selectduplicates
selectduplicates
FORMULA

The selectduplicates statement selects records containing duplicate information in the database.

Parameters

This statement has one parameter:

formula – tells Panorama what data to check for duplicates. If the formula is empty (`""`) Panorama will check in the current field. If the formula is not empty the formula will build the data that is actually checked for duplicates. For example to look for records where both the first name and last name are duplicated, the formula would be `FirstName+" "+LastName`.

Description

This statement selects records containing duplicate information in the database. To work properly, the database must be sorted according to the formula used (see the examples below).

This example selects records with duplicate check numbers.

    field «Check#»
    sortup
    selectduplicates ""

This example selects all records with duplicate names (both first and last name must be duplicated).

    field LastName
    sortup
    field FirstName
    sortupwithin
    selectduplicates LastName+", "+FirstName

As it searches for duplicates, the selectduplicates statement checks to make sure that the data is sorted in the order required by the selection formula. If the order is incorrect, it will display a notification warning you that it is possible that not all duplicates will have been selected (duplicates are only selected if they are adjacent to each other in the database before the operation begins, hence the need for sorting).

If you want your code to perform some other action if the sort order is incorrect, use the selectduplicatesnowarning statement in combination with the info(“selectduplicatesortwarning”) function, like this:

    selectduplicatesnowarning LastName+FirstName[1,1]
    if info("selectduplicatesortwarning")
        message "Warning -- some duplicates may not have been selected"
    endif

The selectduplicatesnowarning statement is nearly identical to this statement, except that it does not automatically display a user visible notification if the data is not sorted correctly – the action to take is up to your code.

See Also

- checkemptyselection -- notifies the user if a selection failed, and reverts to the previous selection.
- Date Search Options -- searching dates within a database.
- Favorite Searches -- saving and recalling favorite searches.
- find -- locates the first visible record in the active database for which the specified condition is true.
- Find & Replace Dialog -- finding and replacing a word or phrase (with an option to use a regular expression).
- Find/Select Dialog -- using a dialog to search for specific data.
- findabove -- locates the next previous record (above the current record) in the active database for which the specified condition is true.
- findbackwards -- locates the last visible record in the active database for which the specified condition is true.
- findbelow -- locates the next visible record (below the current record) in the active database for which the specified condition is true.
- findid -- locates a record in the active database by its ID number (see info("serverrecordid").
- findnth -- finds the nth (2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.) record that matches a true-false test.
- findselect -- opens the standard *Find/Select* dialog.
- findselectdialog -- opens the standard *Find/Select* dialog.
- Formula Search -- searching with a formula.
- ifselect -- combines the select and if info("empty") operations into a single statement.
- info("empty") -- returns true or false depending on the result of the last select operation. If no records were selected the function will return true, otherwise it will return false.
- info("found") -- returns true or false depending on whether the last *find* or *next* statement was successful.
- info("selectduplicatesortwarning") -- works with the selectduplicatesnowarning statement to ascertain whether or not the database was sorted correctly when last search for duplicates was performed.
- nextmatch -- locates the next visible record in the active database for which the condition specified in the most recent Find statement is true.
- Numeric Search Options -- searching numbers within a database.
- pleaseselectall -- makes sure that all records are selected.
- previousmatch -- locates the previous (closer to the top) visible record in the active database for which the condition specified in the most recent Find statement is true.
- Record Search Options -- searching via record attributes.
- Refining a Selection -- selecting a subset or superset of a previous selection."
- removeselected -- deletes all selected records from the database.
- removeunselected -- deletes all unselected records from the database.
- search( -- searches through an item of text looking for a character, word or phrase. If it finds an exact match (including upper/lower case) with the character, word or phrase, it returns its position within the text item. If it does not find the character, word or phrase, it returns zero.
- searchanycase( -- searches through an item of text looking for a character, word or phrase. If it finds a match (upper/lower case may be different) with the character, word or phrase, it returns its position within the text item. If it does not find the character, word or phrase, it returns zero.
- Searching -- searching a database to find or select information.
- select -- makes visible only those records for the active database for which the specified condition is true.
- Select Duplicates Dialog -- opens the standard *Select Duplicates* dialog sheet.
- selectadditional -- adds unselected records to a previously selected group if they match the true-false test.
- selectall -- makes every record in the database visible.
- selectduplicatesnowarning -- selects records containing duplicate information in the database.
- Selecting with the Context Menu -- searching for information related to the current cell.
- selectreverse -- makes every visible record invisible, and every invisible record visible.
- selectwithin -- uses a Boolean formula to exclude records from a previously selected group.
- Text Search Options -- searching text within a database.

History

Version | Status | Notes
10.0 | No Change | Carried over from Panorama 6.0.