Re: [Gnumed-devel] Bootstrapping data - permissions, latin vs unicode, other

[Jim Busser]

On 2011-01-04, at 11:05 AM, Karsten Hilbert wrote:

>> Also, where to look for examples to learn to understand.
> 
> It needs more thought than the FreeDiams stuff because one
> cannot just delete the data an re-insert. One needs to
> update existing data and insert missing data.

Given that the table

        ref.consumable_substance

has uniqueness constraints on it, is it appropriate to try to add records and 
rely on the constraint to prevent duplicates? Or must one interrogate the 
existing records and, from this query, update a staging table to mark those 
that already exist therefore should not be added, etc?

It may be possible that both would work, but that one is advocated over the 
other for purposes of work-savings on the one hand, or discipline in praxis on 
the other.

-- Jim