>I know this can be done in code/script - can it be done natively?
You must dispossess yourself of this aversion to solving problems with script,
From you description I take it that within each imported record there is
(1) information that define the parent fields that you want to import and additionally there are
(2) one or more string fields that implicitly define a set of child records that need to be created and related to the parent record.
For example if this was one of the records in the connected table:
John Doe, john@doe.com, (800) 555-1212, Alpha|Beta|Gamma|Delta
I assume you want to ultimately import [Name], [Email], [Phone] into the parent table:
John Doe, john@doe.com, (800) 555-1212
and simultaneously (1) parse, (2) import and (3) relate the following information into the child table:
Alpha
Beta
Gamma
Delta
When importing the child records you want to relate them to the corresponding newly created parent record.
You may have some additional issue associated with the key field being used in the parent or child tables but I don't think that changes the general solution I have in mind.
This can easily be done with script but an implementation depends you your specific tables and fields and other minor details that you did not describe.
