Smart Search facility

[jamesuk28]

We have a client in the cherished registrations business. They require a revamped search facility to allow customers to search for private number plates. Is there any cheapish software around purely for this? Ideally it would have to be a dynamic system ie the number plate J4 MES would be searchable as J plates or the name "JAMES" etc

[ThePassenger]

I think you're going to need to get a web dev involved and write it from scratch. As at first glance you need to have a look up table for all the variations of the the word or the backend translating.

[SlidingSideways]

A simple lookup table of letter/number to alternative letter/number would be enought. Eg.

A=A or 4
E=E or 3
P=P or 9
B=B or 8 or 13 (well, with carefull spacing it does).

You could use this to build a fairly comprehensive where clause for a database search.