Terry, this makes sense to me. I use the merge function frequently, but I don't recall ever using "Merge all unique data" or "Merge and overlay all data". It's always been "merge selected fields", but if the tool could compare field data and only merge unique fields, that would be appealing.
Thanks, as always!
Tim
From: Terry Reese [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, May 03, 2015 10:14 PM
Subject: merge field changes -- question
In the merge field - there are currently 3 merge type options. As I've been refactoring code, I'm wondering if I can drop two of these options: Merge all Unique Data and Merge/Overlay all data since I think that these likely aren't used or used often. I think the dominate use-case is uses selecting specific elements to merge from one file into a record. What I'm thinking is that I'd like to enhance this function - so that you could select fields that exist, and ask the tool to only merge the field if it's unique. So, here's the use-case: I have multiple records and want to maintain the 65x fields, but only if they are unique. This way, I can mark it to merge that specific field, but check an option that will limit merges to only unique data. This seems to be closer to what a user would want when merge unique data - rather than the version that is there now.
It seems to me that this would allow me stream-line the interface a little bit (ie., remove a panel so two clicks) and enhance the tool so that the functions provided match real-life use-cases.
So before I make these changes - can someone give me a good reason not to?
--tr
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