After struggling unsuccessfully with FileMaker Plus to find a way to do duplicate checking within a large mailing list, I finally received FileMaker 4, only to be very disappointed that there was no obvious way to do such a deed even in this new version. A call to Nashoba was totally useless, other than to confirm that they had, indeed, failed to provide for real duplicate checking.
However, persistence sometimes pays off. I finally devised the system you see here in this Stuffit file as a way to duplicate check using "batch files". The flaw is that as you add names to the "Dupe Checker Batch File" you will not be catching duplicates WITHIN the batch file itself. Therefore, be sure and do an "Input From" on a regular basis, and never let your Batch File get to large (do a clone to create a fresh Batch File with no records after inputting into your main database).
"MAIN DATABASE (TSULTRIM)" is the main database (ignore the name, I was too lazy to change it to something more generic and face changing all the lookups from the original name). "DUPE CHECKER BATCH FILE" is the duplicate checking batch file (when you open and use it, it will tell you it "cannot find Tsultrim" and then allows you to do so manually. When you create these files from scratch, it WILL be able to find the lookup file automatically!). You may examine these to your heart's content, and use any pieces that are useful.
To see the Dupe Checker in action, open the Batch File and enter the name "Mary Smith, 123 W 23rd, New York, NY, 10014".
As you will see, there are two duplicate checking routines going at once, one looking for FirstLast, and the other for LastZip (First 4 digits only). You can create any kind of combination that works best for you easily with the FM4 text calculating abilities.
I'm putting all this up in response to a request in one of the Mac Forums.
