need to verify addresses or find missing postcodes, choose AFD Postcode Plus.

For the fastest results, with minimum typing, enter some information - such as building name or number followed by a postcode. AFD Postcode will then return your property information along with the matching postcode level street, locality, town and county information.

Entering a postcode such as

	B1 1AA	Returns a postcode level address
	282,B11 1AA	Returns a postcode level address complete with the house number of 282 you specified
	AFD Software Ltd, IM8 1RG	Returns a postcode level address complete with the name of 'AFD Software Ltd' as you specified in the Organisation field.

Clicking on the down arrow to the right of the Lookup box allows you to select any of your last 25 Lookups. After selecting one make any modifications necessary, and then click on the Lookup button.

Other Lookups

Where you are not sure of the postcode, Postcode can easily find addresses from other delivery information - the street and town, and most STD codes. See the Search tab for details on more complex searching.

Valid entries are:

	Entry	Example
	Postcode only	B76 8LT
	Postcode with Property Information or Organisation Details (this will simply return information you provide - the program does not contain organisation details)	282, B11 1AA
		AFD Software Ltd, IM8 1RG
		Blyth Hall Farm, B42 2AF
	STD Code	0121
	Street, STD Code	Gosta Green,0121
	Street, STD Code	Terrace Road, 0121
	Street, Town	Barford Street, Birmingham
	Street, Town	Dorset Road,Birmingham

Click the Lookup Button or press the [Enter] key and Postcode will look up the request you've entered.

Please note that Postcode returns a maximum of 300 records from a single lookup. If 300 records are returned you will need to refine your lookup.

Lookup Directives

Postcode also provides a set of lookup directives so that you can force a lookup to look for data in fields you specify rather than the defaults to allow quick searching straight from the lookup box.

In the first half of the text typed into the lookup box (before the comma) the following directives can be used:

Directive	Example	Purpose
O=	O=Royal Bank	Forces text typed to be returned in the Organisation field - otherwise Postcode guesses if it is an organisation or a property for postcode lookups and assumes it's a street for other lookups.
P=	P=High Street	Forces text typed to be returned in the Property field - otherwise Postcode guesses if it is an organisation or a property for postcode lookups and assumes it's a street for other lookups.
S=	S=Barford Street	Forces lookup as a Street Address - the default for non-Postcode searches, but required if you want to search with a street and a postcode.

In the second half of the text typed into the lookup box (after the comma) the following directives can be used:

   Directive   Example   Purpose

   T=   T=BIRMINGHAM Forces text typed to be looked up in the town field (default when postcode/STD Code not typed).

   C=   C=WARWICKSHIRE Forces text typed to be looked up in the county field rather than the town field.

   S=   S=0121 Forces an STD Code (default when detected as such)

P= P=B1 1AA Forces a Postcode (default when detected as such)

Examples List Window

The above examples, along with several others, are available from a special Examples List window, which displays when Postcode is first run - or is available from the View menu (or by pressing [Ctrl]+X). To try out any example in the list, simply double-click it.

The examples help illustrate the types of lookups available in Postcode - including most of the examples quoted in this section of the manual

Skipping

The Edit menu offers a 'Skip to Next Outcode' option. This suppresses the display of more than one record within each outcode and town and can dramatically reduce the number of records to be examined in some types of Lookup or Search.

NOTE: An 'Outcode' is defined by the part of the postcode before the space, eg 'B1' is the outcode of 'B1 1AA'

Drag and Drop

You can drag text from other Windows programs - like Microsoft Word - and drop it onto the Find Box. Postcode will automatically Lookup the text you dropped - which can be in any of the formats supported by the Find Box.

Address, Postcode and Bank solutions