to have something something else -- grammatical pattern

Question

Usage example with a context:

If you try to make a field that already has data an indexed field with no duplicates and the data does not consist of unique values, the system will not let you save the new index.

First of all, let me make sure that I semantically get this right. What this says, as I understand it, is that there's a field that has data and the data have been indexed, i.e. the field has an index. Is that correct? If so, is it alright to say something like this:

These days, I'm having my computer the only way to reach to people because I'm under house arrest. I can't go outside.

I know, this example probably sounds like an awkward way to say it, but that's all I can come up with at the moment. Again, the point for me here is to make sure that I have a coherent understanding of it.

Is this a common pattern in English? Could you please give me some more examples of how to use this pattern?

Answer 1

If you try to make a field that already has data an indexed field with no duplicates and the data does not consist of unique values, the system will not let you save the new index.

We can trasform this thus:

If you try to transform a field that already has data into an indexed field with no duplicates and the data does not consist of unique values, the system will not let you save the new index.

That is, if you have:

A field that already has data

and you want to transform it into

An indexed field with no duplicates

and at the same time

The data does not consist of unique values

Then

The system will not let you save the new index

To sum it up, it's not "to have something (as) something else", it's "to make something (into) someting else".

The verb to make in your sentence takes two complements, we can designate then A and B:

Make A B = cause A to be B

Answer 2

CopperKettle's explanation is a good one. To answer your question, the pattern:

make (noun) a (noun)

is pretty common. But it's not common to use this pattern with such complicated noun phrases. I had trouble figuring out your sentence at first, and I'm a native speaker with a strong technical background. In this case, an "into" and another comma would help a lot:

If you try to make a field that already has data into an indexed field with no duplicates, and the data does not consist of unique values, the system will not let you save the new index.

Usually, you'll see this pattern with simple nouns:

We can't make Han Solo an admiral, even if he is the best pilot in the rebellion.

I made the sandwich my dinner.

Are you trying to make me your enemy?

Of course, you can add "into" to those as well.

There's a similar pattern which also implies change or growth:

make a (noun) out of [a] (noun)

A popular phrase that uses this pattern is "making a mountain out of a molehill". This means that someone is treating an unimportant thing like it's very important. Note that the order of the nouns is reversed compared to the previous pattern:

We can't make an admiral out of Han Solo; he's not organized enough.

I made a whole dinner out of one sandwich.

Are you trying to make an enemy out of me?

There's also a similar-sounding but totally different pattern:

make (person) an offer

This doesn't mean you're changing a person into an offer. It means that you're offering something to the person.