How to make a Custom Unique Field?

January 4, 200521 yr

Hello all,

I have lets say twp fields: FirstName & LastName

Want I would like to do is to make a custom Unique field out of both of these fields. Maybe 3 letters from the first and 3 letters from the last ex: Ruth Chris

= RutChr. Is there a way todo this?

Also, I have been think of a way to prevent this from happening... What happens when a person types the name in reverse ex: Chris Ruth = ChrRut... I am guessing FM will not catch this. Any thoughts?

Joseph

January 4, 200521 yr

It sounds like you're attempting to build a key field out of the name. This is generally a bad idea to use names or derivation of names as IDs. Names frequently change, or as you pointed out, names might be spelled differently on different occasions. There is an additional problem that will eventually come up; the same name for different people will result in duplicate IDs.

In most cases it is better to use an auto-entered serial number for an ID (or a date/time derived ID.) This usually means users need to select or find the correct name in order to get the ID for an existing record. Though it may be more work, this results in truely unique IDs, and ensures the integrity of the relationships based on that field.

January 5, 200521 yr

Author

Well I thnak you, B/C I was sitting here think of the same thing... The problem is I am not sure the best way do my login sheet.

Idea one: Make a pull Menu the I can select the names from, if I do not find the name on the list then I would have to add a new record.

Idea Two: Make the New button a dual kinda thing -- a little fuzzy, I am thinking like when i start to type in the name the field would auto complete itself if the name was in the data base if not nothing would show up.... Since I have two fields First name and Last name I will have to combine them into one field so this works.... Does that make any sense to anybody who really knows how to do this?

Joseph