Re: Siliy question about the UNIQUE keyword in a logical file.

Joe Pluta wrote:

From: Booth Martin

Silly question about the UNIQUE keyword in a logical file.

I have a physical file keyed on account number.  Included in the file
is a field for the name.  I want a logical file of unique names.  There
will be many duplicate names, but I only need any one of them.

It seems to me that I want a logical keyed on name, only, since I don't
care about having duplicates.   How to do this?  UNIQUE is not the
answer.  It works if I use Unique and key on name & account.  But that
gives me a lot of duplicate names.  It works but looks messy.

Am I missing something obvious?

Not really obvious, but intuitive if you're an old dinosaur like me.  Less
intuitive if you've been infected with the SQL virus <grin>.  What you're
looking for is the DISTINCT keyword in an SQL query, which is really an
aggregate function, like MAX or SUM or COUNT.  Logical views don't perform
this sort of aggregation; they merely order and/or select records.  So
there's no clean way to do this.

You CAN do it with an OPNQRYF KEYFIELD((name)) UNIQUEKEY(*ALL).  It's a
little strange, but it works.

Joe