Merging multiple tables

[Edward Marino]

Our librarians decided to use PowerChurch to put our library online. To make the process faster for them, I loaded PowerChurch on two laptops, thinking there would be some way to merge that data into the database on our main file server (there currently is no data in the record keeping module on the server). Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be anyway to do the merge--just a replace. Is there some way around this?

By the way, this would be a great feature to add to PowerChurch.

[NeilZ]

Our librarians decided to use PowerChurch to put our library online. To make the process faster for them, I loaded PowerChurch on two laptops, thinking there would be some way to merge that data into the database on our main file server (there currently is no data in the record keeping module on the server). Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be anyway to do the merge--just a replace. Is there some way around this?

By the way, this would be a great feature to add to PowerChurch.

Actually, I seem to remember a thread on this last year, and it was pointed out that any type of data merge would run into a synchronization issue. Which data is correct, the one on the server or the one on the laptop?

You would have to worry about the question: 'Has someone accessed the server and updated the main database with newer information, or has the only data entry been on the laptop?' How do I determine that, how would the system programmatically do that, as the system does not add a date/timestamp to the records.

Adding such a timestamp would involve table changes (throughout the system), and alot of overhead that the system does not currently have.

I'd network the laptops to the main system.

That said, you mentioned that currently there is no data in the record keeping modules. If there is only one set of data for the library, that is, if they entered data on one laptop, not both, you could do a backup of only the record keeping modules and restore that to the server. If there is data on both, you will need to enter the data from the one machine to the other prior to doing the backup.