When you import the records from your original file, they wind up in a
"temporary" file named import1_.102 (assuming you're using ebase v1.02; if
not, the extension will be either .100 or .103). Before bringing them into
ebase, there is a routine that allows you to check for duplicates between
this file and the records in ebase based upon a "custom" match. You tell
ebase what the calculation is for the key in the import1_ file, and again
what the calculation is for the key in ebase. In your case, your
calculations would be something like "Last Name 1 & ";" & First Name 1" in
both files.
Once you've found the dupes, you can then tell ebase to update the records
that have matches when you finally move the data into ebase on a
field-by-field basis. It's really a pretty darn sophisticated process, if
I do say so myself.
>In a previous email (26/6) you mentioned that to properly merge two
>databases, we should create a unique relationship between the tables. My
>question is, when we are doing the import function from ebase and we are
>mapping the fields, there is no place there to specify which fields are the
>primary ones. For example, we don't really have a unique key in either of
>these databases. What we would like to do, is to specify that the First Name
>and Last Name are the keys, that if they match in both tables, the
>Destination record should be merged with the info from the Source table,
>instead of a new record being created.
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Jack Noll - ebase consultant and wildlife advocate
Check out a *great* program at www.beardogs.org
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