Merging Objects

Mark HHP

Hey guys,

So I have a Client BO. Linked to this are various other BOs like Contacts, Calls, Emails etc.

So the issue is my consultants have made several mistakes like making the same Client twice with slightly different spellings, etc. The issue is that both of the Client objects get used so there will be Calls etc on both, which are all important. How could I merge the objects so that there's only one Client with all of the relevant details?

tford

Once you identify the one you want to remove, you can start a process that uses REMOVE and INSERT to take the references out of one client and puts them into the one you want to keep.

kenlyle

This seems like an interesting problem. Generically, it's de-duplication.

I can imagine that it would seem more direct to some people comfortable with relational databases to just make the changes in the database. I created an app against SQL Server last week, and the tables seemed simple, with a single primary key. It might be easy enough to search, sort, query, etc. using a database tool, and just update the foreign key field in the child tables to point to the "winning" client record. Is this to be avoided at all costs, or to be undertaken subject to certain precautions?

tford

Is this to be avoided at all costs, or to be undertaken subject to certain precautions?

I would certainly avoid that.