NAME

Geo::Postcodes::NO - Norwegian postcodes with associated information

SYNOPSIS

This module can be used object oriented, or as procedures. Take your pick.

AS OBJECTS

 use Geo::Postcodes::NO;

 my $postcode = '1178'; # My postcode.

 if (Geo::Postcodes::NO::valid($postcode)) # A valid postcode?
 {
   my $P = Geo::Postcodes::NO->new($postcode);

   printf "Postcode         '%s'.\n", $P->postcode();
   printf "Postal location: '%s'.\n", $P->location();
   printf "Borough number:  '%s'.\n", $P->borough_number();
   printf "Borough:         '%s'.\n", $P->borough();
   printf "County:          '%s'.\n", $P->county();
   printf "Postcode type:   '%s'.\n", $P->type(); 
   printf "- in norwegian:  '%s'.\n", $P->type_verbose(); 
   printf "- in english:    '%s'.\n", $P->Geo::Postcodes::type_verbose(); 
 }

The test for a valid postcode can also be done on the object itself, as it will be undef when passed an illegal postcode (and thus no object at all.)

 my $P = Geo::Postcodes::NO->new($postcode);

 if ($P) { ... }

A more compact solution:

 if ($P = Geo::Postcodes::NO->new($postcode))
 {
   foreach my $field (Geo::Postcodes::NO::get_fields())
   {
     printf("%-20s %s\n", ucfirst($field), $P->$field())
   }
 }

This will not show the english description of the type.

AS PROCEDURES

 use Geo::Postcodes::NO;

 my $postcode = "1178";

 if (Geo::Postcodes::NO::valid($postcode))
 {
   printf "Postcode"        '%s'.\n", $postcode;
   printf "Postal location: '%s'.\n", location_of($postcode);
   printf "Borough number:  '%s'.\n", borough_number_of($postcode);
   printf "Borough:         '%s'.\n", borough_of($postcode);
   printf "County:          '%s'.\n", county_of($postcode);
   printf "Postcode type:   '%s'.\n", type_of($postcode); 
   printf "Postcode type:   '%s'.\n", type_of($postcode); 
   printf "- in norwegian:  '%s'.\n", type_of_verbose($postcode); 
   printf "- in english:    '%s'.\n", Geo::Postcodes::type_of_verbose($postcode); 
 }

ABSTRACT

Geo::Postcodes::NO - Perl extension for the mapping between norwegian postal codes, postal locations, and the local administrative levels of boroughs (kommuner) and counties (fylker).

DESCRIPTION

Tired of entering the postal location all the time? This is not necessary, as it is uniquely defined from the postcode. Request the postcode only, and use this library to get the postal name.

The library can also tell you in which borough by name or number and county by name the postcode is located. The borough number can be handy, as it is used when reporting wages and tax to the Norwegian Tax Administration

The module supports the following fields: 'postcode', 'location', 'borough_number', 'borough', 'county', 'type', and 'type_verbose'. This list can also be obtained with the call Geo::Postcodes::NO::get_fields().

EXPORT

None.

DEPENDENCIES

This module is a subclass of Geo::Postcodes, which must be installed first.

PROCEDURES and METHODS

These functions can be used as methods or procedures.

is_field

  my $boolean = Geo::postcodes::NO::is_field($field);
  my $boolean = $postcode_object->is_field($field);

Does the specified field exist.

get_fields

  my @fields = Geo::postcodes::NO::get_fields();
  my @fields = $postcode_object->get_fields();

A list of legal fields.

selection

This procedure/method makes it possible to select more than one postcode at a time, based on arbitrary complex rules.

See the selection documentation (perldoc Geo::Postcodes::Selection or man Geo::Postcodes::Selection) for a full description, and the tutorial (perldoc Geo::Postcodes::Tutorial or man Geo::Postcodes::Tutorial) for sample code.

selection_loop

As above.

PROCEDURES

Note that the xxx_of procedures return undef when passed an illegal argument. They are used internally by the object constructor (new).

legal

  my $boolean = Geo::Postcodes::NO::legal($postcode);

Do we have a legal postcode; a code that follows the syntax rules?

valid

  my $boolean = Geo::Postcodes::NO::valid($postcode);

Do we have a valid postcode; a code in actual use?

get_postcodes

This will return an unsorted list of all the norwegian postcodes.

verify_selectionlist

This will check the list of arguments for correctness, and should be used before calling 'selection'. The procedure returns a modified version of the arguments on success, and diagnostic messages on failure.

  my($status, @modified) = Geo::Postcodes::NO::verify_selectionlist(@args);

  if ($status)
  {
    my @result = Geo::Postcodes::NO::selection(@modified);
  }
  else
  {
    print "Diagnostic messages:\n";
    map { print " - $_\n" } @modified;
  }

postcode_of

  $postcode = Geo::Postcodes::NO::postcode_of($postcode);

Used internally by 'selection', but otherwise not very useful.

location_of

  my $loaction = Geo::Postcodes::NO::location_of($postcode);

The postal location associated with the specified postcode.

borough_number_of

  my $boroug_number = Geo::Postcodes::NO::borough_number_of($postcode);

The number of the borough (kommune) where the postcode is located.

borough_number2borough

 my $borough = Geo::Postcodes::NO::borough_number2borough($borough);

The name of the borough (kommune) with the specified borough number.

borough_of

 my $borough = Geo::Postcodes::NO::borough_of($postcode);

The name of the borough (kommune) where the postcode is located.

county_of

 my $county = Geo::Postcodes::NO::county_of($county_number);

The name of the county (fylke) where the postcode is located.

borough_number2county

 my $county = Geo::Postcodes::NO::borough_number2county($borough_number);

The name of the county (fylke) where the specified borough number (kommune nummer) is located.

type_of

  my $type = Geo::Postcodes::NO::type_of($postcode);

type_verbose_of

 my $danish_description  = Geo::postcodes::NO::type_verbose_of($postcode);
 my $english_description = Geo::postcodes::type_verbose_of($postcode);

A norwegian text describing the type. Use the base class for the english description.

See the TYPE section for a description of the types.

type2verbose

Get the description of the specified type.

  my $norwegian_description = Geo::Postcodes::NO::type2verbose($type);
  my $english_description   = Geo::Postcodes::type2verbose($type);

METHODS

new

my $P = Geo::Postcodes::NO->new($postcode);

Create a new postcode object. Internally this will call the xxx_of procedures for the fields supported by this class.

The constructor will return undef when passed an invalid or illegal postcode. Do not try method calls on it, as it is not an object. See the description of the legal and valid procedures above.

postcode

 my $postcode = $P->postcode();

The postcode, as given to the constructor (new).

location

 my $location = $P->location();

The postal location associated with the specified postcode.

borough_number

 my $borough_number = $P->borough_number();

The number of the borough (kommune) where the postcode is located. This is an official norwegian identifier.

borough

 my $borough = $P->borough();

The name of the borough (kommune) where the postcode is located.

county

  my $county = $P->county();

The name of the county (fylke) where the postcode is located.

type

  my $type = $P->type();

See the description of the procedure type_of above.

type_verbose

See the description of the procedure type_verbose_of above.

  my $type_norwegian = $P->type_verbose();
  my $type_english   = $P->Geo::Postcodes::type_verbose();

Use this to get the description.

See the TYPE section for a description of the types.

TYPE

This class supports the following types for the postal locatuons:

BX

Postbokser (Post Office box)

ST

Gateadresser (Street address)

SX

Serviceboks (Service box )

IO

Kunde med eget postnummer (Individual owner)

STBX

Både gateadresser og postbokser (Either a Street address or a Post Office box)

MU

Flere bruksområder (felles) (Multiple usage)

Se Geo::Postcodes for furter descriptions.

CAVEAT

POSTCODES

The norwegain postcodes are four digit numbers, in the interval "0000" to "9999" (and this means that "0010" is legal, while "10" is not).

Use legal to check for legal postcodes, and valid to check if the postcode is actually in use. Geo::Postcodes::NO->new($postcode) will return undef if passed an illegal or invalid postcode.

An attempt to access the methods of a non-existent postcode object will result in a runtime error. This can be avoided by checking if the postal code is legal, before creating the object; valid($postcode) returns true or false.

LEGAL BOROUGH NUMBERS

Borough (Kommune) numbers are also four digit numbers (not to be confused with the postcodes), in the interval "0101" to "2399". The two first digits identifies the county (fylke).

CHARACTER SET

The library was written using the ISO-8859-1 (iso-latin1) character set, and the special norwegian letters 'Æ', 'Ø' and 'Å' occur regularly in the postal locations and borough and county names. Usage of other character sets may cause havoc. Unicode is not tested.

Note that the case insensitive search (in the 'selection' method/procedure) doesn't recognize an 'Æ' as an 'æ' (and so on). use locale in the application program should fix this, if the current locale supports these characters.

Note that all names are given in UPPER CASE. This is courtesy of the norwegian postal service.

SEE ALSO

See also the sample programs in the eg/-directory of the distribution, the tutorial (perldoc Geo::Postcodes::Tutorial or man Geo::Postcodes::Tutorial) and the selection manual (perldoc Geo::Postcodes::Selection or man Geo::Postcodes::Selection) for usage details.

The latest version of this library should always be available on CPAN, but see also the library home page; http://bbop.org/perl/GeoPostcodes for additional information and sample usage.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

Copyright (C) 2006 by Arne Sommer - perl@bbop.org

This library is free software; you can redistribute them and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

cpanm Geo::Postcodes::NO

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Geo::Postcodes::NO