Workaround for Full Name in Forms

[Hank_Hansen]

I'd like to use the technique discussed here: http://developers.marketo.com/blog/add-a-full-name-field-to-a-marketo-form/

It uses JS to parse a single "full name" custom field in a form to populate hidden first name and last name fields within the form.

The problem is Step #1 - creating a custom field "Full Name". There is already a "Full Name" field in our instance which I think is a Marketo read only field. 

Do I need to create another instance of Full Name field that is named slightly differently in order to use the technique?

[SanfordWhiteman]

Yes, that technique requires a new, writable custom field.  

But that requirement is kind of overkill if you only want to show the Full Name on the form and split it into First and Last (i.e. you do not wish to save the Full Name in Marketo).  You can quite straightforwardly add a dummy Full Name textbox to a form like this. Then you don't have any more clutter in the Marketo db if you don't want it.  

One more note: don't expect miracles or more than 95% accuracy from that splitting function (I reused the same function from the blog post in my demo).  It's not very culturally sensitive.  For example, it assigns both middle names and compound (multi-word but non-hyphenated) first names to the last name field.  So Norma Jeane Mortenson would have the last name "Jeane Mortenson," Anna Mae Bullock would be filed under "Mae Bullock" -- these are obviously incorrect.  Sometimes making guesses on the user's behalf will just end up insulting them.

[Hank_Hansen]

Thanks Sanford! Good to know about the downsides. I might just keep using separate first and last name fields as a result.