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    Postcode finder using data supplied by royal mail
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Home >> For Web >> Ajax Full Address Finder using .NET

  Web AJAX Full Address Finder using .NET:

Using this Full Address Web Postcode Finder, the user:

  1. enters a postcode
  2. presses [Find Address] button
  3. selects their own address from selection list
  4. After selection, users address is populated in your web form

Your Web Sign Up/Checkout Page

Postcode: Postcode Finder Button
Company:
Line 1:
Line 2:
Line 3:
Town:
County:
Country:

   Please note : This demonstration uses demonstration data unlike the live system

video  Tutorial Video : Show to add Full Address Inline AJAX List


The above functionality can be installed in minutes in 5 easy steps:

The above Postcode Lookup for Full Address Search functionality can be added to a ASP.NET capable web site in minutes, by simply dropping the supplied files into your Web project. It is available in ASP.NET or C#.    

Advantages

  • Uses AJAX to populate web page, for a smooth customer experience
  • "Out of the box" Postcode Address Search solution
  • Gives almost total control of style
  • Very little programming required. 
  • Your Simply Postcode Lookup account codes are hidden from client
  • Quick to install, Simply add two files into your Web site
  • Will run on most Web servers
  • Not blocked by Pop-up blockers
  • No Data Administration Cost for you
  • Up to date Royal Mail data. Daily updates applied from our reliable web servers
  • Special test postcodes to test your .NET AJAX web postcode address finder

Requirements:

Web server capable of running ASP.NET code in VB/C#.   See version for PHP

Does NOT require Microsoft Version of AJAX to be loaded


How to implement in 7 steps:

Step1: Download the Example Code 

Simply download the example code.  The code is in the "AJAX/AJAX ASP NET Full Address" directory of our example downloads. Then copy, into the same directory as your web page which requires Address Lookup, "SPL_AJAX_Full.js", "SPLGetFullAddress1.aspx" and "SPLGetFullAddress2.aspx" files.  Download code

Step 2 : Add reference to our JavaScript file to your page

Then on your own web page header, add the following reference to the JavaScript file your copied. 

This line is showen in the "index.html" file included in the example download, as is the rest of the code.

Reference the JavaScript file

  HTML Code in <head> in section
<script type="text/javascript" src="SPL_AJAX_Full.js"></script>

Step 3 : Add a Link, button or image to activate Postcode Lookup

Then add either a link, or button image, using the following code to activate the Postcode Lookup Web address selection list:

Example link to activate Postcode Lookup Window:

  HTML Code (in your page)
<a href= "javascript:SPLGetAddressData(document.getElementById('postcode').value)">
Lookup Address from link</a>

Example button to activate Postcode Lookup Window:

  HTML Code (in your page)
<input type=button value="Lookup Address" 
onClick= "javascript:SPLGetAddressData(document.getElementById('postcode').value)">

This could easily be changed to use an image button.  

  Note: In the above example the Postcode Text field must have an ID of "postcode"

Step 4 : Copy Style for Text

When the inline selection box is shown for the user to select the address, the following style statements should be added to the header of the page to control the size of the selection box and the text which appears below it.

  HTML Code (in your page or style sheet)
<STYLE type="text/css">
.SPLAddressListSt{
   font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
   font-size: 12px;
   margin-top: 0;
   margin-bottom: 0;
   width: 80mm;}
.SPLAddressListStBottomLine{
   font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
   font-size: 10px;
   text-align: center;
   margin-top: 0;
   margin-bottom: 0;
}
.SPLAddressListStErrorLine{
   font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
   font-size: 14px;
   text-align: center;
   margin-top: 0;
   margin-bottom: 0;
}
.SPLAddressListLicenseLine{
   font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
   font-size: 10px;
   text-align: center
   margin-top: 0;
   margin-bottom: 0;
}
</STYLE>

where:

SPLAddressListSt is the style of the address selection box

SPLAddressListStBottomLine is the style of the line below selection box

SPLAddressListStErrorLine is the style of text which appears if Postcode is not found

SPLAddressListLicenseLine is the style for the License information.  This is only shown if using "Internal License" to show number of Users, etc

Of course the above style code can be placed in your own style sheet.

Step 5 : Place DIV tag where Inline Combo Box should appear

The inline address selection list is shown where you define the SPLSearchArea DIV tag. Basically our Postcode Lookup Server provides the HTML to display the list box in the DIV tag, which is populated by the AJAX call.

  HTML Code (in your page)
<tr>
   <td></td>
   <td>
      <div id="SPLSearchArea" />
   </td>
</tr>

In this case in a two column table

Step 6 : Map your Address fields

Now edit the JavaScript at the end of file "SPL_AJAX_Full.js", to write the correct address lines, which result from the Postcode Lookup, back to your target web page address fields:

  JavaScript Code (SPL_AJAX_Full.js)
document.getElementById("postcode").value=POSTCODE;
document.getElementById("line1").value=LINE1;
document.getElementById("line2").value=LINE2;
document.getElementById("line3").value=LINE3;
document.getElementById("town").value=TOWN;
document.getElementById("county").value=COUNTY;
document.getElementById("country").value=COUNTRY;
document.getElementById("company").value=COMP;

Where the fields on your web page all have ID'd expressed:

<input type=text name=line1 id=line1 size=45>
<input type=text name=line2 id=line2 size=45>
etc.

The UK Address data returned by the call is similar to our Postcode XML Web service.  The full address record is:

  XML Data returned
 <record>
   <id>11570840_0E</id>
   <organisation>Comtek</organisation>
   <line1>44 Victoria Road</line1>
   <line2></line2>
   <line3></line3>
   <town>Wisbech</town>
   <county>Cambridgeshire</county>
   <postcode>PE13 2QL</postcode>
   <country>England</country>
   <deliverypointsuffix>2N</deliverypointsuffix>
   <nohouseholds>1</nohouseholds>
   <smallorg>N</smallorg>
   <pobox></pobox>
   <rawpostcode>PE132QL</rawpostcode>
   <mailsortcode>18962</mailsortcode>
   <udprn>19147292</udprn>
   <unique>44</unique>
   <spare></spare>
</record>

   Other fields of interest:

Name Description
id Is only used for our internal use
deliverypointsuffix This code can be added to the postcode to give a unique reference to each Delivery Point (letterbox) in a Postcode.  Although the UDPRN number is a better source of unique ID.
nohouseholds Number of house holds at this postcode address
smallorg Y = Small Organisation
pobox PO Box number if PO Box address
rawpostcode Postcode in its raw state.  7 chars long
mailsortcode The Royal Mail offer discount if mail is sorted by this code
udprn is a unique 8 digit code assigned to each addressable property (Delivery Point).
unique gives the unique portion of the address record, in the above example "44".
spare This is for future use. It will contain "|" separated data

For more information on data returned see:

video  Full Online API Reference Manual : Licensing and Data Returned

Step 7 : Specify the Data Key

Open an account with us. Within seconds you will then receive a data key, by e-mail, which should be put in "SPLGetFullAddress1.aspx" and "SPLGetFullAddress2.aspx" files. This key will enable your account, for a 30 day evaluation period, for one postcode area.

Identify your account:

  ASP.NET Code (SPLGetFullAddress1.aspx and SPLGetFullAddress2.aspx)
Dim DataKey$ = "PUT YOUR DATA KEY HERE"

Enter Postcode "ZZ99" to use test data.   Test postcodes for various address formats.


Optional customisation

The text below the selection box can be changed by editing the following line in the "SPLGetFullAddressStep1.aspx" file:

Change text:

XMLService += "&text=Please%20Select%20Address"

set to 

XMLService += "&text=

to suppress text

Number of Lines in List Box:

To change the number of lines in the selection box edit line 73

XMLService += "&lines=8"

Use Drop down list:

To use a drop down list, instead of selection list, simply set:

XMLService += "&lines=0"

Show License information (for Internal Use):

Set to showlic=1 to show License status:

XMLService += "&showlic=1"


How it Works

When the customer presses the [Find] button, then the function SPLGetAddressData is called, passing the Postcode entered in your Postcode field. This then calls the SPLGetFullAddress1.aspx page with the Postcode in the parameters, using the xmlHttp object created when the page was opened on the browser. This xmlHttp object provides AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) to perform a Asynchronous call the SPLGetFullAddress1.aspx page, without a complete page refresh.

The SPLGetFullAddress1.aspx code on your web server then calls our Postcode lookup web server for the address information, adding your account information, etc. This means the client browser never sees your account information.

When the SPLGetFullAddress1.aspx page receives address information from our Postcode lookup server it simply relays it back to the web page (your page with address fields on the customers computer) on the client computer. 

The result of SPLGetFullAddress1.aspx is then handled by the JavaScript function SPLhandleRequestStateChange which calls SPLhandleServerResponse when fully complete.

Function SPLhandleServerResponse then reads the XML, if it DOES NOT contain tag "<line1>" then it writes the response to the DIV SPLSearchArea on your web page. The response contains all the HTML to display the selection list, thus the list appears on your web page on the client computer, in the DIV tag.

When the user clicks on an address line then the function SPLAddressChange gets called, with the ID of the line selected. This function then calls SPLGetFullAddress2.aspx and writes nothing to the DIV tag SPLSearchArea to hide the address selection list.

The web page SPLGetFullAddress2.aspx on your server then again relays the address information from our Postcode address lookup server to the client page on the customers computer.

Function SPLhandleServerResponse then reads the XML returned, if it DOES contain tag "<line1>" then it writes the address information to your address fields on your web page. Thus the address has been written to your web page.


Why do you have to have extra pages on your server?

Reason 1

Some browsers, especially if the client has turned up the security settings, may stop the client web page talking to a server from different domain.  So by adding a page into your web domain, to relay the query to our Postcode address lookup server, removes this security problem.

Reason 2

Hides your account information from the Client Web Browser

[More information on AJAX]

[More information on AJAX Programming]

This example could easily be converted to any other server side language, since the .NET pages are simply used to relay XML data from our server. The clients side JavaScript would remain the same.