Qrew LegendWell, the main difference by using a formula query as you may be able to detect the duplicate earlier and give a better user experience so the user knows earlier in the data entry process that they're about to create a duplicate. It also will allow you to better craft the error message. When you save the record and block the safety based on a unique field, the only control you really get over the messaging is what you name the field, which is said to be unique. So you can have a pretty long field name to work into the error message but not as much flexibility as if you detect it with a formula query and then make a Rich text field to put up an error message.
Ah, of course! So they could see an alert immediately after entering a duplicate value in the name field (for instance) rather than potentially minutes later when they get to the end of the form and hit save.
This makes sense and I'm grateful you took the time to relate the info. I've always found formula queries somewhat inscrutable and you've boiled them down nicely.
