source columns do not form a unique key to the external table.

[fatboy02]

Hi all. I have a couple of .xls files that I want to do an external lookup on and match by railcar. Basically, each day, I want to identify only new railcars that have been added to the report. Seems simple enough but when I try to use the railcar for the lookup I get a 'source columns do not form a unique key to the external table' error message. Below is data from spreadsheet one. Note: despite placing in
the sample still does not post correctly here. Any suggestions/advice on the error message?

Thanks

[code]


PO # Railcar Sand Type Date Shipped ETA Date of Arrival Weight Today's Date # of Days on Rail Spur Destination Company
4507089437 RGCX 26 40/70 10/26/2009 11/4/2009 203640 11/30/2009 26 Panola Pattison
4507089437 RGCX 38011 40/70 10/26/2009 11/4/2009 204160 11/30/2009 26 Panola Pattison
4507089437 RGCX 38030 40/70 10/26/2009 11/4/2009 204760 11/30/2009 26 Panola Pattison
4507089437 RGCX 38029 40/70 10/26/2009 11/4/2009 204620 11/30/2009 26 Panola Pattison
4507089436 ICE 10207 40/70 11/3/2009 11/9/2009 207960 11/30/2009 21 Panola Pattison
4507089436 ICE 9727 40/70 11/3/2009 11/9/2009 206820 11/30/2009 21 Panola Pattison
4507112814 HWCX 1021 40/70 11/5/2009 11/17/2009 11/11/2009 197800 11/30/2009 19 Panola Santrol
4507099649 ICE 9653 40/70 11/13/2009 11/20/2009 208180 11/30/2009 10 Panola Pattison
4507099649 ICE 10024 40/70 11/13/2009 11/20/2009 208340 11/30/2009 10 Panola Pattison
4507099649 CEFX 300319 40/70 11/13/2009 11/20/2009 208180 11/30/2009 10 Panola Pattison
4507099649 ICE 11292 40/70 11/13/2009 11/20/2009 208160 11/30/2009 10 Panola Pattison
4507099649 ICE 11282 40/70 11/13/2009 11/20/2009 206240 11/30/2009 10 Panola Pattison
4507099649 ICE 11275 40/70 11/13/2009 11/20/2009 206200 11/30/2009 10 Panola Pattison
4507099649 ICE 10289 40/70 11/13/2009 11/20/2009 207100 11/30/2009 10 Panola Pattison
4507099649 ICE 11290 40/70 11/14/2009 11/20/2009 208660 11/30/2009 10 Panola Pattison
4507099649 ICE 10125 40/70 11/14/2009 11/20/2009 208880 11/30/2009 10 Panola Pattison
4507099649 ICE 10093 40/70 11/14/2009 11/20/2009 208600 11/30/2009 10 Panola Pattison
4507099649 ICE 11272 40/70 11/14/2009 11/20/2009 208860 11/30/2009 10 Panola Pattison
4507099649 ICE 10239 40/70 11/14/2009 11/20/2009 208620 11/30/2009 10 Panola Pattison
4507099649 ICE 10132 40/70 11/14/2009 11/20/2009 208640 11/30/2009 10 Panola Pattison
4507099649 ICE 9534 40/70 11/16/2009 11/25/2009 203700 11/30/2009 5 Panola Pattison
4507112814 HWCX 1040 40/70 11/14/2009 11/27/2009 11/30/2009 202000 11/30/2009 0 Panola Santrol
4507112814 HWCX 1032 40/70 11/14/2009 11/27/2009 11/30/2009 201050 11/30/2009 0 Panola Santrol
4507107393 RGCX 1346 40/70 11/20/2009 200220 11/30/2009 Panola Mississippi
4507107393 RGCX 36082 40/70 11/20/2009 200180 11/30/2009 Panola Mississippi

[Grant Perkins]

Hi Rob,

There is another post relating to Excel table look ups running from recent times - have you checked it in case it provides ideas? You may not be aware of it.

Which columns are you using for the linkage? Is it indeed possible that there may be some duplicates or are the duplicates a facet of the data or maybe even duplication of records? How are the xls files populated? Are there many duplicates or just a few?



Grant