Greetings,

I would like to ask for your wonderful help in determining what method I
should use to guarantee the uniqueness of the data being imported into an
Access 2002 database on Windows XP. The data file is downloaded as CSV text
file with 40 fields defined. The source provide states that PROG_NUM,
START_DT, ORDER_NUM, STUDENT_ID form a unique key for roster records. I
weeded out about 40 fields from the import file (created an import
specification) that were not needed for my desired output for my reports.

Which of these approaches would be appropriate to use:

1) Should I add an ID field as an autonumber in addition to the following
four fields to make a composite primary key?

If the correct answer is #1, should the index property for each field be set
to "Yes (No Duplicates)" before the composite key is created or does it
matter? Should anything else be done in this example? When I attempt to
import the CSV file into the table, I do not encounter any problems
whatsoever and subsequent imports do not produce any errors.

2) Should I add an ID field as an autonumber as a primary key and then
create a unique index on the four fields?

If the correct answer is #2, just create the ID field and set it to the
primary key. Should each of the four have their Index property set to "Yes
(No Duplicates)'? Then click on the Indexes button, which then shows the
following information which I have created:

Index Name           Field Name          Sort Order
Roster                    ProgNum            Ascending
                             StartDate            Ascending
                             OrderNum          Ascending
                             StudentID           Ascending

Index Properties: When I attempt to define this unique index, it only allows
me to assign the following values below to the ProgNum field and no other
fields.

Primary - No
Unique - Yes
Ignore Nulls - No

The first time the data is imported into the table, I do not encounter any
problems whatsoever. The problems occur when I attempt to import new data
into the table. It seems that Access is rejecting the import file due to the
other values in the ProgNum field.

I hope someone out there would be able to advise me in how to proceed. If I
haven't provided enough information for you to digest, please let me know
and I will do my best to get you this information. I believe that the first
approach seems appealing but I am somewhat worried about having too many
fields defined as a composite primary key, any truth to this?

Many TIA's,

Eric