checking whether field in table has space or comma - MS-Access

Question

I have table called FinalForgotten which only contains one field called aname. The field could either look like Smith John or Smith,John. So both last and first name are in same field and delimited by either space or comma. The defense field contains three fields: first_name,last_name,middle_initial. The first_name field will contain data that matches exactly a piece a data IN aname field (e.g. John). And the last_name field will contain data that matches exactly a piece of data IN aname field (e.g. Smith). I'm trying to get all the FinalForgotten aname records with a middle initial into a new table (e.g. Smith,John S). The defense table is what has this middle initial.

This would work:

SELECT left([aname],InStr(1,[aname],",")-1) & " "& right([aname],Len(aname)-InStr(1,[aname],",")) & " "& summary_judgment.middle_initial AS fullnameINTO FinalForgottenWithMiddle FROM FinalForgotten INNER JOIN summary_judgment ON((left(FinalForgotten.aname,InStr(1,FinalForgotten.[aname],",")-1))=summary_judgment.last_name) AND((right(FinalForgotten.aname,Len(FinalForgotten.aname)-InStr(1,FinalForgotten.[aname],","))=summary_judgment.first_name));

But it will return "invalid procedure call" should FinalForgotten contain a field that doesn't have a comma like: Smith John.

Hence, to address this, I tried to factor whether a comma was in the field or not:

SELECT left([aname], IIF(instr([aname], ",") = 0, InStr(1,[aname]," ")-1),InStr(1,[aname],",")-1)  &  ", "  & right([aname], IIF(instr([aname], ",") = 0,Len(aname)-InStr(1,[aname]," "),Len(aname)-InStr(1,[aname],",") &  " " & defense_final.middle_initial AS fullname INTO FinalForgottenWithMiddle
FROM FinalForgotten INNER JOIN defense_final ON 
((right(FinalForgotten.aname,IIF(instr([aname], ",") = 0,Len(FinalForgotten.aname)-InStr(1,FinalForgotten.[aname]," ")),Len(FinalForgotten.aname)-InStr(1,FinalForgotten.[aname],","))=defense_final.first_name)) 
AND 
((left(FinalForgotten.aname,,IIF(instr([aname], ",") = 0,InStr(1,FinalForgotten.[aname]," ")-1)),InStr(1,FinalForgotten.[aname],",")-1))=defense_final.last_name);

This gives me a "missing operator syntax" error and highlights the word AS.

Thanks for response.

Answer 1

There seems to be quite a few missing parentheses.

SELECT left(
      [aname], 
      IIF(instr([aname], ",") = 0,
        InStr(1,[aname]," ")-1,
        InStr(1,[aname],",")-1
        ) 
      )
    &  ", "  & 
    right(
       [aname], 
       IIF(instr([aname], ",") = 0,
         Len(aname)-InStr(1,[aname]," "),
         Len(aname)-InStr(1,[aname],",") 
         )
        )
     &  " " & 
    defense_final.middle_initial AS fullname 
INTO FinalForgottenWithMiddle
FROM FinalForgotten
INNER JOIN defense_final 
ON 

    right(FinalForgotten.aname,
     IIF(instr([aname], ",") = 0,
     Len(FinalForgotten.aname)-InStr(1,FinalForgotten.[aname]," "),
     Len(FinalForgotten.aname)-InStr(1,FinalForgotten.[aname],",")
      )
     )=defense_final.first_name

AND 

   left(FinalForgotten.aname,
    IIF(instr([aname], ",") = 0,
      InStr(1,FinalForgotten.[aname]," ")-1,
      InStr(1,FinalForgotten.[aname],",")-1
        )
    )=defense_final.last_name