Loqate Address Validation - Setup Guide
- Who should use this guide?
- Adding address validation to your site
- Mapping your fields
- Turn off Browser Autofill
- Geolocation
- Accessing field settings
- Field types available
- Reactivating setup
- Basic settings
- Limits
- Data
- Service control
- Advanced customization
Who should use this guide?
If you already have a form on your website and wish to add address validation this guide will get you up and running as quickly as possible. We have made integrating our services as simple as possible, with the majority of the process guiding you through step by step. You are not expected to have any technical expertise, but a basic understanding of HTML would be an advantage.
Adding the Loqate Tag to your site
- To get started, log into your Loqate account, select “Add service” from the top of the page then click the “Start setup” button under Address, Email and Phone Number Verification.
- If you are integrating with any of loqate's pre-built integrations such as Magento 2 select the App option and choose the relevant application - your installation will be a little different, so on the next step, you will be taken to the associated app page where you can follow instructions for installation. For everything else, select "Website" and enter the URL of the site you're putting the service into. Click "Next" to continue.
- Next you will be presented with a snippet of JavaScript code to add to your website. Copy the tag (code) generated for you and paste it into the <head> section in the HTML of your website. Tip: placing this tag on each page of your site makes the setup process easier and is easy to do if you have a layout template for your site.
Once you have finished editing the page, save and upload the new file to your servers and click the "Launch in-page setup" button on the setup screen. - The setup process will now open your site using the URL provided earlier. The Tag setup will map the fields automatically.
Mapping your fields
When your site loads, you should browse to the page containing your form. Any address, email and phone fields will automatically be detected and mapped to our services. If you would only like to add address validation, make sure to delete the email and phone fields.
- Try finding an address by simply typing any part of the address within your form field, a list of valid address should display below, matching as you type – like the example below. The more you type, the more accurate the results will become. Once you find the address you wanted, simply click it and the rest of your address fields should autofill.
- If everything works as you expect it to, you can press the "save" button at the bottom of the setup window on the right-hand side. If your fields aren’t quite mapping properly, or you want to customize any field settings, read the Field types section of this guide
- Your address validation setup is now complete. All that is left to do is give your installation a name so you can reference it in the future. Then, if there are any more places you would like to install a service you can click the "Add another" drop-down menu and select a service.
Remember: if at any point you get stuck or have questions regarding our products or setup process, please open a ticket at support.syniti.com.
Turn off Browser Autofill
Firstly, below where the Loqate Tag script has been placed on the page, insert the following JavaScript code snippet:
pca.on("options", function(type, key, options) {
options.suppressAutocomplete = false;
});
On the Address Form Fields, we have found success in adding the attribute autocomplete="none", to disable the browser's autofill. For example:
<input id="Line1" type="text" autocomplete="none" placeholder="Start typing your address" autofocus name=“searchTerm” />
It is recommended to test this code across multiple popular web browsers.
Geolocation activation
Address capture also supports address look-up based on your end user's current location. In order to access this additional functionality, do the following:
- When in the on-screen set up, click the "configure" button on the right-hand side for you address validation service.
- Below the address mapping fields, you should see a "Geolocation" toggle. Clicking that will activate the service.
- Once you’re ready, click “Done” and test your page. If you are happy with how the information is being populated click the “Save” button at the bottom of the setup menu to complete all changes.
At this point, the Geolocation service will be live and running on your website in addition to your address validation service.
Field types
The on-screen setup tool is capable of altering which form fields the service uses and how it interacts with your website. There are plenty of fine grain controls to perform most customisations. For anything more complicated, you can call our support team who should be able to help you figure out a solution.
Accessing field settings
- When the Tag is initially installed on a page it automatically detects the fields it could be installed into. If you would like to customize this mapping, or indeed if the mapping doesn't work, you can click on the "configure" button on the right hand side for the relevant service.
- Address validation will automatically detect your address fields and color codes them, e.g. Shipping address and a Billing address. The settings for the corresponding fields will display the same colour on the right hand side. If all your address fields are not detected correctly, you can choose the right fields manually.
- If you’ve named your field names or ids conventionally (i.e. Line1, Line2, City, etc) the address validation service will try and match the correct field types to the relevant address fields on your form.
- To match a new field to a field type, click “Add a new field”. Now you can either manually choose your own field by name/id from the dropdown list under the “Your Fields” column, or you can click the selection button
and then click the field on your form that you would like to use.
- Once you've selected the form field you want to put address validation on, you will need to pick a field type from the adjacent dropdown list under the “Our Fields” column. Field types correspond to a specific address component (i.e. Line1, Line2, City, etc). You can find out specific details regarding each of the types available in the Field types available section of this guide.
- If you need to remove any fields, click the bin icon on the right hand side:
next to the unwanted field.
- To the right of each fieldset is a button to access additional settings for that field:
. There are 4 settings to choose from and you can mix and match them as you please. These settings are:
- Search - Turns the field into a search bar, showing the returned address results when a user starts typing their address into the field.
- Populate - Populates the field with the relevant data after an address is selected.
- Preserve - Once populated, the field is not changed by the address validation again. This can be useful if you need to manually make a change and make it persist on the form.
- Country - Turns the field into a country dropdown list.
- When you are happy with your setup, click “Done” and then try searching for an address. If you are happy with the results, click the “Save” button at the bottom of the setup menu to save all changes.
At this point, the address validation will be Live and running on your website with all of the settings you have chosen. For added security, we advise you to look at the service settings on your account. You can find out the benefits of doing so in the Settings section of this guide.
Field types available
Below is a table of the most commonly used address fields available for address validation:
Field name | Description |
---|---|
Line1-5 | The specific line number of the returned address |
Town | The Town of the returned address |
County | The County of the returned address |
Postcode | The Postcode of the returned address |
Country | The ISO 3166 Country name for the returned address |
Company | Returns the full company name where registered |
Search Input | Search bar where all the address validation magic happens |
Building Name | Name of the building for the returned address |
Building Number | Number of the building for the returned address |
Sub Building | The Flat or Unit number within the building. i.e. Flat 1 |
Street | The Street Name of the returned address |
District | The locality within the Town or City |
County Name | The name of the County, Province or State, i.e. California |
County Code | The code of the County, Province or State, i.e. CA |
2-Character ISO Code | The ISO 3166 2-character Country Code for the returned address, i.e. GB |
3-Character ISO Code | The ISO 3166 3-character Country Code for the returned address, i.e. GBR |
Formatted Address | The FULL address in the correct standardised format |
Whilst these fields will be enough for the majority of use cases, there is still plenty of scope to use many additional fields and formats.
Reactivating setup
If at any point you need to change the way a service is set up on a form, you can reactivate the setup process with the following steps.
- Log into your account, then click on the relevant address validation installation.
- You should now be presented with the setup options for your address validation installation. Select the "Setup" tab.
- Click on "Activate" to start the setup process again. You will be taken back through the setup process for mapping your address fields.
Setting options
Within your Loqate account, you can change your service settings and take further control over your usage. These settings break down into three main categories: Basic Settings, Security, and Control. The next sections of this guide will focus on each of the categories and walk you through how to make the most of the choices available to you.
NOTE: If you make any changes, you will need to click the “Save” button for those changes to take effect.
Basic settings / Configuration
The basic settings tab (labeled just as "Configuration") gives you the below options to adjust accordingly.
- Name - This allows you to customize the name of the key selected. This is primarily to help you identify your own keys more easily. This can be particularly useful if you are using more than one key under one account.
- Status - This toggle allows you to set the key status to active/inactive

Limits
The "limits" tab helps you maintain control over who can use your keys, which of your websites the service requests should be made from, and place limits on the number of requests made by individual IP addresses. We strongly recommend that you complete these settings.
The settings can be used as follows:
- Daily lookup limit - The maximum spend level allowed on this installation per day. Set this to a sensible level that you do not want to go over and that won't affect expected daily usage.
- Lookup limit per user - To help prevent fraudulent or accidental use of one of your keys across domains, simply add the URLs that you expect the address validation requests to be coming from. However, you will also need to specify any subdomains and combinations of URLs that might be used. i.e. http://www.mysite.co.uk, http://www.mysite.com, http://mysite.co.uk, etc.
- Limiter Exclusions - IP addresses in this list won't be affected by the above "Lookup limit per user" rule
- Limit by URL - To help prevent fraudulent or accidental use of one of your keys across domains, simply add the URLs that you expect the address validation requests to be coming from. However, you will also need to specify any subdomains and combinations of URLs that might be used. i.e. http://www.mysite.co.uk, http://www.mysite.com, http://mysite.co.uk, etc.
- Limit by IP - Similar to the “Daily Limit” under basic Settings, The IP Limiter allows you to place request limits against a group of IP addresses. This should help manage your cash flow and cap individual usage. To make use of the setting select “Yes”. Enter the IP address you wish to limit in the “Limiter Exclusions” box and then click “Add”. You can add as many IP addresses as you like. Next set the limit as the maximum number of daily requests you wish the group of IPs to be able to make. Any valid IPs not included within the limited group will not be affected by the request limits.

Data
The "Data" tab allows you to select which additional datasets you want returned for address validations. To apply Multi-residency/Eircode data to all the keys within the account, you can go to "Your account" > "Data settings" and toggle the switches to enable the settings to be applied to all keys. Keys can also be individually controlled from within the "Data" tab within the key settings. To be able to use Eircode data, once your account is using Eircode data you will see "Eircode data was enabled...".
- Multi residence - Validate more addresses with the Multiple Residence File. Almost a quarter of all UK housing is now made up of flats, and with 2,000 new address records added each month, Multiple Residence data is vital for any business with customers in densely populated areas.
- Eircode - For accurate address data for the Republic of Ireland, install Eircode Postcode Validation from Loqate. Get quality & standardised data & reduce delivery failures.

Customize
The customize settings help you manage the localisation of your forms. Under the "Customize" tab you can control country settings and default languages. These settings are explained below.
- Available countries - To limit which countries are available to customers using the form, select the country(s) you want lookups to be available for by clicking on the name of the country from within the list to add it to your allowed list of countries. NOTE: The order in which they appear within this list will be the same order they will appear on the address validation form. Countries can also be removed from the list by clicking on them
- Default country - By default address validation will try and determine which country your customer is connecting from by looking up their IP address. You can override this and force any country of your choice by selecting one from the dropdown list. This may be useful if you expect the majority of your customers come from one country.
- Language - Address validation results can be returned in a variety of languages that use Roman characters. Whilst the default setting is to match the user’s browser settings, you can specify an overriding language to use by selecting one from the dropdown list. Currently, address validation can support the following languages: Dutch, English (UK), English (Canada), English (US), French, German, Hungarian, Italian and Spanish.
- Active URLs - Active URLs will limit the on screen setup controls for the product to a specific url.

Advanced customization
Custom options
If you want to customize the look and feel of address validation, you can set advanced options by including this JavaScript snippet in your page.
<script type="text/javascript"> pca.on("options", function (type, id, options) { if (type == "capture+") { options.suppressAutocomplete = false; } }); <script>
Custom events
If you call any custom methods or listen to events, you will need to include this snippet in your page to get a reference to the control objects as they load.
<script type="text/javascript"> pca.on("load", function(type, id, control) { control.listen("populate", function(address) { alert("User selected: " + address.Id); }); }); <script>
Loading problems
If address validation is not loading at the correct time, you can include this snippet in your page (directly below your address fields).
<script type="text/javascript"> pca.load(); <script>
Further information
For further information or help with any questions you may have about address validation, contact Syniti support by entering a ticket at support.syniti.com.