Overlay Data

ejogion

Hi All,

First time using the forum. Its been great so far but I think I finally found a problem no one else has asked yet.

SO, here is the problem.

I have two datasets. The first dataset has null values everywhere except for certain cells where a value was updated per the result of a batch macro dynamic replace process. I want to fill in the null values with dataset values from the second dataset (the old data, without the updated cells) to give myself a new dataset. 

In my words, I want to overlay the second dataset on top of the first and have it fill in the null spaces in the dataset while leaving the cells that already have values full. Thus giving me an updated dataset.

Any thoughts?

unknown

Yep this is no problem -  the dataset with nulls, filter out the null records and union the non-nulls with the other data. You will have an issue though as the non-null values most likely have their existing values in the original dataset you just unioned together. To get rid of the originals you will add a source field prior to unioning the data together. The non-null value table will be source 1, and the other table source 2. Once you have your union dataset, sort by the appropriate ID(s) ascending and add the source ascending. Then put a unique tool on top of that and remove records based on the key, excluding source. This will remove the second instance of each duplicated key, which is the existing record from table b/2.

Unique always keeps the first record and removes the 2+.