How do you detect duplicate detail records

Question

Hi,
How do i detect that a user is capturing a duplicate detail record as the user transverses detail records before saving. I don't want to keep a unique constraint on the database, but trap the duplicate record as the user captures. i want to notify the user values he captured for a record have already been captured on an earlier record as he is capturing.
I found using collections to be messy as they have to be updated each time the user updates any value on the detail record. So it becomes difficult to manage the collection.
I normally have to loop through the detail block before the user saves and check for duplicate values and raise a error when one is found.
Is there a better way of achieving this in forms? IS there some block property I can set?
Edited by: parthiv108 on Mar 21, 2011 3:52 AM

Answer 1

a simple method is doing the check in the PRE-INSERT and PRE-UPDATE trigger, like
DECLARE
    v_cnt NUMBER;
BEGIN
    SELECT COUNT(*)
    INTO v_cnt
    FROM your_table
    WHERE  .... <your_criteria>
    IF v_cnt > 0 THEN
        MESSAGE('Duplicate Record found! Please clear this record!');
        RAISE FORM_TRIGGER_FAILURE;
    END IF;
END;disadvantage: the check will not be done immediatly at user entry, but on commit ....