AFD Products: Refiner Manual

ATTACH MODE

Refiner also includes a special Attach Mode. This is activated by selecting the 'Attach Mode' option on the settings tab.

In Attach Mode Refiner does not clean or verify any addresses it simply uses the Postcodes (already present in your database) to 'attach' or 'append' any of the data you select that is contained within Postcode Plus (such as Grid References). Clearly Attach Mode is only useful where addresses include accurate Postcodes. We recommend cleaning your database to obtain the best results and deliverable addresses. Attach Mode can also be used to process Postcode changes or to "back fill" address fields unique to a Postcode. e.g. a postcode which relates to a single address (like IM8 1RG) will return a complete address; whereas a postcode which relates to a number of different addresses will return only the data common to all those addresses.

Please note that most advanced options such as de-duplication are not applicable when using Attach Mode. Field conditioning options (Settings tab) are limited to: specify the case (e.g. upper case or capitalised), maximum field length, and grid reference. These limited options are only available for the appropriate output fields.

Filling in the whole address from the property and postcode

You can also use Attach Mode to fill-in the rest of the address if you have data with only the postcode and property stored. It will match the property and return the whole address data. You should note that as the postcode is assumed to be correct the incorrect address may well be returned as postcodes can be mis-typed and the address has not been verified against any other elements. However in the case where you do not have any other data in your database but the property and postcode you may wish to use this to gain as many potentially correct addresses as you can.

To do this, select "Advanced Settings" from the "Settings" Tab and the "Assume original postcode is correct" option from the "Cleaning" tab.

Fields to use for Input and Output

From the Input tab map all fields which could contain the Postcode. Refiner will search all fields mapped for the postcode and look that up to provide the output data. Setting the name, organisation field etc. is therefore unnecessary for operation in this mode. If the Postcode is always in the same field only map that field.

From the Output tab map all the fields to be written back from a Postcode lookup. It may be helpful to map out the Result Code to identify which Postcodes could / not be matched. The Postcode itself can be mapped back out if you wish to write back any postcodes which have had typing errors corrected or which have changed following Royal Mail recoding.

Result Codes

The result code which is written to the Result Code field, if specified, in your database and displayed on screen on the Results tab. It is limited to the following values which differ slightly from their normal meaning:

Result codes 202-205 are only applicable if the 'Assume Postcode Correct' option is enabled. See the section 'Filling in the whole address from the property and postcode' above for more information.

200 - Postcode was looked up and data attached.

201 - Postcode was looked up and has changed. Data has been attached.

202 Postcode was looked up and property data was also matched to it. Data has been attached.

203 Postcode was looked up and has changed. Property data was also matched to it. Data has been attached.

204 Postcode was looked up and non-matched property data has been added to the data attached.

205 Postcode was looked up and has changed. Non-matched property data has been added to the data attached.

-1 - The specified Postcode was not found - it may have been removed from PAF or have been incorrectly entered originally.

-6 - No Postcode was supplied. Refiner examined all fields mapped in and did not find a Postcode in any of those fields.

200	-	Postcode was looked up and data attached.
201	-	Postcode was looked up and has changed. Data has been attached.
202		Postcode was looked up and property data was also matched to it. Data has been attached.
203		Postcode was looked up and has changed. Property data was also matched to it. Data has been attached.
204		Postcode was looked up and non-matched property data has been added to the data attached.
205		Postcode was looked up and has changed. Non-matched property data has been added to the data attached.
-1	-	The specified Postcode was not found - it may have been removed from PAF or have been incorrectly entered originally.
-6	-	No Postcode was supplied. Refiner examined all fields mapped in and did not find a Postcode in any of those fields.

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