Duplicating Related Record Sets

by Matt Petrowsky

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FileMaker provides us with the wonderfully simple Duplicate menu option right there within its Records menu. The problem, however, with a relational database, is the fact that many times you're in need of duplicates of both a master record and any of its child records.

This video presents one of the many possible solutions to this exact issue.

You can, for example, export a set of related records and then reimport them while reassigning key fields. You can also fully script the whole process using all of the original data and simply assign new key values as you walk across a portal.

In this video, I walk through one of my favorite methods for creating related records - the Obligatory Create method. This method has a number of advantages and adds only a few extra table occurrences.

As with any technique for solving a specific problem, you must assess if the solution fits your environment and the given circumstances. Doing this comes with experience and exposure to the various possible methods. This method is just one of many.