Melissa - Address Object Windows Python3

Purpose

This code showcases the Melissa Address Object using Python3.

Please feel free to copy or embed this code to your own project. Happy coding!

For the latest Melissa Address Object release notes, please visit: https://releasenotes.melissa.com/on-premise-api/address-object/

For further details, please visit: https://docs.melissa.com/on-premise-api/address-object/address-object-quickstart.html

The console will ask the user for:

• Address
• City
• State
• Zip

And return

• Melissa Address Key (MAK)
• Address Line 1
• Address Line 2
• City
• State
• Zip
• Result Codes

Tested Environments

• Windows 10 64-bit Python 3.8.7, Powershell 5.1
• Melissa data files for 2025-05

Required File(s) and Programs

mdAddr.dll

This is the c++ code of the Melissa Object.

Data File(s)

• Addr.dbf
• Congress.csv
• dph256.dte
• dph256.hsa
• dph256.hsc
• dph256.hsf
• dph256.hsn
• dph256.hsv
• dph256.hsx
• ews.txt
• lcd256
• mdAddr.dat
• mdAddr.lic
• mdAddr.nat
• mdAddr.str
• mdAddrKey.db
• mdAddrKeyCA.db
• mdCanada3.db
• mdCanadaPOC.db
• mdLACS256.dat
• mdRBDI.dat
• mdSteLink256.dat
• mdSuiteFinder.db
• month256.dat

Getting Started

These instructions will get you a copy of the project up and running on your local machine for development and testing purposes.

This project is compatible with Python3

Install Python3

Before starting, make sure that Python3 has been correctly installed on your machine and your environment paths are configured.

You can download Python here: https://www.python.org/downloads/

To set up your Path to correctly to use the python3 command, execute the following steps:

1. Run Powershell as an administrator

2. Execute the command: New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path "Link" -Target "Target"

   where "Target" is the path to py.exe (by default this should be "C:\Windows\py.exe")
   and "Link" is the path to py.exe, but "py.exe" is replaced with "python3.exe"
   For Example:
   New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path "C:\Windows\python3.exe" -Target "C:\Windows\py.exe"

If you are unsure, you can check by opening a command prompt window and typing the following: python3 --version

If you see the version number then you have installed Python3 and set up your environment paths correctly!

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Set up Powershell settings

If running Powershell for the first time, you will need to run this command in the Powershell console: Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned. The console will then prompt you with the following warning shown in the image below.

• Enter 'A'.
  • If successful, the console will not output any messages. (You may need to run Powershell as administrator to enforce this setting).

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Download this project

git clone https://github.com/MelissaData/AddressObject-Python3
cd AddressObject-Python3

Set up Melissa Updater

Melissa Updater is a CLI application allowing the user to update their Melissa applications/data.

• Download Melissa Updater here: https://releases.melissadata.net/Download/Library/WINDOWS/NET/ANY/latest/MelissaUpdater.exe
• Create a folder within the cloned repo called MelissaUpdater.
• Put MelissaUpdater.exe in MelissaUpdater folder you just created.

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Different ways to get data file(s)

1. Using Melissa Updater
   • It will handle all of the data download/path and dll(s) for you.
2. If you already have the latest DQS release zip, you can find the data file(s) in there
   • To pass in your own data file path directory, you may either use the '-dataPath' parameter or enter the data file path directly in interactive mode.
   • Comment out this line "DownloadDataFiles -license $License" in the powershell script.
   • This will prevent you from having to redownload all the files.

Run Powershell Script

Parameters:

• -address: a test street address (house number & street name)

• -city (optional): a test city

• -state (optional): a test state

• -zip (optional): a test zip code

  These are convenient when you want to get results for a specific address in one run instead of testing multiple addresses in interactive mode.

• -dataPath (optional): a data file path directory to test the Address Object

• -license (optional): a license string to test the Address Object

• -quiet (optional): add to the command if you do not want to get any console output from the Melissa Updater

When you have modified the script to match your data location, let's run the script. There are two modes:

• Interactive

  The script will prompt the user for an address, city, state, and zip, then use the provided inputs to test Address Object. For example:

   .\MelissaAddressObjectWindowsPython3.ps1
  

  For quiet mode:

   .\MelissaAddressObjectWindowsPython3.ps1 -quiet
  

• Command Line

  You can pass an address, city, state, zip, and a license string into the -address, -city, -state, -zip, and -license parameters respectively to test Address Object. For example:

  With all parameters:

   .\MelissaAddressObjectWindowsPython3.ps1 -address "22382 Avenida Empresa" -city "Rancho Santa Margarita" -state "CA" -zip "92688"
   .\MelissaAddressObjectWindowsPython3.ps1 -address "22382 Avenida Empresa" -city "Rancho Santa Margarita" -state "CA" -zip "92688" -license "<your_license_string>"
  

  With any known (optional) parameters:

   .\MelissaAddressObjectWindowsPython3.ps1 -address "22382 Avenida Empresa" -state "CA" 
   .\MelissaAddressObjectWindowsPython3.ps1 -address "22382 Avenida Empresa" -state "CA" -license "<your_license_string>"
  

  For quiet mode:

   .\MelissaAddressObjectWindowsPython3.ps1 -address "22382 Avenida Empresa" -city "Rancho Santa Margarita" -state "CA" -zip "92688" -quiet
   .\MelissaAddressObjectWindowsPython3.ps1 -address "22382 Avenida Empresa" -city "Rancho Santa Margarita" -state "CA" -zip "92688" -license "<your_license_string>" -quiet
  

This is the expected output from a successful setup for interactive mode:

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting for errors found while running your program.

Errors:

Error	Description
ErrorRequiredFileNotFound	Program is missing a required file. Please check your Data folder and refer to the list of required files above. If you are unable to obtain all required files through the Melissa Updater, please contact technical support below.
ErrorLicenseExpired	Expired license string. Please contact technical support below.

Contact Us

For free technical support, please call us at 800-MELISSA ext. 4 (800-635-4772 ext. 4) or email us at tech@melissa.com.

To purchase this product, contact Melissa sales department at 800-MELISSA ext. 3 (800-635-4772 ext. 3).