Max

Your question was about preventing duplicates. However, as you
specifically mention companies I have to say that my experience is
that you have to allow duplications and find a way to handle them.

I often encounter companies with branches in different countries, in
different cities in the same country, in the same city and even
separate divisions in the same building. I have tried to prevent
duplicates in the past but seen users adding odd symbols to the
company name which does not look too good in reports.

I have accepted the situation and now allow duplicates with a separate
column where the user can put some description which defines the
correct division e.g. London Office. Of course, your picklist then has
to include both columns ....

Dave


--- In firebird-support@yahoogroups.com, Max Thorne
<delphimax2003@y...> wrote:

>
> Hi,
>
> how can I prevent a user from inserting duplicates in a table? For

example I have table "company" with field "name" and a unique index
for this field. However, a user can insert values like "Diesel
Co.","DIESEL CO.", "diesel co.". Same company, different entries. Thanks!

>
> Max
>