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I created a new entry in the Customer table with the following:

Assign Value to ActionResult: resultName = New Company 33

Insert record into Customer table:

CompanyName = resultName

Contact = resultName

Name = resultName

When I export the Entity table I see the following entry:

CompanyName = New Company 33

Contact = New Company 33

Name = New Company 33

RecordID = 6876

...but this is in the Contacts table:

CompanyName = New Company 33

Entity = New Company 33

EntityRecordID = 6876

Name = New Compa 33

The Contacts.Name field is "New Compa 33" NOT "New Company 33". The "ny" is missing from the middle word! The Contacts table is linked to the Entity table by the Entity dropdown. This does not happen everytime I add a customer but often enough to cause errors with another routine I use (checking if contact name = company name). Could this be due to not using Customer.FirstName and Customer.LastName to create the contact name in the customer table? I have added several customers with this method and most are created without errors.

When the Contacts.Name field is missing letters, I've noticed a strange behavior. If I edit the Customer and set everything to the same name again, it temporarily switches to the correct values. When I open a job of this customer (for example, New Company 33:Test Person), the Contacts.Name field reverts to "New Compa 33"... missing letters again. If the Contacts.Name field is correct, the system behaves correctly and names are not changed. It seems to only happen with records whose Name field is somehow corrupted.

Any ideas how to fix this or prevent it from happening? Thanks!

I have a better example I just created. Enter the following into the customer table:

(all fields are 6 1's, 6 2's, 6 3's, 6 4's, 6 5's, 6 6's separated with a space)

CompanyName = 111111 222222 333333 444444 555555 666666

Contact = 111111 222222 333333 444444 555555 666666

Name = 111111 222222 333333 444444 555555 666666

and you will see the following in the Name field in the Contacts table:

Name = 111111 22222 333333 444444 555555 6666

There are only 5 2's and 4 6's stored in the Name field in the Contacts table. I noticed that the "Middle Name" field in the Customer table is 5 characters long which might explain the 5 2's instead of 6 2's. Is there a different way to insert the record into the Customer table that will avoid this?

Hi MikeH,

I have been looking into the issue you have explained, your example was helpful, saved me some time in testing.  I have been able to replicate this in my own account, for some reason a few of the "6"'s are getting dropped for the "Contact" Field during the save.  As a more advanced test, I exported my Entity table, removed all records but the one I created with the numbers, then imported this record back to my Entity table.  After doing this I went back to my Customer/Contacts List screen, and the new values did stick.  I was even able to open the screen to EditCustomer, press Save, and still the new digits were saved correctly.

I am going to have to take a closer look at this screen to see if there is an issue here, and at that point create a ticket to get this resolved, if this is the case.  I will post to this thread with any updates I get on this, I will be looking into this more closely tomorrow.

-Ben

MikeH,

After some further testing, I have pin-pointed the issue here, however this is not a bug in Method.  For your test example with the numbers, you are entering in values > 41 characters in length, the issue is that the Contacts field in the Customer table can only hold values <=41 characters.  You can confirm this by going to Customize->Tables/Fields, select the Customer table, and look at the Size column for the Contacts field.  The problem is this is labeled as a "core accounting field", so we don't have the ability to increase the value for these types of fields.  

This should explain the reason why you were seeing this characteristic, so as long as you pay attention to the field sizes available, you will know why this is happening, and be able to possibly plan for this ahead of time.

-Ben

Hi Ben,

Thank you for looking into this, however I believe you counted the characters wrong. There are 6 numbers repeated 6 times and 5 spaces (blank chars). That gives (6x6) + 5 = 41 characters. The problem is not due to the character limit because you will see the same behavior if you use a customer name "111111 222222 333333" or "New Company 33", which are both well within the 41 char limit.

After further testing I tend to think Method/QuickBooks is trying to create a name out of the name field (i.e. guessing which part of "Name" is "FirstName", "MiddleName", and "LastName"). In my example "111111 222222 333333 444444 555555 666666" the "222222" is truncated to 5 digits, like the MiddleName field. The remaining string after the next space is "333333 444444 555555 666666" which is truncated to 25 characters, consistent with the last name char limit. It seems Method is taking the Name field and assuming the following:

FirstName: "111111" (within 25 char limit)

MiddleName: "222222" (gets truncated to 5 char limit - drops last 1 char to leave "22222")

LastName: "333333 444444 555555 666666" (gets truncated to 25 char limit - drops last 2 chars to leave "333333 444444 555555 6666")

Is there a way to store a 41 char string in the name field without parts of the name being truncated?

Mike,

I was actually including the spaces in the full string, which the database would do, so it would be > 41 in your initial example.  Also, I agree with you regarding how QuickBooks takes in this field, and breaks it out in the first and last name fields.  I still feel the issue with the 6's being dropped was because of the string (incl. spaces) is greater than 41.  I am still going to looking into how QuickBooks is taking in/breaking down this field, because there might be something more happening there that might be useful to know.  I will post here with further results.

-Ben

Mike,

After looking further at your "Company Name 33" example, I have a better idea on what is happening here.  When you enter this Customer in Method, the record gets saved exactly as you wrote it from the "NewCustomer" screen.  However, as soon as this record gets synced with your QuickBooks account, the First/Middle/Last names get populated in QuickBooks based off the "Contact" field in Method (I do see you mentioned this could be happening above).  Because you have 3 "words" in your contact name "Company Name 33", it will parse that as First/Middle/Last name.  If there are only two words "Company Name33", then QuickBooks will skip the middle initial and populate the First/Last names. 

I believe the solution to this issue you are having is that you need to either enter values in Method for First/Last Name, or have your Contact Name in Method as only 2 words, ex. "New Company33", so it will auto-populate the first/last name accordingly and skip the middle initial.  I hope this helps.

-Ben

Great and very important discussion.. Thanks guys for diving in deeply on this.