Thanks, Dave for your help. That was tremendously insightful. On Monday, October 29, 2001, at 02:02 PM, Dave Shaw wrote:
>> However, at the beginning of this year, the only way for me to tell >> whether >> or not I already have a kid in our database is to use the USER ID >> (Student >> ID) as a means of comparison with the new extracted tab-delimited file >> that >> I get from our school system. So during the ebase import routines, I >> map >> the Student ID field in my school system file to the USER ID field in >> ebase >> (and map the remaining fields accordingly). I select this duo as the >> "match >> field" combination, select "Update matching records in the current >> found >> set" and check "Add remaining records." >> >> I assumed that following these procedures would mean that ebase would >> identify which USER IDs (Student ID#s) already existed in ebase (simply >> update the remaining fields for these records) and then only create NEW >> records for the students which were not already in ebase. But it >> doesn't >> work! Instead, ebase shows that there are NO records to "update" and >> that >> there are only NEW records to create. Consequently, I get many >> duplicate >> student records when I finish the import process. >> >> What am I missing? (I've checked to make sure that both "Student ID" >> and >> "USER ID" are the same data type) > > During the ebase import process mapping your record ID to Legacy ID is > most useful if you have to subsequently import payments, which need to > be matched based on your record ID, not the new Record ID that ebase > assigns as part of the import process. For your purposes, using another > field such as a USER ID to capture the Student ID should work fine. > > As Walt pointed out, the ebase import process consists of two steps. > During the first, ebase imports data from your data file to a buffer > file called Import1_.103. Checking the"update" box in the import dialog > during this step doesn't accomplish what you want, since there is no > existing data in this file to compare to. > > Once your data is in Import1_.103, you get the opportunity to check for > duplicates between the import data and your existing data in ebase. If > you select this option, ebase finds duplicates, based not on record > number, though but on a calculated dupecheck field. It is at this time > you have the opportunity to mark a record as "update". > > For the process you describe, to import into ebase only those records > for new students and update others, based on a match field you select, > I think you need to bypass the ebase import process and use the > FileMaker menu item File>Import Records. Then do the field mapping as > you have described, selecting UserID and Student ID as the match field, > and check the "add new records" box. This will update existing records, > and add new records, to the names file, based on your key field match. > > BUT... At this point, the new records will exist only in the names > file, and not in the related files custom, profile, and summary. These > are important to the operation of the ebase system. You should > immediately select the script "Check for Related Records" from the > scripts menu to add the new records to these files. > -- -- > Dave Shaw H4 Consulting > tel: 206-954-7526 fax: 206-625-1338 > > ------------------ Reminder to each recipient: To change your list > account preferences, go to > http://email.sparklist.com/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=support and enter > the email address you used to subscribe to the ebase support list:: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > ebase - Relationship Management for Nonprofits, http://www.ebase.org > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > ------------------ Reminder to each recipient: To change your list account preferences, go to http://email.sparklist.com/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=support and enter the email address you used to subscribe to the ebase support list:: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ebase - Relationship Management for Nonprofits, http://www.ebase.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------
