terminology questions

[nikarc]

I was wondering if there was a standard term that most everyone uses for the following (or even if this is the most common way to handle the following):

You need to create a relationship between two files where the match field in the master file needs to be the combination of two other fields in that master file. The match field in the related file is just one text field.

For example:

master::textfield1="foo"

master::textfield2="bar"

related::textfield1="foobar"

I need a relationship (master::textfield1 + master::textfield2) --> related::textfield1.

I almost always handle the above by creating a calculation field in the master file that is the concatenation of the two text fields. Thus:

master::calcfield3=textfield1 & "." & textfield2

relationship master::calcfield3 --> related::textfield1

Is there a term for this sort of technique? I usually just call it a "join" but I'm not sure that's the correct term for that.

Thanks in advance,

Kyle

[Kurt Knippel]

Yes it is just a join. The fields that you are connecting are generally called "compound keys".