Import of duplicates

[Joe K]

We have the following scenario:

We daily receive a txt file from a our Mobile Service Provider which contain
all the mobile calls made from the previous day. The file consist of the
following columns:

Dialing_Number, Call_Date, Call_Time, Call_Unit, Call_Usage_Type,
Dialed_Number, Billing_Period, Call_Charges

We have setup a All_Calls_Table (no PK) with the above mentioned columns an
import the mentioned file into this Table by way of a macro thru the
TransferText action. Our problem now is the following and we tried to avoid
this by chatting to the Mobile Service Provider to no avail.

The daily file can and does most of the time contain duplicate information
either from previous day or previous month. What we need to know is as
follows. Is there a way of setting up our table to ignore or not to import
the duplicates.

Thank you in advance.
JK

P.S. Please reply to newsgroup, email fictitious.

 

[Nikos Yannacopoulos]

Joe,

The question here is how you define a "duplicate". Is is safe to assume that
a Dialing_Number / Call_Date / Call_Time combination should identify a call,
and should, therefore, be unique? If yes, then just get into the table's
design, select those three fields and make them the (composite) Primary Key.
This will prevent duplicated from being imported.

HTH,
Nikos

 

[someone]

I've had a look and there are "Short Message Service" entries which
are send at exactly the same Call_Time to differant Dailed_Number.

Can I then assume that I make this also a PK field?

JK

 

[Nikos Yannacopoulos]

Yes, I suppose so.

I've had a look and there are "Short Message Service" entries which
are send at exactly the same Call_Time to differant Dailed_Number.

Can I then assume that I make this also a PK field?

JK