separate first middle last name C#

Question

Goal: parse name when user enters name, and have a message box display with first middle and last name. Right now it only works when you type in three names, if you try two it crashes, and I'm sure it's cause of my array but Im not sure where I'm wrong. Super novice, learning on my own so any help would be greatly appreciated!!

P.S. GUI the user sees is just an entry block for them to enter their name into one line, spacing between each word.

 private void btnParseName_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
    {
        string fullName = txtFullName.Text;
        fullName = fullName.Trim();

        string[] names = fullName.Split(' ');

        string firstName = "";
        string firstLetter = "";
        string otherFirstLetters = "";
        if (names[0].Length > 0)
        {
            firstName = names[0];
            firstLetter = firstName.Substring(0, 1).ToUpper();
            otherFirstLetters = firstName.Substring(1).ToLower();
        }

        string secondName = "";
        string secondFirstLetter = "";
        string secondOtherLetters = "";
        if (names[1].Length > 0)
         {
            secondName = names[1];
            secondFirstLetter = secondName.Substring(0, 1).ToUpper();
            secondOtherLetters = secondName.Substring(0).ToLower();
         }

        string thirdName = "";
        string thirdFirstLetter = "";
        string thirdOtherLetters = "";
        if (names[2].Length > 0)
        {

            thirdName = names[2];
            thirdFirstLetter = thirdName.Substring(0, 1).ToUpper();
            thirdOtherLetters = thirdName.Substring(0).ToLower();

        }

        MessageBox.Show(
                "First Name:         " + firstLetter + otherFirstLetters + "\n\n" +
                "Middle Name:        " + secondFirstLetter + secondOtherLetters + "\n\n" +
                "Last Name:          " + thirdFirstLetter + thirdOtherLetters);

Answer 1

Here is the working example how you can do it:

public class FullName
{
    public  string FirstName { get; set; }
    public  string MiddleName { get; set; }
    public  string LastName { get; set; }

    public FullName()
    {

    }

    public FullName(string fullName)
    {
        var nameParts = fullName.Split(new [] {' '}, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);

        if (nameParts == null)
        {
            return;
        }
        if (nameParts.Length > 0)
        {
            FirstName = nameParts[0];
        }
        if (nameParts.Length > 1)
        {
            MiddleName = nameParts[1];
        }
        if (nameParts.Length > 2)
        {
            LastName = nameParts[2];
        }
    }

    public override string ToString()
    {
        return $"{FirstName} {MiddleName} {LastName}".TrimEnd();
    }
}

Usage example:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var fullName = new FullName("first middle last");
        Console.WriteLine(fullName);
        Console.ReadLine();
    }
}

Answer 2

You need to check for and handle the second name being empty. Initialising the string will prevent the crash, then checking for input.

string secondName = "";    
string secondFirstLetter = ""; 
string secondOtherLetters = "";

if(names.Length > 2)
{
    secondName = names[1];
    secondFirstLetter = secondName.Substring(0, 1).ToUpper();
    secondOtherLetters = secondName.Substring(0).ToLower();
}

In fact it would be worth intialising all your variables or managing user input validation.

Answer 3

As mentioned in another answer you need assign middle name only when third name exists.
Below approach which uses Dictionary.TryGetValue method and C#7 feature for out parameters.

var textInfo = System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.TextInfo;
var names = fullName.Split(' ')
                    .Where(name => string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(name) == false)
                    .Select(textInfo.ToTitleCase)
                    .Select((Name, Index) => new { Name, Index })
                    .ToDictionary(item => item.Index, item => item.Name);

names.TryGetValue(0, out string firstName);
names.TryGetValue(1, out string middleName);
if (names.TryGetValue(2, out string lastName) == false)
{
    lastName = middleName;
    middleName = null;
}

// Display result
var result = new StringBuilder();
result.AppendLine("First name: ${firstName}");
result.AppendLine("Middle name: ${middleName}");
result.AppendLine("Last name: ${lastName}");

MessageBox.Show(result.ToString());

Answer 4

I know your question has been answered, and there are many ways you could look at handling this, but here is my suggestion with some explanations along the way:

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    string fullName = "Jean Claude Van Dam";
    fullName = fullName.Trim();

    // So we split it down into tokens, using " " as the delimiter
    string[] names = fullName.Split(' ');

    string strFormattedMessage = "";

    // How many tokens?
    int iNumTokens = names.Length;

    // Iterate tokens
    for(int iToken = 0; iToken < iNumTokens; iToken++)
    {
        // We know the token will be at least one letter
        strFormattedMessage += Char.ToUpper(names[iToken][0]);

        // We can't assume there is more letters (they might have used an initial)
        if(names[iToken].Length > 1)
        {
            // Add them (make it lowercase)
            strFormattedMessage += names[iToken].Substring(1).ToLower();

            // Don't need to add "\n\n" for the last token
            if(iToken < iNumTokens-1)
                strFormattedMessage += "\n\n";
        }

        // Note, this does not take in to account names with hyphens or names like McDonald. They would need further examination.
    }

    if(strFormattedMessage != "")
    {
        MessageBox.Show(strFormattedMessage);
    }
}

This example avoids having all of the variables. And it makes use of the operator [].

Hope this helps you too ... :)

Answer 5

 public static string getMiddleName(string fullName)
    {
          var names = fullName.Split(' ');
        string firstName = names[0];
        string middleName = "";// names[1];
        var index = 0;
        foreach (var item in names)
        {
            if (index > 0 && names.Length -1 > index)
            {
                middleName += item + " ";
            }
            index++;
        }
        return middleName;
    }