Regex Matching a Naming Convention

Program Purpose

So, I have a naming convention for certain folders.

I want to take in a folder name, and determine if it conforms to the convention.

Naming Convention

The convention (case insensitive) can be as simple as


"Surname, Firstname"

It could be as complicated as


"Surname (meta), Firstname (meta) & Firstname (meta) ; Surname (meta),
Firstname (meta) & Firstname (meta)"

It is broken down like so:

-
A name is made up of a [Surname] and 1 or 2 [Firstnames].

-
Each [Surname] and [Firstname] can have an optional [ (metadata)]
after it.

-
If there are 2 [Firstnames], they are separated by [ & ].

-
A name can, optionally, have a second set of [Surname] &
[Firstnames]. Separated from the first set by [ ; ].

As part of a larger program, I have a class object which handles information relating to a folder.

When a folder name is passed to the class, it validates the naming convention. It currently does this via regex but I find regex to be an incredible source of bugs and un-maintainable code.

So, is there a better way?

Program Flow

-
Receive folder name

-
Copy folder name

-
Regex Match/Replace the copy with vbNullString

-
If the copy is now vbNullString, the whole string matched and is valid

Validation Code

```
Private Sub AddNamesFromClientFolder(ByVal ClientFolderName As String)
'/ Copy folder name
'/ Replace copy's regex matching with null string
'/ If the copy is now a null string, the whole name matched and is valid

'/ Client Folder names should be of the form:
'/ "[Surname] ( [misc] ), [Firstname] ( [Misc] ) & [Firstname] ( [Misc] ) ; [Other Surname] ( [Misc] ), [Other Firstname] ( [Misc] ) & [Other Firstname] ( [Misc] )"
'/
'/ With minimum form:
'/ "[Surname], [Firstname]"

Dim IsValid As Boolean
If Len(ClientFolderName) > 0 Then

Dim validationRegex As RegExp
Set validationRegex = New RegExp
With validationRegex
.Global =

Have you ever heard about tussenvoegsels? They're parts of people's names. Well, in the Netherlands anyway. When used for authors, it's usually done as "van Surname, FirstName". Your regex doesn't support this, instead only accepting the last word of the surname. You should allow surnames to consist of multiple words.

Dim IsValid As Boolean
If Len(ClientFolderName) > 0 Then

    Dim validationRegex As RegExp
    Set validationRegex = New RegExp
    With validationRegex
        .Global = True
        .IgnoreCase = False
        .MultiLine = True
        .Pattern = ClientFolderValidationRegex
    End With

    Dim testString As String
    testString = ClientFolderName
    testString = validationRegex.Replace(testString, vbNullString)
    IsValid = (testString = vbNullString)

    this.IsValid = IsValid

Else

    this.IsValid = False

End If

What's the purpose of IsValid here, if you're just going to nearly-directly write to this.IsValid anyway? Why not do it like this?

If Len(ClientFolderName) > 0 Then

    Dim validationRegex As RegExp
    Set validationRegex = New RegExp
    With validationRegex
        .Global = True
        .IgnoreCase = False
        .MultiLine = True
        .Pattern = ClientFolderValidationRegex
    End With

    Dim testString As String
    testString = ClientFolderName
    testString = validationRegex.Replace(testString, vbNullString)

    this.IsValid = (testString = vbNullString)

Else

    this.IsValid = False

End If

StackExchange Code Review Q#136325, answer score: 7