Avoid duplicates in a non-indexed field

[KerryL]

What's the best way to make it impossible for users to enter identical information into a field that isn't indexed?

One of the tables in my DB contains a list of organizations. The indexed field (OrgID) is numbered automatically and doesn't allow duplicates, but it's the second field (OrgName) that I want to keep from having duplicates.

IOW, if "Salvation Army" exists as one of the entries in OrgName, what's the best way to make sure it cannot be entered a second time by mistake? Or must I make that field 'Indexed(No duplicates)' in order to avoid this possibility?

Thanks for your help,
KerryL

 

[lespaul]

You should make it "Indexed(No dups)" and you may also want to do some kind of check to make sure that "almost" the same names aren't entered. What if a user entered:

Salavation Army

that's different from

Salvation Army

So you'd still have two entries for the same organization.

Leslie

 

[WildHare]

What you MIGHT want to consider is using a table of 'valid' organization names, and having the user PICK one from a combo box instead of having to type in "Salivation Army" or whatever..

Always MINIMIZE typing when possible.

Jim


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[tahilg]

I would agree with Jim but recommend you give each organzation name (a large text field) a code, e.g. Autonum, and put that in the original table. It would save you space and probably speed up processing - but would make your programming a little more complex.

Gunny