How to display sort name with prefix/suffix in webform select list

Question

When we create a webform for users to select contacts from a list whether we select to display display name or sort name it does not include suffixes. All of our contacts are families, many of which have suffixes (Sr, Jr, etc.) which makes it very hard to discern which contact is the right contact.

We have set the webform up to display the contact's full name including prefix/suffix once they select them from the list and it works ok, but it is not the slickest solution.

Is there a method to either alter what Civi includes as the sort name or display name or to alter the webform select list to include the prefix or suffix?

Answer 1

Display Name and Sort Name formats are both configurable at Administer > Customize Data and Screens > Display Preferences. The default format for Display Name includes the suffix.

On a test webform with an existing contact and autocomplete showing the Display Name, the suffix is included.

Answer 2

As I understand it, the only options available to show in the autocomplete are those listed under Contact Display Fields on the Existing Contact component ie

• Display
• Sort
• First
• Middle
• Last
• Current Employer
• Job title
• Nickname
• Contact ID
• External ID
• Source
• Email
• City
• District
• State
• Country
• Postal Code
• Phone

I think that getting Prefix / Suffix added would require some customisation and/or a PR (pull request) on the Webform CiviCRM module, and see if the maintener accepts it.

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Answer 3

Another option for Drupal users would be to make a View for your 'search' and a link from that over to the webform which brings across the 'contact id' in the url eg node/xx?cid1=yy

We tend to take this approach when more complex search mechanism is required than offered via the 'autocomplete' in webform.