Finding Duplicates upon Record Entry

[Julia]

I'm sure this has probably been addressed, but I couldn't find it in the myriad of posts regarding the term "duplicates"

I am creating a very simple mailing list database (it has to be simple, given the person who will be entering the data). It contains fields for first name, last name, address, city, state, zip, and then some various category-type fields that we need for identification purposes.

I would like to be able to check a new record against existing records so that she won't enter the same name twice. I'm only concerned about checking first name and last name (I created a concatented field called full_name for this purpose).

I *thought* if I created a calculated field (called "duplicate") I could have it pop up with the word DUPLICATE if the If statement comes out True. But it's not working (everything comes out DUPLICATE). Obviously, I've got the formula wrong...

Anyone?

TIA...

Julia

[RalphL]

If your profile was updated we would know what version of FMP you are using. You didn't give your calculation so we can't see what is wromg with it.

I use a filtered portal which shows names that match the text that is entered. Thus the more that is typed into the field the fewer names appear. I have a button that creates new records using the text that was entered. This avoids makeing a new record and then having to delete it because it is a duplicate.

[stann]

Could you explain exactly how to do this. RalphL . Using fmp7 Panther.

I don't know how to make a filtered portal. This would help me tremendously as well.

Thanks for your response.

STann

[RalphL]

I sugest that you down load the file TypeAhead from John Mark Osburne's web site. http://www.databasepros.com/

This a very FMP7 approach.